More details on how to put a mystery shopping program into place the right way.

Last week I wrote about how essential a Mystery Shopper Program is at your company. This week I’m providing you with more details on how to go about putting this powerful program into place the right way.

What types of things must we do to have a powerful mystery shopper program?

1. We need to rig up a problem and see what they do and what they recommend.

2. Proper training of the customer to be a “mystery shopper” is needed. It can be as simple as running through a one-page checklist for when a tech comes to do a call.

3. We need to let the techs and system engineers (sales people) know that mystery shoppers do exist. They also need to know what they get if we catch them performing well, and what they can expect if we catch them not performing well.

4. We need to give a mystery shopper a CSR checklist to verify what the CSR did well and what she didn’t do well.

5. We need to make sure our system engineers and our techs could handle a customer who accuses them of pushing a sale only because they get a commission. The mystery shopper needs to be trained to ask this question to see how they answer it.

Sample Script To Use To Convert A Dissatisfied Customer Into A Mystery Shopper

To the Dissatisfied Customer we’d say,

“Let me be the first to apologize. But, apologies alone are not enough at Appleseed. We go to great lengths to ensure our customers receive great service consistently. And unless we get feedback from customers like you to let us know when we don’t deliver on that promise we can’t hope to stay the great company we are.

So, thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. We’ll be happy to make this right … whether that means a refund or whatever we both agree it takes to make this right. But, there is one request I have for you and that’s to ask you to join our Mystery Shopper Program because we need people like you who can tell us what we need to hear … both good and bad.

The Mystery Shopper Program is designed to verify that our people are following the systematic process we’ve written in our manuals and what they’re constantly being trained on in our ongoing meetings in our own training center. Customers like you are needed to fill out a simple one-page checklist after we’ve performed service at your home.

The Techs never learn who is and isn’t a Mystery Shopper, so they have to be on their best behavior with every customer they visit.

If you’re willing to be a Mystery Shopper, we promise to provide future service at a 15% discount from whatever the price the technician quotes you. We do this after the call is done and you’ve sent me the one-page completed checklist.

May I count on you to help?”

Additional advice from Mark Paup at City Rule Plumbing, Heating and Cooling:

“The only words of advice I would add is to make sure the Service Manager is in charge of talking to the customer. The Service Manager needs to explain to the customer that he needs to talk with him (the Service Manager) directly when he calls for another service call.

“Also keep a running list on the computer of the Mystery Shopper Customers and make sure there is enough information in there so you don’t fumble trying to figure out who this person is the next time he or she calls.

“I have decided to make a Mystery Shopper Packet that I will send to the new Mystery Shopper as soon as he agrees to become a Mystery Shopper. That way if he needs service immediately, he will have the information (checklist) he needs to score the tech in-hand.

“Doing it this way adds extra value to doing business with our company.”

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