How to use Mystery Shopping to Improve your Business

If you want to know your customers’ perceptions about your company why not ask them!

Of course it isn’t that easy to do inhouse, British ‘niceness’ often interferes with the honest feedback we are all looking for. So let's tackle the challenges...
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Mystery Shopping exercises allow businesses to get quick, reliable and quality feedback from the customers perspective. It is an invaluable tool in aiding the evaluation of teams customer care performance levels, sales ability, training budgets and company values and mission statements.

How to….know your brand’s reputation
Your customers opinion of your brand will determine whether they tell all their friends about you, most likely on social media, or shout to all their friends about you (not in a good way). We all know bad news travels fast, but do you have the customer knowledge about your brand? Mystery shopping highlights your real buying process, if there are any gaps between your vision of your brand, and your customers we will find them.

How to…find out what your competitors are doing
We area all curious about what our neighbours in business are doing. Mystery shopping your competitors will give you valuable information on their locations, pricing, service, new products and any unique selling points (USPs). You may find more of your own USPs by identifying what the competition do not provide. A well established business must know what the competition is doing.

How to…train your team
So how do your teams act when you are not there? Mystery shopping highlights your teams professionalism, knowledge, sales and customer service skills and overall helpfulness. With recorded calls and in video footage you can provide key information on each employees strengths and weaknesses to target training to a particular branch, shop, office location increasing effectiveness and efficiency for your trainers. Remember your customers buy your team, your credibility, as well as your product/service…what are you selling?

How to…streamline your sales process 
Secret shopping creates a step by step sales process, it may not be the one you imagine it to be…do your team actually ask for the booking or to buy the product on every call or contact with the customer? You can find the gaps and fill them by altering your internal processes and procedures.

How to…live the customers shopping experience
Mystery shoppers evaluate the whole experience, the feel, look, the point of sale materials, cleanliness, space, accessibility even tidiness of the products/services and your branch/store/office. You need to know how your premises look when your customers are buying, and you are not there (or expected!). Video footage is an excellent example of how you can see through your customers’ eyes. With recorded phone calls you can get the feel of the atmosphere in the office whilst on the phone, especially the hold button!

These how to’s can be integrated into one campaign, or used individually. Mystery shopping can analyse and objectively measure staff interactions, the quality of your premises and the buying experience across your entire company, one location or hundreds…and you guessed it we can help!
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For more information on mystery shopping call or email hello@the4groupuk.com

#CustomerMapping #CustomerJourney #MarketResearch #MakeAChange