Ways to Entertain Your Clients While Waiting

Let’s admit it, nobody likes to wait. If you operate a business where there will always be a queue, it is important if not ethical to make their waiting time a stress free experience. Being kind and charitable to our customers will pay dividends. And making their waiting time as easy as you can, speaks volumes about your values.

As business owners, you wouldn’t want to deal with agitated clients, it’ll make your meeting unnecessarily draining and things might not get done.

Here are some tips to make your client’s waiting experience stand out in a good way.

The waiting area

Designing the waiting area in a way that makes your client forget that they are being made to wait is an achievement worthy of praise. It’s not that complicated actually.

Furniture

Keep your furniture clean and good as new. Having an old squeaky or an unstable table or chair in your waiting room will only annoy your clients, not to mention it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Maintain a proper amount of space to avoid crowding your waiting clientele.

Basic provisions

It wouldn’t cost too much to provide light snacks and beverages to your customers. This will help them replenish some of their energy lost while waiting.

Wifi and charging stations

Providing free wifi and charging stations to your clients is a good way to make them forget they’re waiting. This will also help them get some work done while they sit in your waiting room. They will appreciate this more than you’ll ever know.

Allow space for the kids

Children are prone to get bored within 10 minutes of staying in one place and doing nothing. Provide puzzles and other toys that won’t make a terrible mess to keep them busy. I wouldn’t recommend having some writing materials for them to play with, they might try and re-design your walls and furniture.

Keep the place clean and temperate

Having good room maintenance and setting the thermostat in the right setting will make a world of difference for the person waiting.

Medium of entertainment

Provide some form of entertainment for your waiting clients. It doesn’t need to be extravagant, a small distraction to the eyes and other senses is a good start.

Decorate the area

Hang pictures or paintings and allow space for your customers to move around. Keeping them sitting still won’t be much of a strategy if you want to keep them comfortable.

Light reading

Have a wide range of reading material. You will have a hodgepodge of people coming over to wait and you can’t possibly expect them to be into a few topics. Stack on different magazines or coffee table books. It is wise to start with health, travel, food, home ideas, and the list will take off from there.

T.V. and video entertainment

Some waiting rooms will have their customers watch a preselected movie list or show. It is fine, as long as the show is, of taste and it wouldn’t be too loud to disturb other clients who are not interested. There are also waiting rooms where they show personalized presentations like a slideshow of the company profile and/or events. Some dental waiting room videos and other medical facilities will show health promotional videos and other relaxing presentations.

Help customers make use of their time waiting

People would rather do something more important than wait in the waiting room. Being able to communicate with your clients on how long they should wait is a big plus for them. Provide a way for them to inquire about the status or updates so that if they can squeeze another appointment while they’re on the waiting list, they’d know. People will leave the waiting room and come back when it’s their turn, hence you’ll be able to accommodate more in the meantime.

A simple task of making them wait doesn’t have to be a dread of them if you can make the experience comfortable. I am an impatient person and I wouldn’t want to sit around in a waiting room for anything. But I found some establishments made my wait convenient and they recognize that by taking the time to consider their client’s feelings they have made a client theirs for a long time.