Don’t make your customer feel like a burden if they come in just before closing.

One thing that is an irritant in businesses that deal with walk in customers is when you post your hours of operation from 9 am – 10 pm yet when you get there at 9:30 pm the cashier, waitress, etc. don’t seem very happy to see you.  You just feel the chill in the air and the fake smiles as they serve you.

As a business owner it is imperative that you set up the proper processes in place so that if you say you are going to be open until 10pm, then that you are truly open until 10 p.m. and that your staff are happy to serve that person even if they came in right at 10p.m.  If not, then change your hours of operation to close at 9:30p.m. but with he caveats that your staff will not start any closing duties until 9:30 p.m unless there are no customers.  There is nothing more frustrating to your customers than to go into your establishment just before it closes and then not receive the full customer experience that your establishment is used to providing.  Going in the last hour to a lot of establishment feels like you are inconveniencing the staff by being there to spend your money.

It seems like a simple concept but since most business owners are not there to personally manage this, the staff take it upon themselves to leave as soon as possible after closing.

My recommendation to address this is:

1. If you say 10p.m. closing, then make it a rule that nothing could be closed prior to that. It should be business as usual and seamless to your customers.
2. Be clear with your staff as to when they could start their closing duties. Communication is key here. Context should be provided to your staff as how a customer may feel if they have the perception that they are being an inconvenience.   Reality is that the customer will say sorry if they feel they are being a burden but most likely not return.
3. If it’s a restaurant for example, then don’t start putting chairs up on the tables when customers are still in your establishment and it’s not even closing time yet.
4. If based on your customer traffic in the last hour before closing, if it makes sense to close earlier, then change your hours of operation.
5. Based on your experience if it takes 45 minutes to shut down your establishment and you close at 10 pm and yet you see people leaving at 10:15 pm then there is an issue that must be addressed with your staff. Yes, you may save some money by them leaving early but if that’s your objective then close half an hour early.

Remember that at any time that a customer comes into your establishment they are a warm lead that may convert into a paying customer, so always make sure that you provide them with the best customer experience whether it’s the first hour of the day or the last 15 minutes of the day.

In any successful business, consistency in service is the key.  If you let service diminish in the last hour, then complacency starts to set in and in essence you are saying it’s o.k. to provide some customers substandard service. This might start just in the last hour, but it quickly snowballs and suddenly service in the other hours starts to be impacted as well and then you wonder why your revenues start to decrease.