The concept of Speed of Service (SOS) is not foreign to most business owners. It’s a critical aspect of their operation. All operators will have an SOS process in place. 360iQ can help drive revenue through improved speed while maintaining a quality experience for guests.
Depending on the vertical, SOS can also have different meanings, so finding the right system for your business is key. Here, we’ll explore its role across industries and how 360iQ by DTiQ can help track and improve SOS.
Introduction to Speed of Service
Today’s business owners are savvy professionals. They’re always looking for new and improved methods of driving revenue, and SOS is a basic necessity in all environments. SOS is based on time and how fast a particular action can be performed. Here are some examples:
- Quick service restaurant (QSR): Managers of stores with a drive-thru may be interested in knowing how long it takes for a car to receive their order from the time the order is placed at the speaker to the time the order is handed to the customer.
- Fast casual restaurant: Owners may be interested in how quickly a particular item is prepared and delivered to the customer. And what if an owner needs to know how long it takes before a guest is seated or receives their first drink at the bar?
- Retail store: A clothing store operator may want to know about the wait time at the cashiering station or how much time goes by before a guest is greeted.
No matter how SOS is utilized, it will always be divided into specific ranges of time. And sometimes, these are based on times of the day.
For example, in a restaurant, breakfast may be between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., lunch between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., and dinner between 4:00 p.m. and closing. Let’s say a dine-in pizzeria makes a pizza in 8 minutes at lunch but 10 minutes during dinner. This operator will want to know how their SOS compares between the two time periods.
Retail environments could use the same theory by separating days and nights or weekdays and weekends. It’s important for operators to not only monitor these times but also to compare them. 360iQ can help by providing statistics and trends for locations and enterprises.
Why Is Speed of Service Important?
In a world where everything is seemingly instantaneous, time is a valuable resource. Whether they’re ordering meals or moving through the checkout line, speed matters to your customers. While many people think that quality tops speed in the hierarchy of customer engagement priorities, they’re equally as important.
What’s more, speed is easy to track. As a quantifiable metric, SOS data provides a baseline for time management at your establishment and insights on where you can make immediate improvements in the customer experience.
Why Focus on Speed of Service?
Everyone has had their share of long lines and poor service. Speed earns repeat customers — some people will leave one location to go to another simply because the wait was too long. As reported by McKinsey & Company, speed is more important than ever for the retail industry.
Owner/operators have to be mindful of this and adhere to SOS rules. For example:
SOS in Customer Service Retail Environments
Operators need to be sure that their staff is attentive to customers and address any requests promptly. Retailers want to have customers in the store shopping, but when they are ready to check out, will they be willing to wait for a slow cashier?
SOS in QSR Environments
For SOS in food (meaning fast food), it may behoove the operator to get customers in and out during lunch hours as quickly as possible as these customers have time limits and appreciate the convenience of rapid service. In a fast-casual environment where the pace will be a little slower, an operator might be interested in a different preparation of their product that requires a slightly slower delivery.
SOS in Restaurant Environments
SOS can take on a completely new meaning for these businesses. A table service restaurant (TSR) wouldn’t merely adhere to the standard breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal periods — they will want to know how long the customer waited at any given time (i.e. upon entering the location, upon being seated, etc.). Furthermore, they need to know how much it’s costing them to have a customer sit around, waiting to be served.
TSR operators rely heavily on table turnover and therefore need to set certain SOS standards that allow them to make the most of each table in their dining room. An empty table isn’t making any money, but during busy times a full table isn’t making money unless customers are ordering more and more versus merely using the space.
How Do You Measure the Speed Of Service?
Using intelligent business solutions with advanced analytics platforms from companies like DTiQ, owners and managers can monitor KPIs like customer service speed. Integrating video surveillance, POS systems, and time stamps, it’s easy to monitor customer and cash-handler behavior. Consider the insightful 360iQ dashboard from DTiQ.
How Does 360iQ Improve SOS by Providing Actionable Data?
First and foremost, 360iQ provides SOS data that other online portals cannot deliver. While other systems may provide average and transaction times, 360iQ shows how long a customer waited to receive their entrée or pair of shoes and how long it took to check out. 360iQ’s collection points can accurately capture the timeframe from when a customer walks through the door until they exit.
Using cameras as data collection points, 360iQ can time-splice every action performed on this customer and ultimately improve an operator’s bottom line and the customer’s experience. With a simple graph, 360iQ can pinpoint the days/times when service was slower or faster.
What to Measure Across Industries
With custom solutions, you can evaluate the metrics that matter most in your industry. Here are some examples of the possibilities:
QSR
Measure the length of time it took for the:
- Customer enter and exit the restaurant with a takeout order
- Customer enter the restaurant and place their order
- Customer to receive their meal after placing the order
- The customer waited to arrive at the order confirmation unit in the drive-thru
- The customer waited to arrive at the pay window after ordering in the drive-thru
Fast Casual
Measure the length of time it took for the:
- Customer enter and exit the restaurant with a takeout order
- Customer enter the restaurant and place their order with a cashier
- Customer receive their meal after placing the order with a cashier
- Employee to clean and clear a dirty table
TSR
Measure the length of time it took for the:
- Host/hostess to greet a customer
- Waiter /waitress to take their order
- Customer to receive their drink order
- Customer receive their meal
- Customer to receive their guest check
- Waiter/waitress to return with receipt
- Customer receive drink orders at the bar
Specialty Retail Store
Measure the length of time taken for the following:
- Customers check out with their merchandise at the cash wrap counter
- Employee to tidy up a customer display
- Customers to try on items in the dressing room
- Employee to clear the dressing room
Convenience Store
Measure the length of time taken for the following:
- Customers check out with their merchandise at the cashier
- Customers to wait for open gas pump
- Customers to be helped at food counters
- Hot food to be prepared/replenished
- Customer to prepare coffee and check out
How can I improve my service speed?
There are many ways to improve SOS — but it all depends on your establishment and its data analytics. Depending on the areas where your business can improve, some things to consider include:
- Strategic scheduling: Ensure enough staff is on hand during busier seasons/days of the week.
- Checkout area: Provide thorough, hands-on POS training for new employees.
- Maintenance: Making sure your equipment is well maintained and up to date is crucial to customer service.
- Processes: When common issues arise, make sure your employees can handle them efficiently.
- Inventory: Ordering enough food and beverages for your restaurant and keeping the retail floor of your store stocked makes it easier for customers to get what they need when they need it.
- Self-service: Are there areas where customers can help themselves? Self-service points, such as POS kiosks, can free up your staff and reduce the checkout line.
SOS is merely one element of focus for restaurant operators and retailers, but it significantly impacts an operator’s success. 360iQ and the SmartAudit tool from DTiQ provide powerful and actionable data that simplify monitoring SOS.
Book a demo to receive more information on our current pricing and how 360iQ can help improve the way you do business.
