What’s the rush? Why are we all in such a hurry? Why do we all seem to be moving at the speed of light and what does this have to do with customer service?

It seemed like I was in every store within a 50 mile radius of my home last week. Grocery stores, the dry cleaners, a local consignment shop, a gift store, and the local sporting goods store. Ok, so I exaggerate…maybe not every store within a 50 mile radius but I was busy shopping. One of the things that struck me was how, at each of these venues, I felt rushed. Rushed to get my purchases on the belt or countertop, rushed to pull out my frequent buyer cards, rushed to complete the financial transactions, and rushed to collect my receipts and put my change back into my wallet. Before I had my pennies safely tucked away in my purse, the next customer in line was being helped and I was being moved off to the side to make way for the next person. I hate when that happens and so do many of the mystery shoppers who are are part of the Market Viewpoint secret shopping team. The aspect of feeling rushed makes us feel less important and in a world where it is becoming increasingly more difficult to have meaningful exchanges with those who are serving us, this is a big deal, especially when it comes to meeting my expectation as a customer. So here are my recommendations as a consultant in the field of customer satisfaction:

• Take a deep breath before each new customer – center yourself
• Visualize the transaction going smoothly
• Smile and greet the customer and be sure to make eye contact
• Make small talk with the customer
• Give the customer time to collect their purchases and put their money or credit cards away before moving on to the next customer

Your customers will feel more relaxed and valued as their leave your store, business, office, organization, or end their telephone call with you and you will have increased your chances for repeat business if you simply slow down and focus on the customer you are serving – at this moment.

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When the results come in from your latest round of mystery shops, some of your employees are going to feel like the latest contestants who won Dancing with the Stars. Others…not so much. Ok, I am officially busted. You now know that I am a huge Dancing with the Stars fan. I am a devotee of the beautiful costumes, fabulous music, and very talented professionals who coach the celebrity contestants to become the best dancers they can possibly be. But the thing I am impressed with the most are the professional judges who rate each routine.  They love lavishing praise, (and as managers and supervisors, don’t we all?). But when it comes to rating those dancers who are clearly not going to seeing the mirror ball trophy anytime soon, you can actually see how difficult it is for them. I think it’s the same for us as managers when it comes to meeting with our staff and sharing the results of the latest round of mystery shops. It’s easy to share the news when it’s good and much more difficult when improvement is necessary.

Here are some things to think about as you approach these employee meetings.

• Think of the data contained in the mystery shopping reports as the starting point of a conversation. The data allows you to approach staff performance problems from a third party perspective.
• Lavish praise where employees have done well just like the judges. Be specific with the things you know the staff is doing well and spend time coaching your staff on how to improve. The mystery shopping reports will give you specific examples to cite.
• Give you staff specific things to work on until the next round of shops. This is what the judges do on Dancing with the Stars. They tell the competing couples what they want to see the following week in the way of improvement. It helps to know what your coach or the judge expects.

Are there any tips you care to share when it comes to having those tough discussions with an employee?

As you’re enjoying the next season of Dancing with the Stars, take a tip from their panel of judges and add some new techniques as you coach your staff on their way to delivering the ultimate customer experience.

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As managers who are responsible for customer service, we’ve all got those To-Do lists.  There’s always at least one in our Blackberry.   And another in our heads, in constant revision mode.  Maybe a few more, from long range fitness to Friday’s grocery run.  And of course, the list of ways to increase our business, from attracting new customers to pumping up that cash flow.  We dutifully cross out each completed item, or try to.  Then we add more to-do’s to the ongoing to-do list. That turns it into more of a never-ending story than a list of tasks done. Because there will always be more to do! And honestly, we know too well, that to-do list is never going to be done.

Instead of always running the To-Do marathon, why not change the scenery? Make a wish list for yourself.  We associate those with kids writing to Santa, and starry-eyed brides-to-be, or even our own birthdays. Usually a wish list is defensive: we compile a list of gifts we’d enjoy getting to make sure we don’t end up with  drugstore perfume in a bottle shaped like Hannah Montana, or eleven crock pots.

But those wish lists are for others.  A wish list for ourselves should come from the heart, not the accessories department.  Instead of “I wish I had a new pair of Ugg boots,” try “I wish I could polish my public speaking skills.” Rather than wishing for a new tennis racket to improve your serve, you may wish you could emulate a colleague’s organizing ability. Then look for a way to make that wish come true, whether it’s making practice presentations, or asking a co-worker’s help.  When you get your wish, you’ll feel  energized, confident—and capable of tackling any To-Do list on the planet.   Keep adding new wishes to your private list. You’ll find that “wishing” can boost “doing” every time.

The practice of mystery shopping looks to be very simple on the surface. Closer inspection, however, reveals that it is a very labor intensive and sometimes complicated process that must be closely managed. It really takes a team to plan, coordinate, interpret, design, schedule, distribute, organize, monitor,  reschedule, communicate, analyze and deliver the reports you will receive at the end of each evaluation period. So if I were responsible for choosing a mystery shopping company to evaluate my firm, I would want to know how big the mystery shopping company is and how it is organized. Most of the firms that work with Market Viewpoint have deadlines. They usually need their mystery shopping information for board meetings, monthly/quarterly/annual reports, supervisor meetings, performance reviews, and upper management meetings. With this in mind, deadlines become critical. You want to make sure there is a team that can deliver your results how you want it, when you want it, every single time…so it’s important that the mystery shopping company have tight control over the work flow.

From the team at Market Viewpoint… Angela, Diane, Janet, Boni, Carolyn, Ron, Bruce, Debbie, Todd, Terri, and Robert…we want to say thank you for reading this post and we want to remind you….the customer is always watching!

The secret to choosing a great mystery shopping company lies not only in the questions you ask but in the responses you receive. It’s important to listen carefully to the answers you get because you just may need to ask more questions.

At Market Viewpoint, LLC we happen to think that our shoppers are gold. The people who are evaluating your people and operations and providing you with feedback are critical to the quality of information you receive. You want these people to be the best.  Some of the questions you might want to consider asking a prospective mystery shopping company are contained in the following list:

• Who are your shoppers?
• Where do they come from?
• Can you segment your shopper database?
• Do you train your shoppers?
• Will the shoppers be coached on my project and the things that are important to me?

Now here are some other questions to ask that you may not have thought of and that the prospective mystery shopping company may not have heard before:

• What is the longest someone has shopped for you?
• Do you grade or rate your shoppers?
• What is your policy when there is a conflict of interest for a shopper?
• Will you provide me with some shopper references?
• What’s the worst thing you ever had happen with a mystery shopper and what did you do to resolve it?

The relationship a company has with its mystery shoppers is usually indicative of the relationship they have with their clients so it really pays to explore this area of a mystery company’s operations.

Let us know if you have any other questions you think are important to the selection process. We’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and remember – the customer is always watching!