Time is measured in seconds, used in hours, and lived in years. When you include time in conversations with your customers, you are telling them much for than what point the sun is in the sky, or the duration of an event. In addition to what's on the surface, you are revealing things about you, your company, and how you feel about the customer.
For example, if you have a one-hour dry cleaning shop, and you tell a customer that it will be an hour and a half until they can pick up their clothes, you reveal that you are either very busy, a machine has broken down, or your shop is unorganized. If you have a customer in front of you and you interrupt them to deal with a phone call, you reveal that the person on the phone is more important, your customer's time is unimportant to you, and you don't care that they made the effort to come to your store.
Seth Grodin of Seth's Blog wrote an interesting blog entry on time as the most overlooked secret of marketing. He holds that this secret has two parts: Show Up on Time and Cherish My Time. Showing up on time is a tool to build trust. You are telling the customer that you will do what you say when you say you will do it. You tell them that their time and schedule is valuable to you, so much so that you deliver your promises when you tell them you will.
Cherishing your customer's time is about respecting them. It's not assuming that your time is more valuable than theirs. As Seth writes, if you want someone to think you are selfish, then ask for a minute of their time and then waste it.
When you set up an appointment with a customer, you are creating an opportunity to waste their time. You can do many things to make sure you don't. Is the meeting necessary? Will you be helping them, or only yourself? Do you need to meet face-to-face or will a video conference be a better alternative? When are their busiest times of the day and is your appointment during one of those times?
As always, remember the golden rule and ask yourself, "Would I want to be bothered with this at this particular time?" If you respect your customer's time, your customer's will respect you.
