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Education Center for Researching
Vendors and Program Options
What
is Secret Shopping or Mystery Shopping?
Mystery Shopping measures 'the moment of truth'
about your business. Using standards of excellence the client wishes to
measure and promote, an evaluation is developed. A professional
secret shopper, using this evaluation and specific directions, visits or
telephones a client location to evaluate
its salesmanship, service or presentation. The shopper submits a report which
may be used for information, training, rewards and
recognition.
Why
can't we do this internally?
You can — but please
consider:
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An outsource option actually costs
much less. Consider what one full-time employee with benefits would
cost your company.
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An outsourced solution has no organizational or political agenda
- insiders sometimes have preconceptions
and agendas that affect a program's objectivity. This can cause
divisiveness within in a company, rather than improvement. |
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It is time consuming and
resource draining to do this work accurately. Consider recruiting shoppers
then training, qualifying (demographics and timeline), scheduling,
and paying them. Next, in order to present professional and
palatable evaluations to employees, they must be edited for grammar,
spelling, word choice, scoring fairness, etc. Finally, reporting,
data interpretation, strategy, coaching - these ensure Return on
Investment from the program. |
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If you seek a provider that
guarantees their work, there is no risk for the client. All
information is guaranteed to be useful. That does not necessarily
mean the client will like everything it finds, it just means it is useful
and assists them in their aim to be competitive. |
The workload is more than
you might imagine. Many companies start a program and realize its more than
they bargained for - either the program fades away which erodes the
confidence of future programs, or they find a company to take over the details
(which leads to work redundancy and even more cost). An experienced vendor safeguards
company perceptions and ensures the process is smooth, legally sound and
effective.
What
should I look for in a Secret Shopping provider?
A successful
provider:
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assists
in developing a program that works, including shopper guidelines, custom
scenarios, evaluations, rewards and a strategy for improvement; |
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provides
custom services that fit your specific needs; |
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uses
an online system that is flexible, but simple for end clients to navigate; |
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works with
enough shoppers to cover your needs; |
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trains
their shoppers well (ask how they train and qualify their shoppers!); |
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does not
charge for shoppers to apply; and |
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gets names when shopping
(there is no reason to do the evaluations unless the company can use the
evaluation to make improvements - this also corroborates that the shopper
did the shop thoroughly and that the client gets solid information); |
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partners
with a company representative in order to interpret information, implement
strategy and get results effectively; there is no time to wait - the
competition is out there; |
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guarantees
their work, either with a make-up shop or with a credit to their account.
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Before choosing a firm, make sure they will provide
you with the best value. Cost is not
the best determinant when selecting a vendor; it is probably the worst. If
you are short on time, put a Request for Proposal together. Below are a few specifications
that will save you hours.
Request for Proposal Specifications:
- The name of your company;
- Describe your company's business;
- Your name and your contact
information;
- Describe who you are and what your role is
in
implementing a secret shopper program. (Are you collecting information
for a team, supervisor or for yourself?);
- Detail whether you currently have a program
in place (provide outline of program) or whether you are researching for a
new program;
- If you have a program currently, discuss
how that works and the strengths and weaknesses of it;
- If you are just researching for a new
program, describe what you want to evaluate and why you are considering a
secret shopper program;
- List the number of
locations/regions/districts you are thinking about evaluating monthly (most
established companies require annual contracts);
- Outline what you are looking to accomplish
in this program; and finally
- Specify your timeline
for implementation.
Asking each vendor you solicit a proposal from
the following questions will provide you with the best comparative information;
otherwise, it is apples to oranges.
Questions:
- How long have you been in business?
- Are you a member of the MSPA (International
trade organization)?
- How do you ensure the client receives quality
reports?
- What makes your company different from other
providers?
- After learning about your company, ask 'What
recommendations would you give us about our program?'
- What type of evaluation would you recommend
for our program?
- What happens if one of our associates being
shopped does not have a nametag on?
- How many shoppers do you have?
- How do you train your shoppers?
Who are your shoppers and how are they trained?
In order to show you this, we have provided our
shopper specifications. This should give you a a good idea of what to look
for in a provider.
Shopper Specifications:
The Secret Shopper Company
is a premier, full-service secret shopping company, providing coverage
throughout the US, Guam, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands and
Canada. We recruit from 100 to 150
new shoppers daily. Additionally, all of our clients have dedicated online
accounts, so we require that all of our shoppers have Internet access.
Currently we have around 131,000 shoppers in our database.
Our
online system allows us to focus on weak geographic zones when we are preparing
for new accounts. We build queries,
which show us where we need to focus our recruiting efforts.
After targeting these areas, Monica Goodpaster, Recruitment Director, and
Pam Schick, VP of Operations, initialize recruiting in these locales.
Some areas can be a challenge, but we have never had an account whose
scheduling needs we could not meet. For
SSC scheduling tough areas like these simply takes smart, resourceful people who
won’t give up.
The Secret Shopper Company
qualifies our shoppers through an application and training process:
Part
1
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Independent Contractor
Agreement
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Application |
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Writing
Sample |
Part
2
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Best Practices
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Do's and
Don'ts |
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Quizzes |
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Coaching |
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Performance Ranking for Pay
Incentives |
SSC puts more into
the training and development of our shoppers than any other company in the industry.
Smart training reduces mistakes and expedites quality evaluations. In addition,
since most of our evaluations are designed to be descriptive vs. the "yes/no"
or "1,2,3,4 type," like many companies, the shoppers must
have more skill, period. It is more difficult to compile
and manage this style report, but for the client, it is much more valuable.
Executives want numbers, but associates need quality information to improve.
For more information to assist in your research,
SSC is happy to educate you on mystery shopping, in general. Simply contact
us at
sscbizdev@secretshoppercompany.com for more information on your particular industry and
needs. If we do not fit your needs for any reason, we will help you find
a provider who does.
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