What clients are looking for from Member companies and what that means for a mystery shopper

The following is a post by Carl Phillips, director of Customer-1st (www.customer-1st.com ) talking about one of the latest trends in mystery shopping.

New challenges bring new opportunities. We have seen a recent trend with many of our clients to dig a little deeper into the sales process when conducting mystery shops. Automobile dealers want our field staff to now go through the entire sales process, rather than just rate speed of greeting, friendliness and product knowledge. Our bank clients are asking that we have our field staff mention they are having car problems, during their regular flow of conversation, to see if the teller suggests an auto loan. Our grocery store clients want us to now measure if the associates are suggesting related items when they encounter a customer that needs assistance. It seems more and more importance is being placed on suggestive selling, which is a term I personally dislike. Selling is something you do TO some. I prefer the term suggestive problem solving, which is something to do FOR someone. It seems like a minor difference -- except to the customer. When we feel someone is really listening and is offering to help, verses mechanically suggesting something because their supervisor told them to, it takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to customer relationship building.

Because of this trend we are seeing a need to work with shoppers that are Silver or Gold Certified and that we have had some experience with in relation to their quality of work. Yes, there are still shops available for the novas, or new shopper, but those shops usually don’t pay as well as the shops requiring more detail. Our clients are also becoming savvier about the training process and have even asked, during the bidding process, if we have the capability of only scheduling certified shoppers. Yes, these are challenging times which require us to pay closer attention to the customer’s needs , guide them to make the right decisions and doing everything we can to over deliver on their expectations. Customer 1st realized from day one that we are only as good as our valued shoppers. I share the above information with you so that you can understand why we ask some of the questions we do. And also to help us meet our customer’s needs and do all you can to gain the kind of assignments that compensate you for detailed work.