Don't forget your customers while they stand in the queue. It's the perfect time to increase sales and build brand loyalty

Unless you did all your holiday shopping online you probably spent time waiting in line. Just as municipal planners are unable to route traffic to avoid rush hour buildup, the service industry will, from time to time, require its most valuable asset—the customer—to wait. Although their time is precious, customers are often tolerant for a limited period of time. Unfortunately, many companies are allowing long waits to tarnish the customers' experience rather than using these delays as opportunities to build rapport with them.

Retail and call centre managers both know that when faced with a wait, some customers will abandon the purchase altogether. The customer's patience varies greatly depending on the individual and the perceived value of the outcome. For example, some people will wait all night and even sleep on sidewalks to secure premium seating at upcoming concerts.

What's more important to the customer than the actual length of the wait—in terms of minutes, seconds, or, god forbid, hours—is the customer's perceived length. Simply by acknowledging that a customer is waiting will increase his or her patience. Phone queues already do this with pre-recorded messages. Why not use existing technology to tell the customer roughly how long he or she can expect to wait?

The British have long been fans of queuing, not just in retail, but pretty much everywhere including bus stops. They could teach us a few lessons about how to treat our customers while they wait. The London Underground has maximized the opportunity to both deliver corporate messages and entertain commuters. Poems and artwork commissioned by the Underground are found among advertisements in the subway cars and stations. Not only do they help commuters to pass their time while traveling, they have become so popular they are now published and sold by the Underground.

Think about the number of people who spend hours going up and down escalators or elevators staring straight ahead—usually with nothing to look at but blank walls. This is an ideal captive audience to target with your corporate message. The London Underground knows this and is using this space to talk to customers when they know they are open to corporate messages.

While a customer is waiting in a store, the company has a valuable marketing tool—a captive audience. This is the perfect time to tell him or her about other products and services. Cash register areas have long been the site of add-on sale displays of household and confectionary items, but usually by the time customers gets to the register they see the light at the end of the tunnel. Customers further back in the line need to feel the outcome is worth the wait. Those who have something to read will wait longer than those with nothing to do. Point of purchase materials are excellent tools to tell customers about products or services that may be of interest. Videos are also an effective way to entertain them and minimize their perceived wait.

Point of purchase material is no longer limited to posters, and brochures, but exists in formats to cover most any surface and catch customers wherever they are. Canada Post uses innovative point of purchase materials to reach customers through floor decals, danglers, and an array of posters. Meeting customers where they are means customization for different target markets—such as the way McDonalds promotes its Happy Meals and other children's offerings by displaying them at a child's eye level.

Have you had a look around your customer service area from the perspective of your different target groups? Are you missing opportunities to entertain or build rapport with your customers while they wait to be served by your customer service representatives?

Melanie Taljaard is the founder and principal marketer of More in Store, a Halifax-based marketing consulting company that focuses on the customer experience.