• Consumers Give Big Boxes Big Grins
  7-16-2006
  
  
• Report: C-Stores Need to Smile
  7-14-2006
  
  
• Fix my ride, and show some respect, too
  5-15-2006
  
  
• Restaurants coming back to mystery shoppers
  3-29-2006
  
  
• Mystery Shopping Improves Bottom Line For Businesses
  3-8-2006
  
  
• Survey Suggests Today's Motorists Prefer 'New' Over 'Old'
  3-2-2006
  
  
• Mystery shoppers: National Shopping Service, based in Rocklin, is a major player in sending out undercover operatives
  1-28-2005
  
  
• Mystery Shopping: How to Become a Mystery Shopper
  8-6-2004
  
  
• Undercover shoppers prowl U.S. stores.
  6-6-2004
  

• CVBT:Survey
  07-05-2006
  
  
• Sacramento Business Journal: North American retail employees offer more smiles
  07-03-2006
  
  
• The Providence Journal: Auto Digest
  05-07-2006
  
  
• The Fresno Bee: Mystery Shopper
  04-23-2006
  
  
• Sacramento Business Journal: Whispers
  03-31-2006
  
  
• The St. Augustine Record
  03-04-2006
  
  
• Secret Agents: They're paid to visit restaurants and markets, then evaluate service.
  01-14-2006
  
  
• Sen Ken: Daily News of The Fashion Business
  6-25-2005
  
  
• MJ Niikkei Marketing Journal
  6-3-2005
  
  
• Shop for free, get paid too: Mystery shoppers evaluate customer service undercover
  11-30-2004
  
  

• Convenience Store Decisions: Big Box Stores Offer More Smiles to Customers
  7-13-2006
  
  
• Supermarket News: North American Retailers Smile More Than Europeans, Says Survey 7-6-2006
  
  
• Import Automotive: Customer service is an effective and affordable way to differentiate your shop
  6-1-2006
  
  
• National Petroleum News: Customers prefer substance over perks.
  5-10-2006
  
  
• Automotive Body Repair News: Survey says car repair customers prefer substance over perks.
  5-3-2006
  
  
• Gas Customers Prefer Functionality Over Frill.
  3-8-2006
  
  
• Brandweek: Dude, Don't Go Near My Car.
  3-6-2006
  
  
• Mystery Shoppers Measure Service.
  10-17-2005
  
  
• Extreme Sports Powers Mystery Shoppers.
  03-16-2005
  
  
• No-Tech CRM: How to improve customer satisfaction without relying on software, servers, and screen pops.
  3-1-2005
  
• Improving Suggestive Selling Initiatives.
  12-1-2004
  

A survey compiled by the International Mystery Shopping Alliance and National Shopping Service credits American retail workers with offering a smile to customers 88 percent of the time overall. Employees of mass merchandising stores, such as Wal-Mart, Kmart or Target, led the way in 2005 at 98 percent.

"Retailers are focusing on the essence of good customer service as a way to gain and keep a customer, as well as a competitive advantage," Tony Yorba, Executive Vice President of National Shopping Service, said. "A smile inspires positive attitudes and a willingness, even a happiness, to patronize.

"Consistently offering a welcoming smile is an age-old proven business technique," Yorba continued. "But in this day and age, there are so many choices available to customers. So to operationalize the right impression, and the right customer experience, is key to customer retention - and leadership - in any industry."

Clothing and specialty store employees moved up in the standings, placing second on the 2005 smile survey at 96 percent - a slight increase from their third-place finish in 2004. Jewelry and accessories was next at 93 percent, moving from fourth place to third. Cosmetics finished fourth at 91 percent.

Grocery/supermarket workers ranked lowest on the list of 10 American industries surveyed by IMSA with 85 percent. In the 2004 survey, grocery/supermarket placed sixth (90 percent) out of six industries surveyed.

Automotive employees placed ninth (85 percent) and bookstore workers ranked eighth (86 percent) in 2005. Convenience store employees experienced the biggest survey drop, falling from No. 2 (96 percent) in 2004 to No. 7 (89 percent) in 2005.

Founded in 1972, Rocklin, CA-based National Shopping Service offers businesses a unique combination of mystery shopping resources and measurement solutions focused on brand alignment and customer retention. Using state-of-the-art data collection methods, Web-based technologies and proprietary processes, National Shopping Service provides managers with actionable information necessary to understand and affect customer loyalty while improving overall business performance.

On average, the study found that American retail employees offer smiles to its customers 88 percent of the time. In 2005, the study showed that c-store employees offer a smile to customers 89 percent of the time, putting them at seventh place.

C-stores saw the biggest shift, dropping from second place in 2004 where it scored 96 percent.

"Consistently offering a welcoming smile is an age-old proven business technique," said Tony Yorba, executive vice president of the National Shopping Service. "But in this day and age, there are so many choices available to customers. So to operationalize the right impression and the right customer experience, is key to customer retention -- and leadership -- in any industry."

"Retailers are focusing on the essence of good customer service as a way to gain and keep a customer as well as a competitive advantage." He added "A smile inspires positive attitudes and a willingness, even a happiness, to patronize."

The big box industry, lead by Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target ranked first for the second year in a row, with 98 percent of employees giving service with a smile.

The survey was based on 105,654 mystery shopping trips in the U.S.

Fix my ride, and show some respect, too

BUSINESS BUZZ
May 15, 2006


Car repair customers insist on two things when they take a car in for work: a reasonable price and a clear explanation of what is being repaired, according to a nationwide survey conducted by National Shopping Service.

The organization interviewed 3,674 individuals.

Both men and women said they wanted the proposed repairs and service clearly explained, and didn't appreciate being spoken to in a condescending fashion.

Other priorities that emerged were:

Not wanting greasy fingerprints on the vehicle.

Receiving a written estimate and receipt.

Seeing posted prices for requested service.

Those being surveyed could choose the option of "Other" and write in their repair desires.

Requests included vending machines, a children's area, and reading material that was "less than two years old."

-- Michael Pollick







Restaurants coming back to mystery shoppers

News Brief...
March 29, 2006

Restaurant chains have traditionally been a key source of business for many mystery shopper organisations in the USA, providing one-third or more of domestic business. But by mid-2004, mystery shopping provider National Shopping Service says it had observed a definite downward trend, with restaurants providing only 28% of the company's revenue. By mid-2005, the proportion of the company's revenue coming from restaurants had fallen to 23.8% as restaurant chain operators began switching to interactive voice response (IVR) and other satisfaction survey tools. However, in 2006, the company says the tide has turned again: restaurants now account for over 30% of revenues so far, with a record number of new projects in development. "For an accurate picture, you need both quantitative, objective measurements and qualitative, subjective feedback," explained Tony Yorba, executive vice president for National Shopping Service. For example, restaurants and c-stores will see discrepancies when comparing actual wait times (from mystery shoppers) to perceived wait times (from IVR responses).







Mystery Shopping Improves Bottom Line For Businesses

by Daniel Dullum
March 08, 2006


Keeping a satisfied, repeat customer is an ongoing challenge that all retail outlets face, especially when it comes to building a solid bottom line.

Many factors – positive and negative – can influence bottom line performance, so quantifying the financial return on investment of any new initiative can be difficult. One solution for maintaining customer loyalty is the implementation of a solid mystery shopping program.

“Most companies create a mystery shopping program around a singular need, like an employee incentive or franchisee compliance program,” Matt Wozniak, president and CEO of National Shopping Service, said. “The department responsible for administering the mystery shopping program gathers the field observations and disseminates the information to their group. However, there is a plethora of data that can be extracted and utilized by almost every department within an organization.”

The behavioral return on investment in mystery shopping programs can be readily measured, though, provided the results are effectively used to change employee behavior.

For example, if a mystery shopping program reveals that employees fail to acknowledge customers when they enter the store 50 percent of the time, the company might take specific steps to ensure that employees understand that it is expected of them to greet customers within 30 seconds of arrival. Subsequent mystery shopping might reveal that customers are greeted within 30 seconds 95 percent of the time. Thus, the return for the company is that a specific expected employee behavior has improved by 45 percent.

The financial value of that improvement may be hard to gauge, but consider the benefits of customer retention: a customer who is made to feel welcome and valued is far more likely to do business with a company than a customer who is ignored.

“Customer turnover and defection is a killer for businesses,” said Wozniak. “Keeping a customer for three to six months probably won’t be long enough to recover your initial acquisition expense (advertising, promotions, etc.) for that customer.”

There’s no end to the ways a business can subtly build its bottom line, such as suggestive selling, soft selling, or add-ons. To an extent, all of it works. And it works even better when combined with the goal of maintaining a satisfied repeat customer.

“The numbers can be staggering when you look at how minute changes in frontline staff behavior can influence revenues into millions of dollars,” Wozniak said. “If done correctly, companies can generate a happier, better informed and more satisfied repeat customer.”

As a hypothetical example, Wozniak says that at a store averaging 7,000 transactions per week in a 100-store chain, motivating the frontline staff with incentive programs, actionable mystery shopping feedback and refresher training on suggestive selling can improve bottom line numbers dramatically.

“Just increasing the frequency of suggestive selling on items valued at $1 from the typical 10 percent to 11 percent of transactions, the annual gross revenue can increase by $364,000,” Wozniak explained. “The trick is discovering how managers can motivate frontline employees to consistently and effectively offer revenue-increasing items or services to the daily customer flow.”

Implementing a non-biased monitoring tool like a mystery shopping program, along with enhanced training and constructive feedback, is a step toward the goal of maintaining customer loyalty.

“Most staff members at a convenience store, for example, are initially uncomfortable selling because they’re cashiers, after all, not salespeople,” Wozniak said. “They feel as though they are bugging the customer or are being forced by management to sell something the customer didn’t want in the first place. And at peak customer flow times, suggestive selling becomes just another task that slows down queue times.

“If frontline staff understands effective and unobtrusive selling techniques and has feedback tied to incentive on their performance, the end result will be happier customers, staff receiving positive reinforcement for a job well done, and greater revenue – a win-win-win.”

Mystery shopping programs produce valuable information about customer expectations for a business’s product or service, and how the staff follows company directives. It’s all about the perception of brand performance and how it affects the bottom line.

“Contrary to popular belief, most customers don’t want an exceptional, over-the-top experience during every interaction,” Wozniak said. “They want a routine, pleasant, stress-free, predictable interaction. Exceeding the customer’s expectations every visit is not realistic and is not obtainable for any period of time.

“The key is to identify the correct opportunities for exceptional service and then execute your plan flawlessly and exceptionally.”

To determine which customer behaviors affect a business’s revenue and expenses, Wozniak suggests making a list of four steps.

Step 1: Outline what you want your customers to do more often or less often. Wozniak emphasizes that each item must be “measurable” and something “to be observed.”

“This list would not include customer feelings, opinions or attitudes. Only things that can be measured and observed,” Wozniak said.

Step 2: Wozniak suggests reviewing the list created in Step 1 and remove any items that cannot be influenced by staff interaction or equipment speed. The new list should only include items where specific staff behavior (or equipment performance) can influence customer behavior.

Step 3: Determine how the staff will need to be trained to affect each customer behavior modification, how it will be measured, how the incentives to perform will be implemented, and what equipment needs to be upgraded, refurbished or replaced – plus the cost to implement each part of the step.

Step 4: Create a potential revenue generation (or savings) for each customer behavior alteration process. These will be estimates.

In addition, historical references can be gleaned from mystery shopping providers based on an industry’s specific needs.

“For example, ‘What will we save if we reduce returns by 2 percent?’ or ‘What will we save if we can reduce shrinkage by 4 percent?’” Wozniak suggests. “Or to implement suggestive selling, a retailer could ask, ‘What would the affect be on gross revenue if we increase 10 percent of all sales by $2.50?’ or ‘What will the savings be if our 800 complaint line receives 7 percent fewer calls?’

“By comparing the costs in Step 3 to the potential additional revenue or savings in Step 4, a list of viable staff and equipment changes can then be put into place.”

Wozniak points out that covert operatives – or mystery shoppers – are typically a business’s existing customers. These shoppers are ideal for research because “they retain their individual perceptions of quality, service and cleanliness, but have been given fundamental client-based expectations.”

“Mystery shop data is best viewed over time, taking the aggregate picture as a more accurate representation of how your customers see you and your operation,” Wozniak said.

The theory is: Though customers generally are not experts in the businesses where they shop, they do know good service when they receive it, a quality product when they purchase it, and a maintained facility when they see it.

“Customers want to be comfortable with a business and know that they’ll always be treated right,” Wozniak concluded. “Customers also know that on those occasions when a business falls short – and they will – they’ll make an ‘exceptional’ recovery to show that they’re needed, and they want their business.”









Survey Suggests Today's Motorists Prefer 'New' Over 'Old'

National Association of Convenience Stores
March 2, 2006

ROCKLIN, CA -- A new study suggest that the nostalgia and services behind old-fashioned service stations may be ”a thing of the past” with today's time-pressed motorists.

According to a survey by the National Shopping Service, a mystery shopping and market research company, "drivers now have other priorities when filling up at their local self-serve station," such as personal safety, properly functioning dispensers, well-lit exteriors and speed of service.

"The data we gather in these nation-wide and global surveys produce immediate, invaluable insight for our industry-leading, customer-centric clientele," Matt Wozniak, president and CEO of the National Shopping Service, explained in a press release.

"These customer perceptions, often only a few hours old, allow corporate leaders to understand and focus on real-time consumer perceptions and desires. In the hyper-competitive, super-efficient, tight-margin world we live in, understanding, measuring and focusing on the correct consumer needs is paramount," Wozniak added.

The nationwide survey asked 3,671 gasoline station customers to rate their priorities for employee interaction. The survey found that old-fashioned service station services, such as checking under the hood and washing windshields, ranked near the bottom of respondents' lists.

The survey also found that convenience store customers "placed a premium on fresh food and coffee," as well as well-lit exteriors, visible price tags and clean restrooms.

Survey respondents also ranked clean and properly functioning nozzles, quick-fueling dispensers, customer service and getting a receipt for their purchases as top service station priorities.

Mystery shoppers
National Shopping Service, based in Rocklin, is a major player in sending out undercover operatives
By Jon Ortiz -- Bee Staff Writer
28 January 2005

Undercover agent #143806 strolled into the Sunrise Mall's Sam Goody store and looked for the DVD display.

Stocked? Check.

In alphabetical order? Check. Are "Spider-Man 2" and the latest "Harry Potter" DVDs prominent? Check.

She exchanges greetings with a store employee and examines the store's CD listening station for the newest Destiny's Child, Nelly and U2. Check, check, check.

Agent #143806 - the 34-year-old Elk Grove resident's name is being withheld to protect her anonymity - is an independent contractor for Rocklin-based National Shopping Service, one of the largest firms in the $1.5 billion U.S. mystery shopping "anonymous audit" industry.

Banks, boat dealers, bowling alleys and burger joints all use companies like National to get the unvarnished scoop on what is happening at cash registers and on sales floors.

"We send our operatives out with a specific set of criteria to observe based on our client's wishes," says Matt Wozniak, National's president and chief executive officer. "They answer a set of 'yes' and 'no' questions and support their answers with narratives."

The reports, which are scientifically scrubbed for biased shopper comments, undergo review and fact checking before they are collated and sent to the client via a secure Internet link.

National boasts 160,000 independent contractors internationally who check 30,000 shops each month. It has nearly 100 large corporate clients, including Minneapolis-based Musicland Group Inc., which has contracted for monthly evaluations of its Sam Goody, Suncoast Motion Picture Co. and Media Play stores, a total of 904 locations in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Agent #143806 is part of a high-tech cloak-and-dagger retail world in which agents gather "intel" during "covert actions" that may include video surveillance.

Musicland wouldn't say much about what it wants mystery shoppers to report, but some items are common: Were you greeted with a smile and eye contact? Was the bathroom clean? Was your change counted back to you?

Other assignments require using hidden cameras, tiny tape recorders and digital video cameras disguised as shirt buttons to record scenarios devised by the client company. Some recordings wind up in corporate boardrooms or on training videos.

"What the client does with the information is up to them," Wozniak says. "Many clients have reward programs for high scores or base promotions on the results."

Occasionally, says Musicland spokeswoman Laurie Bauer, Musicland will "move on" a manager for consistently low scores.

Mystery shoppers earn from $5 per visit to $200 for a "video shop." Sometimes the experience itself is the payment, maybe a three-day trip to Europe flying first class or a week at Club Med. Those missions are uncommon, however, and generally go to contractors with plenty of experience.

"We have one guy who makes $5,000 to $6,000 every month," says Wozniak. "This guy hustles, he's dependable and he even subcontracts some jobs."

Agent #143806 says she earns about $500 per month working part time for five mystery shopping firms.

"It's a pretty good job," says the stay-at-home mother of three children. "I can pick what I want to do, and a lot of the time I can take along my kids, like when I'm shopping apartments."

On this particular weekday, #143806 spends 20 minutes in Sam Goody, then leaves the store to answer two dozen questions about the experience from secretly jotted notes.

Musicland executives have nothing but praise for mystery shopping, saying it has helped the bottom line since the company started using it in 2003.

"We found out that nearly a third of our visitors couldn't find what they wanted," says Musicland spokeswoman Laurie Bauer. "So we started hiring and training people who are really into customer service. The result was an average 20 percent increase in dollars per register transaction."

The origins of mystery shopping are hazy, but the best guess is that it started about 65 years ago. Ex-police officers owned most of those early businesses and promoted the service as a way to stop employee and customer theft.

Today, about 1,000 mystery shopping firms operate in the United States, according to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, a Dallas-based trade organization. A few retailers handle mystery shopping in-house.

"We're one of the five to 10 biggest companies that get 80 percent of the business," Wozniak says. "The industry is consolidating."

It is also trying to pushing higher standards to cut down on its "flake-out rate" - the 50 percent of shoppers who sign on but don't follow through on assignments.

The MSPA has come up with a 15-minute online program that for $15 teaches shoppers about things like finding shopping jobs, expectations and pay. Those who pass the test are "silver certified" and can attend a one-day seminar for "gold" certification. The $99 class covers clandestine tricks of the trade and reinforces the industry's professional standards.

"You don't have to be certified to mystery shop, but when we see that someone has the training, they move to the front of the line," says Tony Yorba, National's executive vice president. "We know that certified people have taken the time and money to be trained, so they're likely to be reliable."

Mystery Shopping
How to Become a Mystery Shopper
By Steve Pearce
6 August 2004

Though the name itself may seem a bit mysterious, the concept of mystery shopping is actually straightforward. Also referred to as secret shopping, performance evaluations, service checks and frontline evaluations to name a few, mystery shopping allows companies to obtain a “snapshot in time” by trained researchers who know in advance what they are to evaluate. It provides management a method to quickly yet efficiently evaluate their business practices, deliverables, and employees from the perspective of a non-biased consumer.

Mystery Shopping Services

Mystery shoppers visit or call businesses posing as ordinary customers and provide detailed evaluations of their experience using written reports or questionnaires.

Mystery shopping is used in a wide variety of industries such as retail, restaurants, financial institutions, convenience stores and gas stations, service providers, manufacturers, department stores, travel and entertainment, etc.

Mystery Shopper Jobs

Though there is a certain level of responsibility and professionalism required to be an effective mystery shopper, you should never have to pay to get a job. There are dozens of companies claiming that by paying them a registration fee they will send you job opportunities and teach you the steps to becoming a shopper. This may be true, but is also completely unnecessary.

The legitimate mystery shopping companies in the industry NEVER charge fees to the shopper. Training, tips for improvement, and shopping opportunities are provided free to registered shoppers. Mystery shoppers are either paid a pre-arranged fee for a particular shop, a reimbursement for a purchase or a combination of both. Though it is possible to make a living solely from mystery shopping, it is not very common. Most shoppers view this as a second income source or as a way to obtain fully reimbursed meals, products, and services.

The registration process with leading mystery shopping companies has improved over the years. Most provide a simple online form that takes only a few minutes to complete. Once you have registered with a company or two, they will start informing you of shopping opportunities. Most of these are “first-come, first-serve”, so be sure to provide the company with an email address that you check regularly, and a phone number where you can be easily reached.

Be willing to accept last minute assignments and treat bottom-of-the-barrel assignments just like top-of-the-line assignments. At first, take whatever you can get. This will allow you to build a reputation with each company. The old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” is exceptionally true in this industry. Make sure you completely understand the instructions for the particular shop, be impartial, and focus on accuracy. You may be required to document employee names and descriptions, prices, inventory evaluations, etc.

Go hi-tech. More and more mystery shopping companies are requiring shoppers to have access to the Internet, email and a fax machine. Some shops even require the use of a digital camera to capture product placement, signage, cleanliness or other focus points.

Complete all assignments on time. If you absolutely cannot complete an assignment, contact the mystery shopping company immediately so they can reschedule the assignment. Dependable shoppers get the best assignments!

Assignments can be as basic as sitting in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant for 20 minutes to document drive-thru service times to taking an all-expense-paid trip to a resort for 2 weeks to document your daily service experiences.

Mystery Shopping Job Search Tips

Now that you understand the mystery shopping industry a little more clearly, the next step is to locate a few top mystery shopping providers and register, remembering that even if a firm doesn’t have a client in your area today, they may next month. Once registered with a company, it would not hurt to call or send an email to express your willingness to shop and to confirm your professionalism and attention to detail. Just make sure that you do not send an email full of typos and grammatical errors ­ definitely not the type of first impression that you want to leave.

Another method for finding potential shopping opportunities and to gather further industry knowledge is by monitoring online mystery shopping message boards and forums. To locate a few, type words like “mystery shopping message board” or “mystery shopping forum” into your favorite browser.

Mystery shopping may not become your next career, but it will provide you with some extra income, free goods, and maybe even a few adventures along the way!

Undercover shoppers prowl U.S. stores.
By Holly McKenna
6 June 2004
Reuters News

ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - Sandra Bachman leads a double life as an undercover agent for the FPI - Feedback Plus Inc., a company that hires "mystery shoppers" to spy on stores and restaurants to rate their products and service.

Bachman is one of thousands of mystery shoppers all over America who can get free meals, go on free vacations and watch free movies - in addition to being paid for their evaluations.

"I love doing it because it's fun to voice one's opinion," said Bachman, 43, who is engaged to be married to another mystery shopper. "So often we are frustrated with a shopping transaction and we have no way to complain. It's empowering."

A full-time undercover employee with Dallas-based FPI, Bachman visits restaurants, truck stops, automotive businesses and retail stores. She performs at least 10 jobs a month, earning $17-$125 per assignment, then reports her findings on line.

The most notable shopper is Jennifer Voitle, a former investment banker who earns $7,000 a month in shopping fees, not including freebies.

The profession has been around for more than 60 years and agents are in demand from the national headquarters of many major companies that want to evaluate the performance of a local restaurant or store.

Companies who employ mystery shoppers include Blockbuster, Starbucks, Citibank, jewelry chains, gas companies, mobile phone companies and the hotel industry.

Frederick's of Hollywood even uses mystery shoppers who have to try on bras and panties to get paid.

GROWTH INDUSTRY

As an industry, mystery shopping has grown to more than 1,200 companies in the United States, said Matt Wozniak, president of the 32-year-old National Shopping Service based in Rocklin, California, which is one of the country's top five companies with about 60 clients.

"There are only a handful (of businesses) who don't do it because most do," Wozniak said. "At our company, there are 30,000 individual observations every month."

Sometimes, digital audio and video equipment is used to collect information for what Wozniak calls "covert operations." They even use "pinhole" cameras on mystery shopping expeditions.

Most of the time, mystery shoppers take a pre-printed form into the store with them as a guide. Taking mental notes, they are asked to find out about customer service, including good eye contact, friendly attitude and knowledge about products and services.

They then go to a bathroom or a quiet aisle without employees and fill out the printed form.

However, on other occasions the form is not enough. Wozniak said a pinhole camera placed inside a personal paging device is used when there is a lot of detailed discussion between a customer and the salesman or saleswoman.

"The client is looking for eye contact, tone of voice and body language," he said.

There are no revenue totals available for the mystery shopping industry, but top companies each have three to four multimillion-dollar clients, Wozniak said.

The Mystery Shopping Providers Association based in Dallas represents only a fraction of the companies - 130 U.S. companies and 40 European businesses.

"Most people don't work full-time as mystery shoppers," said executive director John Swinburn. "There are hundreds of thousands of people listed in databases to use any time."

UNDERCOVER BUYING

Vicky Henry, chief executive officer of Feedback Plus, which has been around for 31 years, said she has done her own share of undercover buying over the last 21 years.

"The beauty of mystery shopping is a way for you to get information you can't get any other way," she said. "Employees automatically know they give better customer service if they know any one of their customers are mystery shoppers."

The average consumer can become a mystery shopper simply by searching for secret shopper companies on the Internet and signing up on a Web page. Other mystery shoppers are found through newspaper ads and referrals. Training is done on-line or in person.

At times, mystery shoppers are revealed to reward a job well done by employees, who also receive money or a gift, Henry said.

To assist newcomers to the profession, several publishing companies have created on-line directories that provide direct access to on-line applications for companies actively seeking mystery shoppers.

In the meantime, shoppers like Bachman earn a salary while doing their favorite activity - shopping.

"I like the restaurants best," Bachman said. "It's fun getting paid to eat out!"

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Mystery Shopper
This undercover customer evaluates services, products, and gets a few perks.

Sunday, April 23, 2006
By Tracy Correa / The Fresno Bee


For several years, Judy Harlan got restaurant meals, coffee at Starbucks and even a few grocery items paid for — along with a little extra money for her time — in exchange for evaluating products and customer service at a host of Fresno-area businesses.

She was a mystery shopper, part of a growing $600million industry in the United States.

Mystery shoppers are undercover customers whom businesses rely on to evaluate everything from customer service to whether a restaurant meal met company standards.

"It's a good way to find out if people are doing their jobs," says Harlan, who worked for Los Gatos-based Infotel Inc., a company that employs mystery shoppers to check on businesses ranging from gas stations to fast-food chains.

National retailers and even banks are increasingly turning to mystery shopping agencies in an effort to improve service.

A 2005 survey by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, shows that retailers rely on mystery shoppers more than any other industry. Retail was closely followed by banking/financial and then fast food. The same report showed that the mystery shopping industry grew about 11.1% from 2003 to 2004.

About 180 mystery shopping businesses make up the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, which hosts annual industry conventions in the U.S. and in Europe. These are businesses that retain rosters of shoppers they can employ to go undercover for a fee. They often recruit shoppers with newspaper advertisements and on the Internet.

This advertisement recently appeared in The Fresno Bee:

"Mystery shoppers earn up to $150 daily. Undercover shoppers needed to judge retail and dining establishments."

David Rich, president of the association, says services provided by the mystery shopping industry are important to businesses because these provide an in-depth, unbiased gauge for performance. The information then can be used for improvement or to reward employees who get it right.

"It's a lot of work," says Rich, who is also president of a mystery shopping business, ICC Decision Services in Wayne, N.J. "What companies are looking for is someone to go in and objectively measure what their standards are."

He says companies are wanting to know a lot more than whether their employees were courteous and helpful — they want detailed information. Rich says the work goes far beyond making a purchase and jotting down a few notes.

Rich says he works with businesses to draft programs that will best serve them, ones that can help them get the best information possible for the goals they have in mind.

Tony Yorba, executive vice president of National Shopping Service, a mystery shopping company based in Rocklin, near Sacramento, says customer satisfaction surveys give a business only basic information. Mystery shopping provides a more detailed analysis, he says.

"Customer satisfaction measurements will tell you whether a food is too hot or too cold. Mystery shopping results tell you how hot or too cold it was," Yorba says.

"We are there to measure the level of adherence to their [company] standards, whatever their standards may be — a certain greeting, ambience, degree of cleanliness," he says.

Harlan, who co-owned a fundraising business with her husband in Fresno, got involved in mystery shopping to make some extra money. When she got an assignment, she was told where to go and what to purchase with the promise that she would be reimbursed and paid a small fee after she filled out a detailed, online questionnaire with questions specific to the business and the visit. Eventually, her daughter and husband became mystery shoppers, too.

"I remember one of the earlier assignments that was really fun was to go to Bob's Big Boy," she says. The main task was to make sure that employees remembered to offer whatever promotion the restaurant had going on at the time.

She says she liked the assignment because the employees were awarded a prize for doing it correctly.

Harlan also mystery shopped at Sweet Tomatoes, a salad bar and buffet restaurant. She says mystery shoppers were expected to answer very detailed questions about their dining experiences. The questionnaire was so detailed, Harlan often had to take notes while eating at the restaurant.

"I tried to be discreet," she says.

The restaurant was focused on customer service and wanted to know the names of employees who tended to customers, she says.

"If I couldn't get a name and it wasn't obvious and I didn't feel comfortable asking, they wanted a description."

Starbucks was also one of Harlan's assignments.

"That was a kick," but it was a lot of work, too, she says.

The specialty coffee chain, Harlan says, wanted to ensure not only that service was good, but that the product being sold met company standards.

Harlan recalls having to buy latte, than having to run out to her car. "We had to test the temperature of the beverage, and the weight. They gave us a thermometer and a scale."

She says she would sometimes visit up to three Starbucks stores a day. "They tell you the day, time frame. ... Everything was very detailed."

Harlan stopped being a mystery shopper about two years ago because her husband was ill. She also says the work was becoming increasingly demanding and the pay too little.

"I think the biggest check I got was $100. It was a lot of work ... all the things you have to remember," she says.

Starbucks officials couldn't be reached for comment for this story. Attempts to reach other retailers that have relied on mystery shoppers also were unsuccessful. Those who hire mystery shoppers for businesses explain that rarely do the businesses want to publicize the programs.

"Businesses that use them don't always want to talk about it," Rich says. There may not be a benefit to letting the competition know what you are doing, he adds.

Yorba says most shoppers don't get rich being mystery shoppers. But they can make decent money.

"Shopper pay ranges from $5 to $5,000 a month, depending on what you do and what market you live in. The busier ones are in the bigger cities," he says.

His company, launched in 1972, uses from 3,000 to 5,000 mystery shoppers every month and works on behalf of about 85 businesses. "We are in every nook and cranny," he says. "Fresno is one our growing markets."

Stefan Doomanis, vice president of Dynamic Advantage Inc. in Burbank, says his company's mystery shoppers range from students to retired people.

"Some people do it for a living; some people for the merchandise," he says, explaining that retail outlets let mystery shoppers keep what they buy.

Doomanis says that, generally, mystery shoppers will get a service fee ranging from $12 to $50.

Mystery shopping companies generally strive to deploy a mystery shopper whose profile would fit with the type of customer the business would be expected to attract. For example, Doomanis says he probably wouldn't send a 95-year-old woman to buy big truck tires.

"We would want somebody knowledgable and excited about what they are buying," he says.

"We have to match whatever demographic the business site is catering to," Yorba adds. "Like a big and tall [clothing] store is probably going to want someone big and tall."

Mystery shopping companies stress that being a mystery shopper isn't easy. It is involved work that requires the shopper to be observant and detail oriented. In fact, if shoppers aren't good at supplying the precise information the companies are seeking, their work can be rejected and they probably won't be called on additional assignments.

The Mystery Shopping Providers Association also cautions that the increased popularity of mystery shoppers has led to industry scams.

The scams, in the form of advertisements, including e-mails, promise consumers rewards such as shopping trips, dinners and other gifts for a one-time fee that can help consumers get paid to shop. Getting leads on mystery shopping assignments should not cost, those in the industry say.

Rich says the best thing about mystery shopping is that it is good for business, especially competitive industries where trying to measure performance doesn't always come down to dollars and cents.

"We have a measure for profit, for sales, but there isn't any sort of measurement for service," he says. This is where mystery shopping comes in, he adds.

Shop for free, get paid too
Mystery shoppers evaluate customer service undercover
By CHRISTIAN DANIELSEN
30 November 2004

As you walk in the popular clothing store's entrance, you notice the dusty shelves and a shirt that looks like it's been lying on the floor for weeks. A young female employee approaches you in exactly 45 seconds and asks if she can help, but she doesn't smile and she has a stain on her shirt. The lights are pleasantly dim. You make a mental note of it all.

You're not obsessive-compulsive. You're a mystery shopper.

Every year, thousands of retail companies hire people to go to their store locations, pretending to be ordinary shoppers while critiquing anything from customer service to the cleanliness of the windows. In exchange, companies usually reimburse mystery shoppers for purchases made on their "shops" and sometimes even pay them small fees.

Mystery shoppers provide evaluations that help companies determine what's working in their stores, and what isn't. With the holiday season approaching, many companies will hire mystery shoppers to help them get their stores in top shape.

"Mystery shoppers provide a snapshot of the customer experience," said Jana Conley, spokesperson for the Mystery Shopper Providers Association. "Companies use the information to understand trends and improve their business."

Getting paid to shop isn't all rewards, however. The field is intensely competitive; many jobs are snapped up within hours of a company's request. An average shop only pays $15 to $20, often in store merchandise, and some companies may ask for extensive and detailed reports.
These hurdles make mystery shopping a part-time job for most people. But for those who are serious and establish a good reputation, the rewards can be substantial.

"One of the most extravagant shops we did was sending a shopper to a resort in Vail," said Steve Pearce, a director for nationalshoppingservice.com. "For about 30 minutes of note-taking a day, she got a room for eight days and seven nights, airfare, food, drinks, rentals, massages, day trips -- all covered."

To earn the upper-tier shops, a shopper must establish a track record of good performance. A shopper might have to put in time at less glamorous locations -- like gas stations or fast food chains -- before they are offered a restaurant or a hotel. Good writing skills, attention to detail and quick turnaround times for reports are also critical.

Besides the material payoff, Pearce said, many people are attracted to the undercover nature of the job.

"It's fun and mysterious," he said. "A lot of [mystery shoppers] are almost like actors -- we give them a job and say 'here's what you're going to be pretending today.'"

People wanting to get their feet in the door should start with the Internet, where hundreds of sites provide message boards and links to potential jobs. Beginning shoppers should be wary of sites that require a fee, as the information is usually available free of charge.

Although all kinds of people work as mystery shoppers, Pearce added, the flexible hours and fun payoffs make it attractive to college students.

"It's a good way to make side money," he said. "The cool thing is a lot of these shops are things you can do in your spare time."

Survey: Customers prefer substance over perks
NATIONAL PETROLEUM NEWS

May 10, 2006

Personal safety and properly functioning pumps top the list of current customer concerns, according to a nationwide survey conducted by National Shopping Service, Rocklin, Calif. Drivers expressed a preference for "getting in and getting out as soon as possible." They also indicated a preference for facilities with a "well-lit exterior."

Other top priorities for those surveyed include:
- Having a clean gas nozzle that operates properly.
- Pumps that deliver fuel quickly.
- Friendly employees.- Getting a receipt.

The survey also found that convenience-store customers placed a premium on fresh food and coffee, a well-lit interior, price tags in clear view and clean restrooms. The survey, which utilizes 3,674 individual responses, also covered the auto repair segment, where results indicate that receiving a reasonable price for automobile repair service is a top priority for men and women. Having the proposed service and repairs clearly explained was second, and not wanting to be spoken to in a condescending fashion placed third for both genders.

Other top priorities while visiting the auto repair shop included:
· Not wanting “greasy” fingerprints on the vehicle.
· Receiving a written estimate and a receipt.
· Seeing the price posted for the requested service and repairs.

Least important to auto repair customers surveyed were perks like having coffee and water available in the waiting room, seeing the employees in a company uniform or wearing a company name badge. However, Matt Wozniak, president and CEO of National Shopping Service, said that such amenities do help form positive lasting impressions.

“From a business owner’s viewpoint, amenities such as fresh coffee in the waiting area help to differentiate their business from the competition,” Wozniak said. “Wearing a clean uniform helps with brand recognition and consistency, and ultimately customer retention.”

National Shopping Service provides mystery shopping resources and measurement solutions focused on brand alignment and customer retention. Using data collection, Web-based technologies and proprietary processes, it aims to provide managers with information to help understand and build customer loyalty to improve business.

Instead, personal safety and properly functioning pumps top the list of current concerns, as drivers expressed a preference for "getting in and getting out as soon as possible." They also indicated a preference for facilities with a "well-lit exterior," according to the survey. Other top priorities for those surveyed included having a clean gas nozzle that operates properly, pumps that deliver fuel quickly, friendly employees and getting a receipt.

"The data we gather in these nationwide and global surveys produce immediate, invaluable insight for our clientele," said Matt Wozniak, president and CEO of National Shopping Service. "These customer perceptions allow corporate leaders to understand and focus on real-time consumer perceptions and desires. In the hypercompetitive, super efficient, tight-margin world we live in, understanding, measuring and focusing on the correct consumer needs is paramount."

The survey also found that convenience store customers placed a premium on fresh food and coffee, a well-lit interior, price tags in clear view and clean restrooms.

by Jason Compton
Tuesday, March 01, 2005

From communications to credit processing, technology plays a vital role in customer satisfaction and performance processes. Improving CRM is not, however, a problem solely bounded by technology, a contact center agent's ability to navigate a call script, and a salesperson's use of pipeline reporting. Building the strategy around the software, though, can have disastrous results. "One of the issues with the technological approach," says Rich Schreuer, vice president of consulting firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, "is that it can morph into a cost-management tool driven [only] by transactional data--it's the tyranny of the accountant."

Before committing your company to a diet of applications and acronyms that don't address the people and processes that ultimately drive the business, you may find it easier to reach the heart of the matter--building a better relationship with your customers--by setting aside screen pops and calendar entries and data warehouses. Consider the following technology-free approaches to better CRM.

Simplify processes

If neither customers nor employees can deftly navigate the customer life cycle, throwing automation at the problem solves nothing. Weed out inefficiencies and complexities that are inhibiting growth and satisfaction.

Bob Henry, COO at sales effectiveness consultancy Extremely Productive, recalls his experience during a recent two-year engagement as COO of staffing technology developer VCG Software. VCG's sales had unexpectedly ground to a halt, and he quickly identified the reason why. "We had extremely complex processes for a very small sales force, and nothing was really working," he says. "There was a 16-step sales process...[that] the sales reps [never] actually used, because it was too complex. So what I did first was change the company around."

Henry replaced the head of sales as well as more than half of the sales force, and then oriented them around better management of territories and travel time, focusing on scheduling customer demonstrations rather than simply trying to log as many sales calls as possible. Before the change management simply looked at readouts on sales call volume and felt satisfied, blinded to the truth of the problem with the sales process by the technological report. "The previous regime was counting sales calls, so according to [that], they were doing really well. But how many times did [sales] actually get in front of people to do a demo?" Sales demonstrations went from just one per month to 30 by the time Henry departed the company, and sales grew considerably without expanding the size of the staff.

Although Henry ultimately engaged the company he now works for to do a SalesLogix implementation, the focus was never on software. "The question was, What are you trying to accomplish? We spent all of our time on the front end asking, What are the issues we're facing? What are the behaviors we need to modify to be sure behavior is going in the direction we want it to go?"

Open the curtain

Expanding customer contacts beyond the typical pattern of offer-and-purchase can help clients remember the strengths of working with your organization, and can provide reassurance that weak spots in service are being addressed. Reminding customers of promises kept--and taking responsibility for promises unfulfilled--does not require complex psychographic analysis or intricate campaign management. It simply requires openness. Colonial Supplemental Insurance took that tactic to heart in expanding the reach of its corporate customer service report card, which illustrates the hits and misses of the company's service organization on a quarterly basis.

Originally the report card was used as a reinforcement tool for insurance agents, but by making its language more accessible, it became a useful communication tool for policyholders as well, even with an occasional wart. "You have to share the good and the bad," says Bridget Bennon-Lytton, assistant vice president of policyholder services at Colonial. "We are finding very consistently that the agents love it [when] we share the results, even when they are not the best they could be." Competitors and dissatisfied customers can paint a picture of a rival's business in far less flattering terms than will the plain facts.

Openness does not only apply to customers. Real transparency includes explaining the cause and effect of your customer interaction processes to the staff expected to execute on them, as well as describing the specific triggers you hope to touch with the client base. "People need to spend more time training on what the corporate objectives are and how they are aligned in the organization. A lot of times people will post mission statements, but no corporate objectives on how to meet those goals," says Sheryl Kingstone, CRM program manager at The Yankee Group. Communicating the why as well as the how of any change in company policy or procedures that impact customer relationships can go a long way toward not only building understanding, but toward compliance as well.

Focus on relationships

Technology may bring people closer together through communication, but it's what gets said between individuals that builds relationships. Get over feeling self-conscious about it. "We focused on the motto 'Nothing is more important than our customers.' It sounds kind of cheesy when you say it out loud...but when you establish a rapport, it allows you to have more influence over the person you're talking to," says Abagail Wittnebert, sales and marketing manager for Aprisma Management Technologies, a developer of network management software.

Aprisma worked with Loyalty Factor on training programs for both the sales and technical service teams to improve on the soft skills of customer experience, with the ultimate goal of cultivating satisfied, long-term customers who won't be looking for an exit when their software contracts are up. That meant not only training sales and support staff to keep clients satisfied, but also providing rewards for maintenance contract renewals. "A lot of software companies tend to skimp on compensation for predictable revenue [annual maintenance contracts], so we said, 'We're going to pay you on these maintenance renewals,' and that was the way we aligned our compensation," Wittnebert says. "So people who do not get good reviews on customer satisfaction don't fit in here."


Cultivate cheers

Many elements of CRM strategy focus on locating a company's best customers, typically with a mind to duplicating that success and making the relationship even more profitable. Consider turning your best customers into credible advocates for peers by building a better pool of reference customers. Just as a corporate report card should not be sanitized beyond credibility, avoid the temptation to filter anything but the most glowingly positive results from your reference program.

Consider making use of the power of the peer reference early in the sales process. FRx Software, a developer of financial analytic applications, moved prerecorded testimonials to an early stage of customer courtship, speeding conversion. "Typically the salesperson would only schedule a reference call late in the sales cycle, when they thought the customer was going to buy. But now [prospects] can find out about other people using our tool, and [if] the other people are happy," says Joanne Pinter, FRx field marketing manager.

Don't let lack of access to a top client executive stand in the way of building a larger base of proven satisfied customers. "You want to find people high enough in the organization to be able to talk about business results, but low enough--close enough to the solution--to be able to answer questions" about the details, says David Sroka, president and CEO of Point of Reference, a services firm specializing in building referral relationships.
When reference customers are mentioned, some immediately fear a costly marketing endeavor. If an incentive is called for, Sroka recommends presenting nonmonetary perks, such as a hotline to senior management or greater access to the product development process. "When it's about the relationship, as opposed to giving out a shiny object, it seems to be the most valuable."

Count your advantages, and make them count

Improving the customer experience can be as simple as ensuring proper execution on the strongest card in the company's hand. Rather than getting bogged down fighting competitors on their turf, play to your own strengths. Consider music retailer Musicland Group, which, under intense competitive pressure from discounters, electronics giants, and online outlets, decided to refocus attention on its key competitive differentiator: the ability of a knowledgeable salesperson to make a high-value consultative sale.

Of course, Musicland associates were always expected to provide a hands-on customer experience. "We had some great training programs in place, but it was a matter of opinion whether we looked good or didn't look good," says Michael Madden, Musicland president and COO. After implementing a mystery-shopping program with National Shopping Service, Madden found the sales associates' experience lacked depth.

To make the most of the walk-in experience, Musicland redoubled its efforts to have associates engage in discussion with customers and escort the buyer to the product. Not only did this provide greater interaction, but it short-circuited some of the additional issues some customers had finding titles, as Musicland must fit an ever-growing catalog of popular and timeless hits into relatively small stores. "We use it as a strategic tool for upselling," he says. "We [ask], Is there a conversation going on where we can teach ourselves what the customer likes and be able to offer them other things?"

Some Web sites use the same strategy, but retail associates cannot scramble to a collaborative filtering database to make additional recommendations. Also, increasing customer face time at Musicland creates a bonus benefit--a roughly 33 percent lower incidence of shoplifting. "There is no professional [thief] in the world who wants to be greeted. They want to be left alone," Madden says.

Musicland ensured that the process was reinforced both at the associate and at the store management level. Mystery-shopping report feedback is presented to the associate, and customer service scoring has been made a larger component of the store manager's bonus plan. As a result, customer satisfaction scoring is up 20 percent, trending upward even during the recent Christmas season when the sales force temporarily grew by more than 100 percent to handle the holiday rush. "Even with all those new associates, based on all the hard work, we improved our scores on the season. That's almost unheard of," Madden says.

Above all, ensure that the employees facing your customers every day are armed with everything they need to take care of your customers, be it a piece of data, a rational policy, or the proper service training. Last, no CRM suite will make good on your promises unless you hire to your goals. "Helpfulness is not something you can just build into a policy," Chadwick Martin Bailey's Schreuer says. "It has to be a personal trait."


I Spy, Through a Customer's Eye

Don't shy away from auditing the best processes of your rivals --and do so through a customer's eyes. Even at a time when supply-side dominance exhibited by heavyweights like Wal-Mart seems to be overwhelming, looking at your competitors' practices can give you a competitive edge. If you cannot trust your own people to give you the unvarnished truth, mystery-shopping services will often contract such competitive services. You can also ask your own customers about the best aspects of the other companies in your industry, but be prepared: The self-selection bias involved in requesting customer feedback can work against you. "You get those that are really, really angry and really, really happy," says Matt Wozniak, president and CEO of National Shopping Service. "You're not sampling the mainstream client, you're sampling those people." --J.C.

Contact Executive Editor Jason Compton at jcompton@destinationCRM.com