In a crisis, it is very important to develop a business not only from the quantitative side, but also from the qualitative one. Only those companies that in addition to a good assortment offer quality service and full service are able to compete. To understand how objectively the company’s activity is evaluated, it is necessary to carefully monitor its work at each stage. This can be done using the Mystery shopper technique.
Who is a Mystery shopper?
You can check the condition of the sales area, the availability of the assortment, the layout (if it is a question of selling goods), as well as the quality of employees' work, including product knowledge, competence, friendliness, politeness and other characteristics important for the work, using a specially trained agent, who is usually called in business, a mystery shopper.
Why are secret checks necessary?
With the help of the mentioned agent, the employer can:
- to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise;
- Get information about the performance of a particular employee;
- plan staff training;
- create a motivation system consisting of bonuses and fines;
- evaluate additional aspects of work, such as the appearance of employees, the cleanliness of the sales area, the completeness of the assortment, the correct layout, the presence of POS materials, etc.
Often a mystery shopper, whose reviews are used to track the state of affairs of competitors, is able to tell what practices and chips are suitable in order to adopt them. In addition, the leader or analyst with his help can determine the strengths and weaknesses of the audited company and, against this background, improve its business in order to achieve a leading position.
In other words, a mystery shopper provides an opportunity to see your business and the business of competitors through the eyes of the consumer.
How to choose a person for the role of a mystery shopper?
Work as a mystery shopper, despite the apparent simplicity, is rather complicated and meticulous, so choosing the right candidate is half the success of a marketing campaign. So what are the requirements for a person who secretly collects commercial information?
- Honesty is a prerequisite, because inaccurate information not only does not bear any fruit, but can even harm business. In addition, a false assessment of a mystery shopper is deeply immoral, since the professional fate of a particular employee directly depends on his authoritative opinion.
- Memory and observation. Since the expert has to remember about 50–70 parameters, he must have excellent memory in order to be able to remember not only the standards by which he will evaluate, but also their implementation. In addition, the mystery shopper should be extremely attentive to details, this will help to supplement the report with criteria that may not have been taken into account when drawing up these standards.
- Acting data or psychological flexibility. As a rule, the information that they are being checked is leaked to the employees, therefore they are expecting a secret buyer fully equipped. In order for the mystery shopper’s report to be objective, he himself must not declassify himself. Therefore, a person should be liberated, psychologically flexible, and even artistic to some extent. He should appear in the image of an ordinary consumer, calmly ask questions, be interested in listening to answers, doubt, be surprised, bargain, in general, behave like an ordinary client.By the way, many employers are asking to check their employees for resistance to stress, for this the expert must portray a dissatisfied, annoying or even scandalous client.
- Impartiality. Mystery shopper should objectively note the facts, without taking into account their own emotions. Even if the seller is naughty, this does not mean that he, for example, is not competent in his question or there are complaints about his appearance. And vice versa, if a person is psychologically attractive to an expert, this does not mean that you need to close your eyes to dirty clothes or outright ignorance of your business.
- Discipline. The work of a secret agent is difficult to verify, because he himself is a reviewer, therefore, a person applying for this role must necessarily be disciplined and responsible, strictly adhere to the script and submit the results of work on time (no more than 12 hours after the check).
- Competence. Naturally, a mystery shopper, whose reviews can affect the work of the company as a whole, must own the basics of the profession and clearly understand the specifics of this area. He is also required to correctly express his thoughts.
According to these characteristics, for verification, the mystery shopper is often selected from the ranks of the company itself (if the company is large, with an extensive regional structure) or adjacent (if employees are well acquainted with each other). Often, the employer also seeks the help of specialized agencies, with a whole staff of such employees.
How to prepare Mystery shopper for a visit
Regardless of whether it’s hired by a professional or your employee, you must instruct the mystery shopper before he visits the location. We will analyze this preparation in stages.
- The agent must be familiarized with the questionnaire of key questions to which he must answer (pay attention). For convenience and better memorization, they are divided into blocks.
- The mystery shopper must decide on an individual need. Imagine that he is a real customer. What would he like to buy in this store or what service would he like to receive? For reliability, it is better to choose what really interests the expert.
- Based on this need, a realistic scenario is devised. For example, a man came to buy a TV. Where would he want to put it (in the hall, kitchen)? At what distance is the sofa from which he will watch it, what would he like to watch on TV (news or movies in HD quality)? Each detail makes the story more trustworthy, and the seller does not have the thought that they are checking it, which means that it will behave naturally and the verification results will turn out to be reliable.
- Depending on the number of questions, the time of visiting the location and its duration should be planned. Visiting hours are also taken into account - early in the morning when there are no buyers, or during peak hours.
What to pay attention to?
Creating a profile for Mystery shopper, as a rule, highlight certain points.
An important point is how employees observe the rules of etiquette (greeting the client, friendliness, willingness to help). In other words, when a client appears, an employee is obliged to say hello, give him an opportunity to look around, to be at hand while he gets acquainted with the assortment. Moreover, on the one hand, it should not be indifferent, and on the other, it should not bombard the buyer with offers.
Can the employee identify the need of the buyer? To do this, he must ask a few questions about preferences (manufacturer, brand, color, size, etc.). Determine what is more important for the client - price, prestige or quality. And most importantly, offer 3-4 varieties of goods that will meet these requirements.
It is important how the presentation and sale of goods takes place. The seller must not only describe his merits in an understandable short form, but also be able to demonstrate them in action.It depends on a successful presentation whether the client understands that this product is exactly what he was looking for. This also includes literacy and intelligibility of the employee’s speech.
As already mentioned, working as a secret buyer often requires to unbalance the seller in order to test him for stress resistance. And this is not about rudeness. From a mystery shopper you can often hear questions: “Why is it so expensive?” Or “Why did my friend break the same model?”. For these cases, a good seller should be stocked with reasoned answers that can dispel doubts. For example, the answer to the first question: “Yes, the market is cheaper, but we have this price includes a guarantee and after-sales service.”
No less important is the ability to unobtrusively and not aggressively persuade a customer to purchase. Even if a person does not dare to purchase the goods, the seller should make it as friendly as possible so that the buyer returns again.
Be sure to evaluate the appearance of the employee, compliance with the corporate identity, neatness of the workplace. Some clients are not ready to wait, so the auditor must consider the speed of service and the availability of the employee for the client. Delays, delays and moreover errors at the stage of paperwork and calculation are unacceptable.
How not to declassify yourself, or what behavior is unacceptable?
Common Mystery shopper errors are:
- overestimated or understated assessment based on only their impressions, but not objectivity;
- defiant behavior, when an expert with all his appearance shows that he is a special person, requiring a special attitude. He asks atypical questions, with almost no answer (for example: “What kind of material do the laces of these sneakers have?”), Offends the seller, threatens with his status.
It is not right to look too closely at a badge in attempts to remember the name of an employee. And nervousness, inconsistency of behavior and untimely questions are given out by an inexperienced mystery shopper in an expert. Erroneous also:
- excessive competence when the expert knows the product better than the consultant himself;
- lack of interest in consultation when, during a conversation with the seller, a mystery shopper considers the floor or other store employees.
What does a mystery shopper do after a visit?
Immediately after visiting the location, the agent is recommended to fill out a questionnaire, so to speak, based on fresh impressions, until many details of the service are forgotten. The expert gives assessments, answers questions of a closed and open type. By the way, the mystery shopper, whose payment for services depends on the completeness of the study, should leave his own comments.
Comments
It is very important to supplement the report with significant, according to the expert, information, they will make the study more complete. For example, you can describe the general atmosphere of the store (salon, office, etc.) - how the employees behaved, what kind of music they played. Even details such as a dirty floor in a store will be very important.
It is appreciated if the expert can give recommendations on how, in his opinion, the work of the company can be improved. The clueless look of the mystery shopper will allow him to give a very fresh and effective advice.
Remember that the questionnaire with the comment: “Everything is fine, no comments”, should not be accepted and paid. Here is an example of a reliable and complete assessment.
Example questionnaire with detailed comment
When I went to the store, one of the sellers greeted me. However, then for a long time, sellers talked to each other, not paying attention to me. After quite a long time I had to call one of them. Nevertheless, the consultant spoke very clearly and in detail about the functions of the phone, demonstrated its operation, reasonedly and clearly without hesitation, answered all my questions and objections, asked what functions I would like to see on the phone.The seller was friendly, listened carefully to all my answers, offered 2 models to choose from with a difference in price, tried to help in choosing and solve my problem.
To summarize. Knowledge of goods, service, friendliness - 5 out of 5, but little attention is paid to new customers, it is unpleasant that sellers had a conversation on personal topics. ”
Such a questionnaire will undoubtedly be accepted and paid.
Instead of a conclusion
Today, in large cities, the “mystery shopper” position has gained immense popularity among freelancers. Moscow, St. Petersburg and many other large cities have entire agencies for the provision of their services.
