A few weeks ago I was flying back from Los Angeles to Dallas. Since I am a creature of habit, I always will buy a bottled water prior to getting on my flight. With that in mind, I walked into a convenience store called The Hudson News.
I noticed the aisles were really small in this store and the lines were very, very long. As I am trying not to knock down merchandise with my overstuffed bag, I noticed that there are 5 people behind the counter. One of them was ringing up customer after customer. Two of them were just standing there probably discussing what they are going to do over the weekend while the 4th and 5th person were also chatting while one of them was ringing up customers really, really slow. As the line was getting longer it got me to think about what the owners or regional manager of this store would think about this situation. Two customers who were behind me in line walked out while a few others were talking pretty loudly about what was happening with the lack of a sense of urgency on the part of the cashiers.
Let me say that I don’t believe this issue is specific to Hudson News. I believe this problem goes much deeper than that. I believe lots of companies have the same issue which is a lack of urgency, poor customer service and work ethic that doesn’t seem to be what it was in the past.
Why is that? Hudson News lost business because of this situation. At least two customers walked out and probably bought what they wanted in another store.
- Is it lack of training?
- Is it because companies are trying to save money and pay low wages?
- Do companies care?
I am not sure what the answers are but can’t mystery shopping help them with this issue? Years ago when I was working for Marianne Schafer at Field Facts we had lots of mystery shop programs. I know there are companies out there that focus specifically on this type of research and I am wondering if their business is booming. It seems to me mystery shopping research is needed more than ever right now.
Do you agree?
I look forward to hearing your comments.
Stephenie Gordon says:
i don’t believe customer service is focused on anymore. I worked for Harris Teeter (grocery store out of NC) throughout high school and college. In your training there is an entire day focused on customer service, you are literally trained on it. You are trained to not speak to your coworkers about non-business related issues while with a customer. You are trained on how to greet each and every customer, and even on how to handle a situation if a customer asked you where a product is located (you aren’t allowed to say “aisle 5″ you have to physically walk the customer to the product and place it in there hand). I think this training was well worth it. Living in GA we do not have Harris Teeters. I ALWAYS visit a Harris Teeter when i go back to NC just to see what real customer service is all about.
I honestly feel the world would be a better place is every high school student had to work in a customer service function in order to graduate.
mark sutin says:
There are many things at play here. first, location, location, location. These are businesses that relay on foot traffic (airport) vs loyalty. You will continue shopping there for convenience sake…if not someone else will.
These companies are not trained in customer services, because they believe that people will continue to buy in their stores, because it is there.
the second part of the problem/issue is intriguing, can mystery shopping help? the answer is yes , but not by itself. Mystery shop ping should be used as a three legged stool. Employee satisfaction, mixed with mystery shopping, mixed with customer satisfaction studies, that is the best way to get a pure picture as to what is actually going on.
the other part of the issue, is you need a company that cares
John Heakin says:
I mystery shop my competitors continuously. I know we have problems, but as they say after a fight-”you should see the other guy”. It is very revealing and a most useful tool. I rarely hire anyone before I’ve been interviewed by them in their store.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Mark,
You bring up some important points. I agree that an airport relies on foot traffic vs loyalty but think about many stores that have both like Dunkin Donuts, Star bucks, macaroni Grill to name a few. I was in a Dunking Donuts last week at the airport (actually on a Saturday ) and the donut wasn’t fresh and the service wasn’t that good at all. That has to impact their business in their traditional stores.
Your last point is a really good one – you need a company that cares? I would say that every company should care now that the economy is bad and consumers are probably basing their shopping on a number of things including service.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Merrill
Meg says:
I agree that mystery shopping would be a fantastic tool for companies to use to improve their customers experience. I wonder if lack of knowledge or budget restricts their use of this great tool. I have been in many situations where I would like to provide my feedback. Which brings to mind my second point, you do have the power to make your concerns known. Maybe the mention of the company in this blog will be noticed. If not then email the company. If you visit the Hudson Group website you could probably find an email address. I am not one to typically take the time to provide feedback or complain to a company (sometimes people have bad days and we just happen to interact on that day). However, I recently had a bad experience at a Marriott and did let the management know. It took three transgressions in the same visit before I was moved to action. I believe if we politely let companies know when they have missed the mark on customer service, they will take action to improve.
mark sutin says:
Merrill I agree, unfortunately nit all the companies do.
But just a real quick question. The donut was stale, coffee may not have been good either. But the next time you are in the airport will you still go to DD or are you turned off?
Sometimes I think companies just play a numbers game. One would think that in todays economy there would be a premium on satisfying customers.
I would love to see a study that indicated C-Sat results against bottom line profit.
Here is a quickie. Ryan Air in Europe has the lowest rating in satisfaction then any other airline. They are also the most profitable. Interesting
M
Merrill Dubrow says:
Mark,
Good question – I guess in some ways that is the most important question. And I would say that I probably won’t go there again on a Saturday. I assume (I might be wrong) that they get fresh donuts during the week and not on the weekend.
Never knew that about Ryan Air but that is amazing.
Merrill
Kelly Heatly says:
Mystery shopping is my background. I worked for a supplier for eight years. I do think most companies care, even those who don’t seem to have much competition. It’s not a coincidence that the most successful companies–those that grow and stay in business–have these programs in place. When I last worked in the industry seven years ago, nearly EVERY major retail chain had a mystery shopping program in place. A company with poor training is not as likely to do a mystery shopping program.
I completely agree with Mark Sutin’s “3-legged” approach. You can think of mystery shopping as the operational audit portion of the customer service equation. Once marketing and training programs are in place, mystery shopping audits implementation of these programs on the front line.
Of course, not all companies “do” mystery shopping the right way. The best companies use it for positive reinforcement, not as a hammer. Also, companies should communicate the program to management and front-line pre-launch and ongoing. (You’d be surprised how many don’t.)
Vickie Henry, CEO says:
I’ve owned Feedback Plus, Inc. since 1983– back in the days when we had to explain to bank presidents and restaurant owners and some retailers exactly what mystery shopping really was. Thank you, Mark Sutin for recognizing this operations auditing service for the exceptional monitoring that it offers. Prior to 1983 I was vice president of a Texas bank. I used mystery shopping because it was the only process to determine if employees implemented skill sets and behavioral patterns that we focused on in our training programs.
The best companies in the world mystery shop. They see the value exactly as I did almost three decades ago. I am a keynote speaker and I’m frequently asked, “What happens when a company continuously gets poor mystery shopping scores?” My answer is two-fold; 1) This rarely happens- what gets measured improves; 2) Companies that care enough to mystery shop care about their employees and their customers. It shows. They take action on this important feedback and they see improvement, repeat business, build loyal customers, and enjoy great word-of-mouth increased business.
Mystery shopping has changed drastically in 25 years. As most businesses, technology has driven our services to all new sophistication. Excellence in service for mystery shopping depends on experience and the willingness to do whatever it takes to guarantee correct and timely information for clients. The credibility of shops and shoppers depends on the infrastructure of the company that facilitates the program.
steve gentile says:
To me, I wonder whether “management” knows of the issue or not; and if so, chooses to ignore it or not. While it is true there is a manager on site, the bigger MANAGEMENT of Hudson News is another issue.
This chain is in commuter-ville nationwide, and seems to be an issue chain-wide. Penn Station and Port Authority Bus Term, Newark, you name it – the problem exists.
Perhaps it is not about quality of transaction from a consumer POV but is just about whatever transactions happen, happen. Having run facilities for many years, if such behavior was ever witnessed, a SEVERE verbal reprimand was a quick remedy to the event, halting it before it becomes a normal operating proceedure.
But then, we were handing out money, so even if the pattern were to become habitual, complaints may have become voluminous, but I doubt anyone would leave the line.With Hudson, it is also a cultural thing with employees. Notice the quite elevated center platform, raising their POV and diminishing yours.
Mystery shop would have a fieldday! There are lots of clues about design and layout that enhance this on very subtle levels. I doubt they’d go for it, however.
Jane Rosen says:
Over the years we have done a lot of mystery shopping; particularly in the banking industry. We would shop both our end client’s branches and their competition. Since the client’s employees knew there were ongoing mystery shops in their branches, they seemed to treat every customer as if they might be a mystery shopper, which meant they were VERY conscious of the service they provided. They were rewarded if they received very good ratings, extra training if they didn’t, and without fail, those tellers and loan officers gave outstanding customer service. However, the employees in the competitive branches, with no mystery shopping, hardly ever gave comparable customer service.
Unfortunately, over the years I began to notice the trend that those banks with the mystery shopping programs often were the ones that were bought by the large national banks.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Steve,
Good comments. Maybe it is me being naive but I think every company should care for the simple reason that it can identify problems that need to be improved. Some will not cost much at all. Like a big hello when you walk into the store. Like having everyone work together. I was in Tom Thumb (grocery store) over the weekend and the second the line got to be 4 people the manager stepped in and starting to ring up groceries. he also called for assistance to open up another register. I appreciate what the manager at Tom Thumb did and still have issues with the customer service at Hudson News. Bot experiences effect what I do in the future which ultimately effect revenue for those companies.
To me its a no brainier and companies should put in mystery shop programs right away.
Merrill
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Jane,
Another great example would mystery shopping can have a positive impact. It’s interesting because when you are in the bank you are part customer and part researcher but notice what is going on.
Does bad customer service effect what business you did with the bank?
Merrill
steve Gentile says:
Merrill -
I couldn’t agree more. So many issues are averted or easily corrected in the very simple solution of open-eyed management seeing things as they are developing and adjusting behavior/actions before it becomes an “issue”
As we all know, we do research to illuminate our clients, make recommendations, and reveal possible implications from findings. Ultimately, the client decides whether the boat will sink or sail beautifully off in the sunset to distant ports or call and opportunity.
A big frustration at times and one which I have a difficult time divorcing myself from on some projects. I personally avoid the Hudson News, not wanting to encourage such crass relations with customers.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Steve,
There are so many companies and retail stores that have fair to poor client service that it makes the average ones really stand out. It was funny last week i was siting at the AMA event and a industry contact (thanks JL) reached over and said the presenter wasn’t really that good – In fact he said poor than he said it makes the two of us look even better when we present – he was right!
The bar these days is very low with customer service – what happened to the good old days.
Merrill
steve Gentile says:
I hear you on that! Like what happened to “Thank you” from the person you’re buying that water or coffee from. Or (Heaven forbid) “Please” or “You’re welcome!”
My mom would be SO upset! Such a simple, cheap way to engage.
And yes, with the bar set so low, it creates 2 things – a new breed of snakes that STILL manage to creep lower than the bar (LIMBO ANYONE?), and a bunch that doesn’t have to jump high to achieve greatness. My bar remains high and always will. It’s a challenge I am accustomed to taking.
((((((***SIGH***))))))
Merrill Dubrow says:
Steve,
Love your attitude – always keep the bar high!!!!! Thats the right way to go through life.
Merrill
Heather says:
I have worked for 4 companies that had mystery shopping programs in place. My first job when I was 16 as a cashier in a local aquarium store, when I was in college and sold retail merchandise for (gulp) Planet Hollywood, I worked for Bloomingdale’s and then again for a Disney restaurant, ESPNZone. Each of these jobs had a training program, some up to 2 weeks. And at each of these jobs I could spot the mystery shopper from a mile a way and so could most of my colleagues. So while I think it can be a good thing if people give consistent service thinking they could be shopped at any time (most of my jobs had a certain average you had to maintain or you were let go, there were also incentives for perfect scores) I also think some more savvy employees skew the results. The customer ratings are only as good as the shoppers you send in. So if they sit at your table in a restaurant and you can see them jotting notes as you walk away, they ask the questions in order and almost verbatim, etc – you’re not getting good results.
I think the customer service issues are more related to how people feel about their job. Are they paid well, treated well, feel as though they have room to grow, etc – why are people in Starbuck’s consistently good/friendly and people at Hudson News (I loathe going in there) not as much? I guess if I knew my job was on the line for poor performance, it may affect things, but then again it may just move me on to the next job if all of the other things were missing.
Gary says:
As a manager for the Hudson Group, the operator of Hudson News and other retail airport concessions, I read your comments with great interest. Yes, we are concerned about the quality of service in our locations, as are our landlords, the owners and operators of the airports we serve. The Hudson Group and the airports do use mystery shopping as a tool to monitor service delivery, and to recognize those associates that provide friendly, helpful, and efficient service, and to address the behaviors of those who do not. It is a helpful, but also a limited tool as you can not shop everyone consistently with a staff of 150. Service quality really starts with hiring, and attracting candidates to entry-level service positions in the airport is one of our greatest challenges. There really isn’t a magic bullet (if there was every retailer in America would be a subscriber). Improving the customer’s experience requires on-going support and resources by senior management, a daily commitment by managers on the front lines, smart hiring, ongoing training and reinforcement, and appropriate monitoring and measurement through mystery shopping, comment cards, and surveys. Clearly from your comments we (and many of our fellow retailers) have a lot of work to do and a lot of opportunity for improvement, but it’s not because we take our customers for granted and don’t care.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Gary,
While I have commented negatively about your customer service at Hudson News I give you a tremendous amount of credit for responding to my comments. And I give you even more credit for not taking a defensive position as alot of companies would have.
I wish you only success in improving things at Hudson News.
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Vicky,
Thanks for your comments – I totally agree with what you said “Companies that care enough to mystery shop care about their employees and their customers.”
I actually think you can tell the difference by the service you get in some retail stores whether they are using mystery shopping or not .
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Earlier today I went to a fast food restaurant and while I was waiting for my number to be called saying my food was ready this guy in front of me had his number called and he noticed quickly that his order was all wrong After discussing it with the counter person for about 3 seconds he said where is the manager my order is all messed up. Yes he had a short fuse – While he was teeing off on this person I was wondering if it had nothing to do with the order and more to deal with the economy his job and what is going on in the world?
Just a thought I would share
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
GREAT ARTICLE FROM QUIRKS MARCH 2009 THAT I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE.
Mystery shopping program guides improvement of customer communication for business-to-business firm
Testing positive
Editor’s note: Marianne Hynd is general manager of Ann Michaels & Associates, a Naperville, Ill., mystery shopping firm.
Mystery shopping is commonplace in the business-to-consumer realm, with shoppers evaluating and monitoring customer service across all types of industries. On the business-to-business side, mystery shopping has only been adopted recently but its use is increasing. After all, customer service levels play just as vital a role in the success of a B2B company as they do for a B2C firm – even more so in many cases. Rather than the hundreds of dollars that a customer might spend in a large B2C transaction, a B2B customer’s outlay might be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thus the loss of a dissatisfied customer in the B2B realm can result in a major drop in revenue.
One business-to-business firm that has been using mystery shopping is Stork Materials Technology, which has over 30 materials- and product-testing laboratories in the U.S. and Europe, providing testing, inspection and product quality certification for industries from aerospace and military components to commercial products such as mattresses.
The laboratories were acquired over the last decade, says Ari McKee-Sexton, the firm’s marketing communications manager, and it was difficult for Stork to determine each laboratory’s culture, how it strengthened the company and what areas could be improved.
Stork Materials Technology and its parent company, Stork B.V. in the Netherlands, have embarked on an initiative of continuous improvement, combining Six Sigma, lean and other business methodologies to examine all processes and strive to perform them more effectively and productively. The company adheres to three standards for customer service: timely and accurate test certificates and reports; service-oriented communication and behaviors; professional appearance.
Special considerations
Mystery shopping in the B2B sector is quite similar to traditional mystery shopping, though there are some special considerations to ensure a successful program. First, companies have to determine if shoppers will be posing as potential or current customers. In the latter case, the company will need to provide the mystery shopping supplier with company information, including names, addresses, key contact names and a brief history and overview. Quite often, fictitious accounts are created within the system for this purpose. For potential customers, the company will need to provide the core services and assist the mystery shopping provider in creating a realistic scenario that will result in a typical transaction.
Training for mystery shoppers is also more detailed, typically with training sessions being held in online venues to allow shoppers the opportunity to ask questions, learn more about the company they will be evaluating and absorb other details to ensure success.
Shoppers are carefully screened prior to being selected for any work, as they will need to fit the appropriate role. Because shoppers come from all walks of life, it is not difficult to find shoppers who run their own business, for example, or those who have a history in the industry in which a company operates.
Annual service surveys
Prior to creating its mystery shopping program, Stork Materials Technology conducted annual customer service surveys to obtain customer feedback and measure satisfaction levels across laboratories. Additionally, the individual laboratories conducted their own internal customer surveys via e-mail, phone and mail to continually assess satisfaction. While the satisfaction surveys were useful and demonstrated a solid customer satisfaction base, Stork wanted to know more.
It worried that changes in personnel or other unknown potential issues would damage or derail the customer communication process. Another concern was ensuring that individual labs’ automated phone systems were operating properly and that callers were not being lost or misdirected. Because customer feedback and satisfaction surveys wouldn’t reveal this information, Stork sought out other methods to uncover and eventually rectify any problems.
While mystery shopping was initially considered as an option, key personnel were not certain that this methodology was used in the B2B segment. But after some investigation, the company learned that it could indeed use mystery shopping and it designed and executed a two-pronged program that launched in March 2008.
First, the company was interested in knowing more about each laboratory’s service culture as it relates to potential customers. Second, the company wanted to determine any breakdowns in the communication chain that would lead to loss of new customers as well as a decrease in customer satisfaction.
The program focused on evaluating e-mail inquiries and telephone calls, as these are the main venues for communication. Four waves of evaluation were conducted to allow time to share results and implement additional training/procedures between waves. Stork was able to further assess the effect of this training and of sharing the shopping program results.
To achieve a true baseline performance review, staff were not informed of the mystery shopping program until the first wave was complete. After that time, they were brought up to speed and told that it would be an ongoing process which would be carried out quarterly.
In both modes of communication, mystery shoppers posed as potential customers who were inquiring about a specific testing capability as it related to their fictitious company. Shoppers were trained to evaluate the following aspects of the interaction:
• the length of time to receive a response via e-mail;
• how many telephone calls were placed before an inquiry response was received;
• staff knowledge of testing capabilities at each laboratory;
• what follow-up information was collected, including the shopper’s name, company name, telephone number, etc.;
• the shopper’s overall satisfaction based on the interaction.
Each laboratory was contacted by mystery shoppers a total of four times within each evaluation period. Three telephone calls and one e-mail inquiry were initiated, varying the days and times for each communication. This achieved a solid overall snapshot of service levels, as various staff members were evaluated across days and times, allowing Stork to pinpoint individual performance and find communication breakdowns that were specific to a time of day or day of the week.
Further, to delve deeper into potential communication issues, mystery shoppers were instructed to wait for 24 hours to receive a response via e-mail or a response to a voicemail message. In the event that a response was not received, they were told to call back a second time and track the course of interaction. Shoppers waited up to 48 hours from the time of the second contact to determine if a response was received. If responses were not received after a second attempt, the evaluation ended.
Clear progress
Stork employees showed clear progress in telephone and e-mail performance, demonstrating quicker response times, a significant decrease in dropped inquiries and improved staff knowledge. Results specific to e-mail and telephone inquiries are discussed below.
E-mail evaluations
The first wave of e-mail contacts resulted in a strong e-mail response within 24 hours of mystery shoppers sending an inquiry. Each evaluation period showed steady improvement, resulting in a same-day response to the majority of e-mail inquiries received from mystery shoppers at the end of the study.
When e-mail responses were received, Stork was able to view the entire e-mail correspondence to learn more about where e-mails were forwarded, who ultimately responded and if the response fully addressed the shopper’s inquiry. This helped the company learn more about the chain of communication with regard to customer inquiries and improve its processes, where necessary.
Telephone evaluations
Telephone evaluations were scored based on professionalism/promptness of the staff member, staff knowledge and follow-up, when needed. Mystery shoppers also indicated their overall satisfaction with the interaction.
Performance scores increased in all areas across the length of this study, with a total increase of six percentage points in overall performance. Similarly, the portion of the evaluation focused on employee knowledge and ability to answer inquiries without the need to transfer the call improved by five percentage points over the course of the study. Because of the progress made, the mystery shoppers’ overall satisfaction with the interactions rose more than five percentage points.
More specific findings related to this area of evaluation include how many calls were placed to each facility before an inquiry was resolved. Similar to the e-mail evaluation, the majority of the inquiries were resolved within the first call, or within 24 hours of placing the call in the event a voicemail was left with the facility. The instances in which the inquiries were resolved during the first call rose seven percentage points across the four waves.
Finally, staff knowledge was evaluated based on the responses provided to each shopper’s inquiry. Shoppers were asked, “Was the employee able to answer your specific questions knowledgeably and with confidence?” To assess this question, shoppers were provided with the correct response to their inquiry and were instructed to assess confidence in the response using criteria such as the employee not expressing hesitation with the response, offering information but suggesting that the shopper speak to another representative to confirm the information provided and whether the call was transferred in an attempt to resolve the inquiry. Questions ranged from information specific to testing capabilities (i.e., size of samples needed, what testing specifications are adhered to) to inquiries about which facilities were capable of specific testing procedures.
From the onset of the study through the end of the fourth wave, the company improved by 22 percent, indicating that the staff responsible for fielding calls demonstrated increased knowledge of the facility’s testing capabilities and other specifications. Because staff were able to handle inquiries themselves without needing to transfer the call to a second person and could provide information as callers contacted each facility, customer confidence and satisfaction in their experiences with Stork subsequently increased.
Ask better questions
Stork has used the information gathered from the mystery shopping program in many ways, says the firm’s Ari McKee-Sexton. First, the results and individual reports have been presented to location and regional managers at quarterly meetings. The customer service director also studies the reports. Location managers were asked to use the information to install improved communications procedures – for example, better phone scripts and e-mail protocols. Further, the information has been used to tweak the customer service training curriculum and ask better questions in customer service surveys.
Second, on a more location-specific level, the results were used to strengthen procedures and standards. Some location managers discussed the calls with the staff involved, especially if there was miscommunication that needed immediate correction. Additionally, the call transcriptions are often used anonymously in Stork’s quarterly customer service training. Finally, when Stork CEO Charles Noall visits facilities that have demonstrated excellence in customer service during the mystery shopping program, he spends time talking with the customer service representatives to congratulate them on their success.
Gauge progress
To build on the success of the current mystery shopping program, Stork plans further improvements in the coming year to gauge progress and troubleshoot problems. The staff response has been positive and McKee-Sexton says that even the employees who are the very best service providers have learned valuable lessons about how Stork customers interact with the company.
“Simply put, our callers and customers are experiencing better service,” McKee-Sexton says. “We have developed phone and e-mail protocols and we are employing them more consistently in contact after contact. And because Stork service excellence emphasizes good service to our internal customers – between staff and between Stork laboratories – we are experiencing better, more-responsive internal communications as well. Like the rest of our improvement programs, it’s had a viral effect and is spreading through the company, making Stork a better place to work and a stronger competitor in the market.”
Additionally, as new laboratories are acquired, the program will allow Stork Materials to monitor their compliance with Stork’s standards and to also learn from the laboratory’s existing best practices.
More recognized
As the use of mystery shopping in the B2B segment increases, the benefits will be quickly realized. This methodology has proven successful in the B2C segment for many years and it is now becoming a more recognized approach to evaluating service and performance levels across the B2B segment. Additional planning and training are required to successfully execute such a program but the benefits clearly outweigh the effort required.