Last Updated on Mar 12, 2020 by James W

31801801_m

Copyright: gdolgikh / 123RF Stock Photo

If you want to take an unbiased look at your business and see whether or not you are achieving your goals and offering high quality customer service, you might want to consider using a mystery shopper service. By having mystery shoppers come in and test the performance of your business, you will be able to spot any areas that you might need to improve in.

A mystery shopper is someone who comes into your location under the guise of being a customer and conducts a sales interaction, while making observations about the service that they receive. They will then write a report about their experience – the positives and the negatives. The insight gathered from this can be incredibly helpful and can help you to see where your business is lacking.

So what are the factors that using a mystery shopper can help you to measure? Here are some of the important things that mystery shopping can make you aware of:

Is Your Shop Floor Organised and Welcoming?

Of course, the shop usually looks neat and tidy when you come to visit – but maybe that is because your employees know when the boss will be around and they make an extra effort. How does your business look on a random Tuesday afternoon when your employees don’t know they are being observed? A mystery shopper can tell you whether things are being kept neat and tidy and whether products are being displayed properly with the right signage and labels. If the shop doesn’t look the way it should, this is an issue that you can discuss with your employees in order to find out what is wrong and how you can help fix it.

Read more
Simple Hacks on How to Make Your Business More Money

Are Staff Following Protocol for Customer Service?

Your mystery shopper will let you know whether or not they were greeted within 30 seconds of entering the store and if they were asked specific questions that your sales staff were coached on. If your staff are not following the guidelines that you have set out for interactions with customers, this information will let you know so that you can set up a meeting and find out why.

Are Complaints Dealt With in a Satisfactory Way?

One of the most important factors in customer service is the way that your staff handle complaints, whether you are running a restaurant, a hotel or a retail store. Your mystery shopper can be instructed to approach your business with a complaint, in order to report back on how it is dealt with. Did the mystery shopper feel like their issue was listened to and respected? Was a satisfactory solution offered? Were the employees polite and understanding? If the complaint was not handled well, this might be a sign that further customer service training is required in this area for your employees.

Also mystery shoppers can make special requests and observe how the staff deals with them – such as a mystery shopper in a restaurant stating that they are lactose intolerant.

Are Standards of Cleanliness and Grooming Being Adhered to?

A mystery shopper can also observe whether standards of grooming are being followed by employees and whether the store is being kept clean. These are the types of things that employees usually pay a lot of attention to when they know they are being observed, but that they might be more relaxed on when they think that no one is checking.

Read more
How to Turn Your Apartment Into a Money Maker

Is Your Company Missing Out on Add-On Sales Opportunities?

The mystery shopper can also report back on whether or not your employees are using add-on sales tactics and up-selling to customers. These suggestive selling techniques, when done well, can be a very powerful way to generate increased sales. When you know whether or not your employees are using these techniques, you can talk about how they could improve and make suggestive selling second nature. You could even create a reward incentive program that offers positive encouragement for employees that use add-on suggestive sales techniques.

These are just a few of the ways that a mystery shopper could benefit your business. Mystery shoppers allow you to measure and observe the factors that you might not be able to see. They will give you a perspective of your business from the point of view of the average customer – offering you an honest report of where things are working and what you need to improve. To find out more, contact a field marketing company and ask them about their mystery shopping services.

Author

Founder and chief editor of makemoneyinlife.com Blogger, Affiliate Marketer, Tech and SEO geek. Started this blog in 2011 to help others learn how to work from home, make money online or anything related to business and finances. You can contact me at makemoneyinlife@gmail.com