Success Stories
A Case Study – Dedham Savings Bank
Dedham Savings, a community bank headquartered in Dedham, MA, successfully uses the mystery shop program to reward employees for excellent shops as well as to mentor and coach employees when the results of the shop are not up to expected standards. In some cases, the shops are even used to measure the skills that were learned in training workshops. This was recently the case when Georgia, a teller in the Westwood Branch office, was shopped.
Georgia has been working at Dedham Savings for three years and struggled with spotting and responding to sales clues. Several weeks before the shop, Georgia attended an in-house two day sales workshop. Georgia learned tips and tricks about spotting sales opportunities as well as how to respond to customers in a way that is not imposing. Rather, Georgia learned to take the opportunity to educate her customers as to what products that may benefit them. Georgia was determined after the workshop to put her new skills to use and to overcome the hesitation that she had felt in the past.
When the shopper mentioned that she was moving to the area Georgia went into high gear. She scored 100% on the shop report! The shopper, not a customer of the bank, was attempting to cash a check. This is what the shopper had to say about Georgia.
“Georgia was quite pleasant and courteous about refusing to cash my check. At no point did she make me feel uncomfortable about it. And once she moved to a ‘let’s turn this person into a customer’ mode, she was terrific. She tried to get me to talk to a customer service person, but did not push me into that, accepting my comment that I was pressed for time. She did a nice job of explaining the accounts and an even better one of inviting me back.”
Jerry Lavoie, COO at Dedham Savings, wrote Georgia a personal thank you note and gave her a gift certificate. Additionally, she was on highlighted on the company’s Intranet page. Can you imagine how Georgia felt after receiving this recognition? It was a great reinforcement for the skills learned in the workshop. The credit for this positive experience goes directly to Georgia but it would not have been possible without using the mystery shop program as a coaching and mentoring tool.
Florence Savings Bank’s Mystery Shop Program
Our bank built our business and reputation on providing outstanding Customer Service. This was what always set us apart from our competitors and it became even more important when banks’ products and services all started looking the same…Free Checking, Free Online Banking and Free Bill Pay. At that time, more and more banks started to focus on Customer Service—it was all that was left. We realized that to maintain our competitive edge, we needed to raise the bar in this area. We also recognized that as we grew and hired new people, a Mystery Shopping program would not only ensure that we continued to provide the great Customer Service that we’d been known for, but it would also help us to constantly monitor ourselves and look for areas where we could improve.
We launched our Customer Impressions Mystery Shopping program in March 2007 and it has proven to be one of the best decisions that we’ve made. In addition to helping us sustain our competitive advantage, our program helps us to always keep Customer Service top–of–mind and to provide ongoing training and coaching to employees. We’re able to retain current customers and attract new ones, staying in touch with them by getting an unbiased viewpoint and perspective through the shop reports. Shopping competitors in all of our markets allows us to quantitatively measure and compare our performance to theirs. Most importantly, our program allows us to recognize, congratulate, and reward our star performers (we have employee and branch incentives as part of our program), while promoting teamwork in our branches and Call Center. We’ve found that our employees constantly raise the bar on their own when it comes to providing the highest level of service to our customers.
When asked about the value of having a Mystery Shopping program, the consensus at our bank is that we would never want to be without it!
Mystery Shopping Program helps nationwide retailer focus on strong customer service and sales standards
Mystery shopping has proven to be a useful tool for one of the country’s leading suppliers of women’s high-end swimwear. This nationwide client of Customer Perspectives of Hooksett, NH, has used a mystery shopping program as part of its customer service program since 1999. Corporate trainer Anne Gwinn says, “With a corporate office in Florida and stores nationwide, we feel this is the best opportunity we have to view the level of customer service we are providing our clients. We are able to identify staffing issues and training opportunities through the shops.”
The retailer has 34 stores nationwide. Staff varies from 5-15 employees per store, depending on sales volume. Individuals are not targeted for evaluation. Instead, random shops are performed with the expectation that the majority of the staff will be shopped over time.
Gwinn says, “We offer a reward of $100 for every 100% mystery shop. We have a strong customer service and sales focus. Our nonnegotiable sales standards have been incorporated into the shop. These standards are very basic, such as greeting every customer as they enter the store and bringing additional items to the fitting room. The shops are a great training tool for us.” On average, between 5 and 10 rewards are given out every month.
The mystery shopping program factors into performance reviews and additional points are added for perfect shops. The District manager reviews the shops with the Store Manager, who then discusses the shop with their employees. The shops are tracked on a spreadsheet. Compliance on the nonnegotiable sales standards is also tracked, and weighted 50% of the shop. Gwinn says she has seen consistent company-wide improvement since the mystery shopping program was implemented. For example, in the past, as peak season approached, a decline in service was noted as busy employees tried to handle more than one customer. That specific selling situation was targeted and employees now have the tools to cope with several customers at once.
Mystery Shopping Program helps David’s Bridal reach their goal of continuously improving customer service
The David’s Bridal customer is unique. She is shopping for apparel for a very important day – either her own wedding day or as a member of a wedding party. Wedding days are brimming with emotion and stress, much of it focused on appearance and detail. The planning process can take months, even years. David’s Bridal employees are trained to take all this into account and provide service that makes their customers feel special and important, in keeping with the importance of their “special day”.
Veronica Katz of David’s Bridal, and Customer Perspectives of Hooksett, NH, have designed a mystery shopping program that dovetails with David’s overall customer service evaluation efforts. The mystery shopping reports are used as the basis of tutorials that are given once a month to all employees. Employees are engaged in role playing and brainstorming activities with the goal of continuously improving customer service. Quarterly, the mystery shopping results are combined with responses to customer survey cards to produce a customer service “scorecard”. This scorecard measures how well expectations are being set, how store traffic is being managed, and what kind of first impression is being created.
Katz says the mystery shopping program is particularly useful in measuring the customer’s first impressions of David’s Bridal and what factors make her decide if she’ll return. As Katz notes, the typical bridal shopping experience is quite lengthy – sometimes as long as two years. They mystery shopping program allows Katz and her team to see missed opportunities during a customer’s initial visit, as opposed to the customer service survey cards, which are sent to registered customers and focus on the shopping process. When viewed over time, Katz says trends and patterns emerge and can be addressed. As an example, David’s Bridal now instructs employees to encourage customers who call for directions or store hours to set up midweek appointments to avoid the usually high traffic of Saturdays.
Katz says their mystery shopping program is an integral part of an overall customer service evaluation program that trains and rewards employees for outstanding performance. It also provides management with a customer’s perspective to their total shopping experience.
Mystery Shopping Program helps nationwide retailer focus on strong customer service and sales standards
Mystery shopping has proven to be a useful tool for one of the country’s leading suppliers of women’s high-end swimwear. This nationwide client of Customer Perspectives of Hooksett, NH, has used a mystery shopping program as part of its customer service program since 1999. Corporate trainer Anne Gwinn says, “With a corporate office in Florida and stores nationwide, we feel this is the best opportunity we have to view the level of customer service we are providing our clients. We are able to identify staffing issues and training opportunities through the shops.”
The retailer has 34 stores nationwide. Staff varies from 5-15 employees per store, depending on sales volume. Individuals are not targeted for evaluation. Instead, random shops are performed with the expectation that the majority of the staff will be shopped over time.
Gwinn says, “We offer a reward of $100 for every 100% mystery shop. We have a strong customer service and sales focus. Our nonnegotiable sales standards have been incorporated into the shop. These standards are very basic, such as greeting every customer as they enter the store and bringing additional items to the fitting room. The shops are a great training tool for us.” On average, between 5 and 10 rewards are given out every month.
The mystery shopping program factors into performance reviews and additional points are added for perfect shops. The District manager reviews the shops with the Store Manager, who then discusses the shop with their employees. The shops are tracked on a spreadsheet. Compliance on the nonnegotiable sales standards is also tracked, and weighted 50% of the shop. Gwinn says she has seen consistent company-wide improvement since the mystery shopping program was implemented. For example, in the past, as peak season approached, a decline in service was noted as busy employees tried to handle more than one customer. That specific selling situation was targeted and employees now have the tools to cope with several customers at once.
Call Toll Free 800-CPSHOPS, to find out how Customer Perspectives’ mystery shopping programs can improve your bottom line!
