Just how impatient Australian clients are remains to be seen (as to the best of my knowledge no-one has conducted a study on the topic). If we assume, however, that Australian clients have some similarities to clients in other parts of the world then some UK findings may be well worth taking note of.

A recent survey by Cable & Wireless (UK) showed that nearly 2 in 5 people (38%) admitted they had become more impatient in the last five years. Of interest, the findings suggest that new technologies are driving consumers' expectation of service delivery.

Men were found to be more impatient than women.

In fact, the Cable & Wirless survey found that:

- men are twice as likely as women to stop queuing: 1 in 5 (19%) men would give up waiting in a shop after three minutes, compared to 1 in 10 (9%) women
- almost half (46%) of men would give up waiting online after three minutes, compared to a quarter (27%) of women
- 2 in 5 (40%) men would give up waiting on the phone after three minutes, compared to 1 in 3 (33%) women.

Rising impatience also effects customer defection rates. If you manage a company you may be horrified to discover that 50% of consumers claim to have given up waiting on the phone to a retailer and have permanently avoided the brand and organisation thereafter.

The survey also showed that while young people appear to be more forgiving - with 65% prepared to give companies another chance - 59% of 45-64 year olds are unwilling to give repeat custom to an organisation with which they've lost patience in the past.

The results are important reading for all businesses who invest significant sums in building and promoting their company name.

The results also show how technology is impacting buyer expectation. The advent of broadband means that a lot of people can - and expect to - get information NOW.

Whilst technology provides endless benefits in terms of meeting consumer needs, the survey results also show how easily technology can exacerbate matters if a website is down for prolonged periods, phonecalls aren't answered and emails aren't responded to. At a commonsense level it also means you should know if the majority of your clients have access to broadband or dial-up (as this will impact how 'flashy' your website is - nothing will drive people away faster than a website that won't load because of heavy graphics or a 3 minute flash introduction that can't be skipped). It also means staying in touch with your customers so as to identify problems when they arise and solve them as rapidly as possible.