SCORE: True #CustomerService is Keeping Your Eye on Why

I get a lot of work done over a cup of coffee. In one of these productive sessions last week, a small business CEO expressed a frustration of how to keep up with good customer service and then she asked, "Do they really care?"

My answer: No.

OK, I do need to explain. The subtitle to this column should be "... at least, not the way you think they do." I received reminders when I read a blog several weeks ago by Micah Solomon, who writes regularly on customer service, customer experience and customer trends.

Solomon contributed a great business operational truth. "Customers don't care about customer service," he said. "At least, not exactly. What they care about is something a little different: They care about the feelings, the results, the impressions, the memories that come from being well served, poorly served or that beige area in the middle."

Do you catch the reality here? This is a distinction that's worth wrapping your mind around. When you undertake a customer service initiative, its odds of success are related closely to your understanding of this principle.

Solomon suggested a successful customer service effort or initiative shouldn't rely solely on goals such as, "Provide world-class customer service while becoming an unfailingly customer-centric companywide." (Have you seen these?)

Instead, it also depends on goals such as, "Make our customers feel better." Or, (I love this) "If that sounds too unpoetic to you, how about borrowing this beautiful aspiration of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company: 'To serve even the unexpressed needs and wishes of our guests.'"

My takeaway from this is the difference here is you're now "keeping your eye on the why." And the "why" in question is the goal of adding value for customers, value that can run the gamut from hard-nosed results — "I got my invoices within 30 minutes of requesting them," — to idiosyncratically tender feelings — "I really felt cared for by that agent."

Solomon closed his blog with, "If you keep your eye on the why, you'll avoid the trap that so many organizations fall into, the trap of incorrectly framing this issue, of thinking that their customer actually gives a hootenanny about their company's org chart, its staffing levels, its internal code of conduct. Which, of course, they don't."

I suggest you may think about monitoring your customer's experience with your company. Why? Because customer experience is more important than ever. Businesses that aren't focused on delivering on the promise of good customer service are seeing their customers leave in droves.

In fact, 66 percent of consumers will switch companies if they have a bad experience, according to a report by Accenture. Because today's consumers are so fickle and because they have access to a variety of options, your business's customer experience needs to be on point — always.

I have a perfect example. Because I like to have coffee, one of my favorite places in my city is the two franchise restaurants that feature "pie" among a whole menu of options. There is one toward the south end one toward the north end. I no longer will go to the one on the north side. Why? Because the last three times I went there — yes, I gave them two more chances — I left feeling frustrated, disappointed and mad because it took 45 minutes to get my coffee, another 20 minutes to get what I had ordered — and when it came, it was wrong. I won't go back. The unfortunate thing is this poor manager thinks the reason the people aren't coming back is because there is some road construction. He didn't listen to what customers were experiencing. He didn't see his waitress was wearing an apron with a logo from her last job. He didn't understand why people were leaving with a frown.

So how do you know whether your customers' experiences are positive?

Some businesses conduct annual or semi-annual customer satisfaction surveys to take the pulse of their business and its performance. Yet, considering how quickly information flows nowadays, the data from those surveys often is stale by the time it has been collected and analyzed. Which isn't to say you should stop conducting customer satisfaction surveys, but they shouldn't be the only arrow in your customer-experience quiver.

SOURCE: POST BULLETIN 

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How Smartphones Help Retailers Do Mystery Shopping Better

Little doubt exists about the importance of mystery shopping to omnichannel retailers in ensuring a positive and consistent, 360-degree shopper experience.

Mystery shopping is a secret weapon of sorts, allowing retailers to recruit shoppers to visit specific stores to make and record observations about everything from customer service to display compliance. In the old days, this was done with a pencil and a clipboard, but just as smartphones with geo-location replaced paperback road atlases, mobile technology is bringing a new normal to the industry.

When it comes to smartphones in retail, the app is front and center. Retailers today use apps to communicate with in-store beacons and map store traffic patterns, to capture consumer data using rewards programs, and even to drive sales with geo-located, push notification coupons.

Mystery shopping is the next on the list for smartphone evolution. While traditional mystery shopping has its benefits, the crowd of smartphone users is infusing mystery shopping with a new degree of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Based on retail customer feedback, here’s a breakdown of each method’s unique benefits: 

Traditional Mystery Shopping

As a prevailing and well-understood methodology, traditional mystery shopping has serious street cred. It’s tried and tested, well-established and low risk in situations where the research process from problem to hypothesis to survey development and solution is well-defined.

Traditional mystery shopping has the advantage where familiarity, domain expertise and special skills are required. A large office supply retailer we work with uses this method for in-depth analysis of customer service, including store associates’ ability to diagnose and fix issues with products. Quick service restaurants (QSR) and niche retailers who require special skills to assess the quality and temperature of food or products also greatly benefit from old-school mystery shopping. However, for issues of scale and speed that don’t require particular expertise, retailers should turn to the smartphone.
Mystery Shopping Gone Mobile

The mobile flavor of mystery shopping relies on a crowd of smartphone users—and rather than tens of thousands of hired and trained mystery shoppers, the crowd is millions of users strong. Mobile-enabled shoppers can collect in-store data quickly and economically across a large geographic footprint, identifying local, regional or national trends to ensure consistency chain-wide. Mobile surveys can also be modified as hypotheses change.

Real-time, actionable feedback and alerts is one of the many advantages of mystery shopping gone mobile, allowing retailers across industries to identify and remedy issues related to inconsistent or competitor pricing, customer service indicators like store cleanliness, manager presence and associate knowledge, speed to checkout, promotional effectiveness and compliance and more. If something appears out of place, shopper feedback can alert the appropriate manager in real-time, who can take immediate, remediating action based on relevant KPIs. We’ve seen this with one of our major consumer electronics clients, who is using the crowd to determine when and where their marquee product is out-of-stock or missing a display.

A Successful Smartphone Strategy

Paired with current app-based and IoT initiatives, mobile mystery shopping helps create a 360-degree view of the “human condition” within stores. The crowdsourcing methodology is fundamental to this equation and has impacted our lives in many ways. Crowdsourcing is helping companies like Waze revolutionize navigation by allowing drivers to map and share real-time alerts about their commute. MyShake is crowdsourcing earthquake detection. Even the Smithsonian Institute has signed on, crowdsourcing history through its online Transcription Center. Though not (yet) as ubiquitous or buzzworthy, mobile mystery shopping is rapidly gaining traction in retail, providing retailers with insights that are critical in their quest to create a consistent, omnichannel experience.

It’s time to bring this smartphone-enabled technology in-store, to do mystery shopping better than ever before.

SOURCE: Multi Channel Merchant 
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Mystery Shoppers Uncovered Surprising Secrets About Local Supermarket Chains

Mystery shoppers at Checkbook Magazine uncovered some surprising secrets about local supermarket chains, and the results might just have you switching where you choose to buy food for your holiday meals.

Checkbook Magazine surveyed consumers and did its own mystery shopping to compare prices.

It shopped a list of 150 items at various chains all across the Delaware Valley, and what it found may surprise you.

Depending on your regular supermarket preferences, you might want to head elsewhere!

Click here to watch video from ABC6 News 

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Frustrated by Customer Service? Learn the Secrets of Super-Users

We asked career customer-service experts—including Consumer Reports “acquisition” pros, who pose as regular consumers (A.K.A. mystery shopppers) to sign up for services and buy the thousands of products we test—what works for them on the job or at home.

Pick Up the Phone
Eighty percent of those who participated in our national survey contacted a company that way. Half of them said it was the most effective way to resolve an issue. Real-time contact is often more efficient than e-mail, where there can be a wait of 24 to 48 hours for an answer, said Sharon Parker-Odom of Carmel, Ind., a Consumer Reports Facebook fan who worked in customer service for 26 years, three of them in call centers. Need a company’s number? Look under “investor relations” or “news,” or try websites such as Dial a Human and Get Human. 

Cut Your Hold Time
Try a free Web service like Lucy Phone, where you enter a company’s name or number, then give the service your phone number. It calls you back when a rep comes on the line. 

Bypass Automated Menus
The old ploy of pressing “0” (with or without the “#” sign) sometimes works. Another option: Forget support entirely and press the prompt for “sales” or “to place an order,” when companies are likely to roll out the red carpet. Dealing with a TV provider or telecom company? Leapfrog service and go directly to customer retention, where agents are empowered to negotiate. 

 Show—and Ask for—Empathy
Many customer-care reps are low-paid workers subject to poor treatment, and their opinions are rarely sought. If you’re in a store, act with sensitivity if you notice one of them being abused by another customer. When making your case, end with the words, “Can you help me?” He or she might not have the authority, so instead of making insults, politely ask to speak with a supervisor. You also might want to say, “Don’t you agree?” or “Would you want that done to you?” 

If Nothing Else Works, Escalate
We never suggest that you become uncivil, but if you’re stuck, be forceful. Companies rely on voice-recognition software to detect anger, sarcasm, and inflammatory phrases like “you people,” and will swiftly transfer you to an operator.

Try Live Chat
The option, if available, is just as effective as using the phone and is often faster. It also results in a transcript for follow-up purposes. Chat reps tend to be more senior than phone reps and have greater decision-making authority, said John Goodman, vice chairman of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting. 

Build a Case
You don’t have to be a lawyer to get satisfaction, but it helps to think like one. One of our shoppers was recently surprised when Verizon FiOS pulled the Weather Channel from his TV package, replacing it with the company’s own version. When he asked why it was removed, the response was a terse, “We’re just not doing it anymore.” So our shopper went Perry Mason: “ I signed a two-year contract; you changed the lineup and altered our agreement. The way I see it, that contract is null and void.” The representative ended up giving him a discount on his bill. 

Tell Your (Facebook) Friends
Many companies actively monitor social-media sites to intercept problems before they go viral and do greater damage, so you’re likely to get a quickk response, Goodman said. 

Take it to the Top
Contact the president’s or CEO’s office and ask to speak with an assistant. Or write the chief executive directly. Less than 2 percent of consumers do that, Goodman said, so executives pay attention. 

 Seek Outside Help
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers assistance with problems involving financial products and services such as loans, leases, debt collection, credit cards, and banks. File a complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint, and the federal agency will forward it to the company and work to get a response within a specified time frame. You can also share your story to help protect other consumers. 

Cancel and Come Back
Cable companies used to trip over each other trying to snatch a competitor’s customers with enticing incentives. These days, they seem to have no qualms about letting you walk. But believe it or not, that can work to your advantage. When the half-price HBO promo ended for one of our shoppers and the cable company refused to extend it, he dropped the package. “Once I quit, they offered it to me again—in the same phone call,” he said. Another shopper dropped Cablevision completely when his bill skyrocketed. After he quit, the company was willing to deal to regain his business.

SOURCE: Consumer Reports 

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Agency Invests Six-Figure Annual Sum in Mystery Shopping

The group with the best training program maintains its edge by secretly testing agents and interviewing all their buyers and sellers.

Hockingstuart, which won the Best Training & Education category at the recent Real Estate Business Awards, invests a six-figure annual sum in monitoring its agents, according to managing director Nigel O’Neil.

Mr O’Neil told REB that agents get mystery-shopped at least once a year, and usually twice, so Hockingstuart can ensure they’re implementing the ideas they learn at training.

“Every agent will be mystery-shopped around how they've been taught to handle an open for inspection, for example,” he said. “They'll get feedback on that mystery shopping, as will their office.

“We also call every vendor and every purchaser then, at settlement date, we talk to them about what their experience with Hockingstuart was like.”

Buyers and sellers are asked if they’d recommend Hockingstuart, with their feedback passed on to the agent and office.

Mr O’Neil said agents respond well to the mystery shopping because they understand it will improve their performance.

Consumers also enjoy being contacted because they like having the opportunity to voice their opinion, he added.

Mr O’Neil said Hockingstuart has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in improving its training and education over the past seven years.

“Our Net Promoter Score is +50 for vendors, which means one in two vendors we're speaking to are raving fans out there, telling everyone how good the experience was at Hockingstuart,” he said.

“That's getting towards international best practice. We've improved our vendor score – about a third were raving fans; we’re now up to half are raving fans.”

Mr O’Neil told REB he expected the real estate industry would place even great emphasis on training and education in coming years.

“If you look at what brands do for their agents, it's all about training and marketing, so to be the best at training means we're ahead of the game,” he said.

“The rest of it is around helping the agents market themselves through their database management.”

SOURCE: Real Estate Online 

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Police Use Mystery Shoppers to Improve Customer Service

STAFF at the county's police stations and call centres will be tested by mystery shoppers in a bid to improve "good old fashioned customer service.

Staffordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis has launched a mystery shopper scheme to make sure people get a high-quality service from police.

Mystery Shoppers visit police front desks, make calls to the non-emergency 101 number and seek information on the force's website.

Their feedback – positive or negative – will be fed to the force's Ethics, Transparency and Audit Panel and the police will also get a copy highlight where things are being done well or where improvement is needed.

"This is about good old fashioned customer service," said Mr Ellis.

Source:  Staffordshire Newsletter

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Job's Attraction is No Mystery

Last weekend, I was eating lunch with my friend Barry - just grabbing some burgers at a drive-through joint - and he asked for a separate receipt for his No. 2 combo meal.

A receipt for $5 meal on a Saturday? OK, what's up?


Well, my friend Barry has been keeping a secret from me.

Since January, Barry (not even close to his real name) has been a "mystery shopper," specializing in, no mystery here, restaurants. Barry is a good eater.

He dines and dashes … off a note with his opinion of the restaurant to the mystery shopper company, which in turn forwards it to restaurant executives.

And Barry makes out like a bandit. A well-fed, well-paid bandit.

"I hooked up with the company when I noticed a toll-free number on the bottom of a receipt I got from a restaurant. I called them, and they offered me a tryout to be a mystery shopper. They asked how many miles from my house I was willing to travel. I put down 50 miles - the most on the application - because I live way out in Fort Bend County and I wanted to hit restaurants in Houston. I visited a few restaurants for them, and they hired me," said Barry, who is an accountant when he's not eating for free and reporting just the facts, ma'am.

Here's how the mystery shopper deal works.

Each week, the mystery shopper company posts the names of restaurants and other businesses (its clients) who want to hear how they're doing. It's called the Mystery Shopper Job Board. The restaurants will ask specific questions about service, cleanliness, parking, personal safety - pretty much the entire customer experience.

Except one thing. Mystery shoppers are not food critics. They are not asked if they enjoyed the food. Alison Cook need not apply.

His first job was Five Guys, one of his favorite burger places. Nice work if you can get it.

"I ordered the regular burger, fries and a fountain drink. I watched for how long it took to prepare my meal, how clean the restaurant was, the service, how friendly, how efficient. I gave it straight As," Barry said.

Each restaurant also lists how much they're willing to reimburse the mystery shopper and how much the mystery shopper will earn on top of that.

Two weeks ago, Barry and Mrs. Barry went to Churrascos. They were allowed to spend up to $150 between them, and Barry picked up $25 for his time and work.

I know what you're thinking … how do I get that job?

Next time, look at the bottom your restaurant receipt. You may see a toll-free number.

Barry said he averages about 50 restaurant visits a month.

"It's not a career, you won't get rich doing this, but it's really good walking-around money. And I get to eat in some really good restaurants," he said.

And some, well, not really good restaurants.

"There's one fast-food chain that drives me a little crazy. One thing they demand is, I have to order the dish the way it normally comes. I can't tell them to hold the pickles, or substitute ketchup for mayonnaise. This one fast-food chain puts onions on their burgers. I hate onions, so I have to open up the burger and take off the onions," Barry said.

Poor baby.

Upscale restaurants usually will cover dinner for two. Fast-food restaurants, you're on your own.

The most he makes (above the food bill) is $25. The smallest pay check is $2, typically from a fast-food chain.

Some days, he eats three meals as a mystery shopper.

"I'll look at what restaurants are offered and plot them geographically, so I don't have to go out of my way. I don't like having to double back or drive too far in the wrong direction," he said.

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a lazy mystery shopper. Go the extra mile? He won't go the extra block if he can avoid it.

Barry likes to think of himself as a versatile mystery shopper. Next week, he's visiting a boutique that sells adult videos, toys for the boudoir and sexy lingerie. He is supposed to say he's buying a nightie for his wife.

He's getting paid for this?

His most difficult assignment was a supermarket that sold health-food products.

"They gave me a list of about 100 things, and I had to find them in the store and see if they were displayed properly. I'd never heard of 75 of the products," he said.

Let me guess, they were vegetables. Barry is a burger guy. The only vegetables he eats are french fries and onion rings.

Next week, he's also grading a convenience-store gas station.

"I'll be checking to see if the store is clean, if everything has a price on it, if the prepared foods are displayed right. I'll see if the attendant is wearing his uniform. Outside, I'll check to see if there's water and a squeegee for customers to clean their windshield, and if the curb is painted the right color."

George Carlin joke: You know why gas station bathrooms are always locked? They're afraid that someone may break in and clean them.

Once, it almost broke his heart to give a restaurant, specifically one waitress, a poor grade.

"The funny thing is, most Hooters get perfect scores from me. They deliver the customer experience exactly as promised. But this time, my Hooters Girl wasn't wearing her uniform properly and she didn't tell me the specials. She said her name was Jazz, but her name tag said Bambi. She just didn't fit the bill of what a Hooters Girl is supposed to be. But she was the exception, by far," Barry said.

Barry should be a mystery shopper in a New York City taxi cab. The photo on the hack license on the dashboard may not match the guy driving 60 miles per hour down 8th Avenue like the "Dukes of Hazzard." And where I get my hair cut, yeah, sometimes the person matches the license on the mirror.

He's checked out other cities to see what places they have available for mystery shoppers.

"One mystery shopper company has a massage studio listed. I'd be all over that," Barry said.

The rub is, the company is in Phoenix. 

Source: Houston Chronicle 

If you're considering implementing a mystery shopper program for your company, or would like to join us as a mystery shopper, we'd love to have you join us!
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Making Sense of the Data

  All of the data in the world is useless without meaningful interpretation. Our powerful software allows us to tailor and deliver information to you in the way that best fits your organization. Details of individual visits, actionable management reports, trending performance reports and dashboards delivered to your team via email, accessible through a secure web portal, or integrated and delivered to your corporate information systems is your choice. The ability for you to read and understand the data whenever you want to is paramount. Learn more about our measurement reports HERE!

If you're considering implementing a mystery shopper program for your company, or would like to join us as a mystery shopper, we'd love to have you join us! 

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After the Assignment is Completed -- What's Next?

 

Once the assignments have been completed and submitted, they are then reviewed by our internal quality review team to ensure the shops were done correctly, the information is accurate, and have proper grammar, spelling and good content.

Once the reports are approved, you (or any number of other managers) instantly receive a copy of the completed audit reports in a PDF format by email. Additionally, we have a host of other on-line reports available which help you further analyze your data. Following is just an example of benefits of our reporting system:

• Robust yet user-friendly dynamic on-line functions
• Automated email delivery of mystery shop reports in a PDF format to designated management
• Photos, videos and wave files can be up-loaded and attached to the reports
• Customized email messaging based on the overall score of an individual shop
• Ad-hoc reporting with the ability to drill all the way down to a single location and report
• Ability to export data for further internal analysis
• Results over various periods of time; reporting by question and by category
• Overall YTD analysis by location separated by various channels, levels, or in ascending order
• Monthly graphical executive summary reports detailing what areas of service need addressed
• Customizable email distribution list by restricted access
• Multiple sorting options on both drill down and mystery shop reports
• Ability to order new customized reports and features

Top Mistakes to Avoid When Completing a Mystery Shopping Assignment

 One easy way to improve your shop rating is to make sure you are providing a clean, concise mystery shop report every time.  Here are the most important things to avoid when completing your assignment as a mystery shopper: 

• Copying and pasting shop information.   Each mystery shop is unique, so each mystery shop report should be unique to each individual shop.  Clients do not accept reports with copied or “canned”comments, as they expect each unique mystery shop/audit visit’s conversation to be reported individually. That’s what they are paying for. Copied or canned comments imply that the mystery shopper did not make the required observations or give them full attention. 

•  Writing your report in ALL CAPITAL letters.  Mystery shopper businesses cannot submit a report to  clients if it is not written using correct sentence case, using both capital and lower case letters.  

• Not using a spell check.  Use caution; spell check will not catch words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly.  For example, their, they’re and there are all spelled correctly and sound the same, but have very different meanings.

• One word answers.  If there is a text box after a question, be sure to answer in a complete sentence. 

• Avoiding the question.  Be sure you are answering the question asked.  Make sure you do not get off topic.  

• Not submitting your validation documents on time or legibly.  Mystery shop reports without the proper validation documents cannot be used.  Be sure to submit a clean copy of these documents, blurry photos cannot be accepted. 

Original Article via Confero

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What Is An On-Site Mystery Shop?

On-site mystery shopping is one of the most traditional and effective methods for gathering feed-back on your guests’ experience. Through the use of on-site mystery shoppers, you can gain in-valuable insight into how your customers feel about doing business with your company as well as their overall level of satisfaction of the customer service they receive from your employees, and how likely they are to do business with you in the future.

Unlike customer surveys, you can direct the shoppers on what departments they should visit, what items they should buy, how they should behave, what questions they should ask and what items they should inquire about.

As a portion of our training and shopper preparation for each assignment, we provide the mystery shoppers with what the guest satisfaction experience should look like in an ideal situation based on your non-negotiable standards for service so the actual experience can be measured against those standards.

Additionally, we can require the shoppers to take photos of specific items, receipts or signage so you can see the actual conditions during their visit rather than just reading about them. This feature allows you to validate the information and provide visual feedback to your employees.

Like all other services, Mystery Shopper Services will work with you to custom design a program around your specific needs and unique standards for doing business to ensure the information you receive back is accurate, reflective, and useful for making changes and implementing training.

If you're considering implementing a mystery shopper program for your company, or would like to join us as a mystery shopper, we'd love to have you join us!
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Mystery Shopping Demystified

 As a stay-at-home mom, Deva Roberts was "looking for a way to be able to bring home an income while still being able to care for my children. I had just found out I was pregnant with my fourth child and knew we would not be able to easily survive on the modest income my husband brought home. Two children in diapers is not cheap." Roberts has always been interested in human nature and is a natural born "people watcher." She pays close attention to detail and as a mystery shopper and customer service auditor she gets paid to do something she enjoys.

Mystery shopping companies pay shoppers an average of $10 to $30 for completing an assignment. Sometimes they are reimbursed for services, such as oil changes or meals at restaurants. It's a good opportunity for stay-at-home moms like Roberts; her children are 11, 8 and 3 years old with the youngest at 22 months old. Many assignments allow you to bring your children in tow. After all, the average customer has children too. Shoppers need to use caution when applying to mystery shopping companies. "One rule of thumb is never give money to a website that says you need to pay in order to get the names of mystery shopping companies because they are only out to steal from you," Roberts says. "If you stick with companies that belong to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, you are in good hands as they will not allow a mystery shopping company to be a member if they are not up to their standard."

When Roberts started out, she says the internet was her best friend when searching for information on mystery shopping. She did a Google search for "work from home" opportunities and stumbled across mystery shopping. "I was one of the lucky ones who found legitimate sites for mystery shopping for free," she adds. The more companies a shopper signs up with, the more likely they are to get regular assignments.

"There is no real 'investment' needed at first," Roberts says, "other than to have a computer with online access and a printer." However, you do usually start out using your own money for the mystery shop assignments themselves. Roberts explains you either request or get an assignment with a company you are signed up with. For example, there are clothing shops where you're required to make a purchase and you receive a reimbursement, but you won't get reimbursed for at least one month later. Your payment for the assignment and reimbursements can take anywhere from one to three months, depending on the mystery shopping company for whom the work was performed. Roberts' time is divided between working in the field and filling out reports that have to be submitted before the company she has completed the assignment for will pay her.

After the visit, the mystery shopper goes online to transmit the report to the mystery shopping company, who then edits the report and verifies it for authenticity. Once the editors give the report the final review, results are available online to the managers. Reports are often delivered to the company within 24 hours of the evaluation. Since everything is web-based, businesses are able to view all their reports in one place.

As a stay-at-home mom, Roberts gets paid up to $1,000 a month while she works part-time. She quickly discovered that networking with others in her business and perfecting observational skills is a must if you want to be good at your craft.

This article was excerpted from Weekend Entrepreneur: 101 Great Ways to Earn Extra Cash, available from Entrepreneur Press.

If you're considering implementing a mystery shopper program for your company, or would like to join us as a mystery shopper, we'd love to have you join us! 

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