It seems that there is a lot of companies struggling at the moment with bad customer service experiences. This is, unfortunately, a common thing . If your company suffers right now from a bad PR or simply a lack of customers, then it is time for you to test your business and your team. One of the best ways to do that is through mystery shopping. Mystery shopping can help unravel a lot of things that not only could go wrong in a business, but may also be currently driving customers away instead of getting them to you.
A lot of business owners think they can do the mystery shopping themselves. They believe by calling and seeing how their staff is performing on the phone is enough. Although I personally would always recommend a business owner or director to pick up the phone and do that to just see the outcome, the main problem persists: As business owners we are usually biased to the matter and have what I would call tunnel vision.
This prevents the owner from seeing beyond certain points, especially when you like an employee. If it’s somebody you already believe is outstanding, you’ll close your eyes to if they are good just in front of you. Getting an outside company in to test your business could be key to uncover a lot of faults within the business, lack of customer care and service, lack of sales ability and up/cross-selling ability, as well as friendliness of your staff.
What mistakes are sales people making?
The most common mistakes that we find sales people do are:
⋅ Wrong greeting/introduction.
⋅ Lack of care.
⋅ Missing attention to detail.
⋅ No up-selling or cross-selling. This even happens if customers point or make references to other products or services.
⋅ Sales people are simply order takers instead of real sales advisers.
⋅ No establishment of customers needs by asking simple sales related questions.
These are just a few of the things we find sales people don’t handle right in business. We find it more and more in the hospitality industry and retail, where you have a direct sales approach. However in rare cases we also find this in call centers. It seems that call center staff from telesales to customer service are handling inquiries much better than their face to face counterparts.
So, how can mystery shopping help turn your business around?
When mystery shopping is done properly you will receive a full report on how your staff handled the inquiries including recommendations on how to turn things around.
You should also receive a training or professional development plan to target specific areas that need improvement in your business.
This will help you establish and find the right training and coaching for you and your staff. After this, it’ll have a positive impact on your customer service.
The one thing I would like to point out is that if you do consider getting a mystery shopper in, it is vital to listen to the consultant in order to bring the required change to the business. A mystery shopper can make recommendations but it’s up to you to make these changes. Did you have previous experience with mystery shopping? Did it help you or was it a waste of time and money?
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