We started January by signing several new clients and fielding new leads. Some of those new leads we are now in negotiations with, and some we are passing on for various reasons. As a company old enough to drink at its own office parties, we play to our strengths and know which business-to-business relationships will work well. While not all leads will come to fruition, it is fantastic to see how many businesses are focusing on customer service and mystery shopping to start their year. Starting with a clear focus is definitely key and will help them achieve their benchmarks. 

Of course, there will be elements this year that are beyond our control, but there are so many opportunities to embrace and afford an advantage. Here are just a few ways in which we at Above Benchmark made the most of a fresh start:

Start fresh: 

New email templates, updated reporting layouts, fresh spreadsheets, etc., make us feel so organised and ready to work after the Christmas break. These super-simple updates are a great way to improve productivity and set your team up for success.

Ask for testimonials and reviews:

A great boost is to read how awesome your company is. You will see updated comments from our clients and team on the Above Benchmark website. Asking for testimonials and reviews not only provides the warm glow of positive feedback, but you can then learn from any constructive criticism, as well. 

Update your website:

A tired website is never going to look appealing. We started the year with a fresh website and the amount of new leads we’ve received speaks volumes! Take the time to evaluate what works, ask your team their opinion, then freshen up the look. It could be as simple as some new widgets, adding testimonials, a new blog article, or a slightly altered layout. 

Contact former clients:

Should old acquaintances be forgotten? Gosh no! For various reasons (budgetary constraints, different goals, an unmotivated team, etc.) business-to-business and business-to-consumer relationships end, but then circumstances change and clients/customers return. Perhaps their marketing budget has grown, they’ve adjusted their goals, lifestyle has changed, etc.; there is no harm in reaching out. 

Evaluate your business: 

Introspection is a great way to better understand your company. So do an internal audit of your business, from the human capital (employees) to your connections with your customers/clients. If you’ve taken to Zoom meetings, spend a few minutes checking in with your team, how they’re going, and how you can help. 

Reassess your goals:

One thing we’ve learned from the past year is that you need to adjust and change in order to thrive. Your previous goals may have been impractical and you need to scale back to something more achievable. Or the opposite may be true and your team needs a greater challenge. A reassessment of goals is one of the reasons we have seen an increase in new enquiries and former clients returning. 

If you already have a Mystery Shopping program in place, these aspects can all be applied to that program. A good Mystery Shopping Provider will be flexible and not only embrace proposed changes to your program, but suggest improvements along the way, as they see your company growing and adapting. 

At Above Benchmark, we suggested to our clients that they add Covid-related questions to their survey forms. Therefore, we are able to deliver them the data they need to assess if their Covid-safe plan is being implemented correctly. Mystery Shopping is also a great way to gather feedback to use as testimonials and many of our shoppers choose to submit Google and Facebook reviews for clients. 

Take action

If you want to start 2021 off the right way, just remember SAUCER (start fresh, ask, update, contact, evaluate and reassess!) We would love to help you catch all the spills and realise your potential this year. Please contact us for a free, no-obligation chat about your business. 

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post What can you do to make this your company’s year? appeared first on Above Benchmark.

The first result in a Google search says “Mystery shopping is a tool used externally by market research companies…” On the Above Benchmark application to join our Mystery Shopping team we ask people “In your own words, what is mystery shopping?” Responses that begin with the Google answer are trashed. It’s not just that they’ve copied and pasted the answer, it’s that they haven’t read the question correctly in the first place and that is a huge part of being a Mystery Shopper. We want the answer to be in the applicant’s own words. If they missed that detail, they’re sure to miss an important shop instruction.

So what is Mystery Shopping really?

Mystery Shopping is a professional measurement of the actual customer experience against the client’s expectations. We have a varied list of clients and, according to the client-determined timeline, we send our Mystery Shoppers to their stores/restaurants/businesses to assess their service levels. 

Mystery Shopping is not an opinionated review of your shopping experience. It’s not the time for you to be a difficult customer or use emotive phrasing in the survey form. While regular shopping is fun, carefree, and led by impulse or need, Mystery Shopping is purposeful and led by the client-chosen guidelines. 

Why do people become Mystery Shoppers?

The flexible nature of Mystery Shopping means people from all walks of life are drawn to it and their reasons are varied. It may sound cliche, but most long-term Mystery Shoppers do it because they like helping to improve customer service. Some do it because they like an unstructured work environment where they can choose their own hours, fitting it in around family and work commitments. A lot do it because of the extra money it provides, which is just as valid a reason. However, the most successful Mystery Shoppers do it for all of the above reasons. 

Why do companies do Mystery Shopping? 

There are many reasons a company may wish to begin a Mystery Shopping program. Some may have specific issues they wish to explore, such as a restaurant receiving poor reviews on their dinner service. While others may just want a better understanding of their customers’ experiences. Whatever the motive, Mystery Shopping enables companies to view their business through the eyes of a typical customer. 

Why do companies outsource their Mystery Shopping? 

Business-to-business services exist because clients realise they need expert assistance. Why struggle to design your own survey? We can do it for you, drawing on our vast experience and resources. Our reporting platform is second-to-none and delivers real-time results. We have thousands of Mystery Shoppers on our database and, between them, they visit hundreds of stores every month.  

Before coming to us, many clients have attempted to conduct their own Mystery Shops, setting out questions in a Word doc and using friends and family to assess their business. The results are always unusable because the questions aren’t designed correctly, they soon run out of people to use, and the results are skewed because the friends and family have little incentive to be thorough and objective. Outsourcing Mystery Shopping to a reputable provider means the program will run smoothly and accurately, with little input necessary from the business. 

What’s involved in Mystery Shopping?

A Mystery Shopper will visit their assigned store, make a specific enquiry, and assess the level of customer service based on the criteria we provide. When the visit is complete, the Mystery Shopper fills out their survey form. The same general pattern can also be applied to restaurant visits, phone and website enquiries. 

How does Mystery Shopping work? 

At the start of the month we list the surveys we have available and our Mystery Shoppers apply for whichever ones they would like to do. We then assign the surveys and our Mystery Shoppers read the guidelines, instructions and survey form so they know how to conduct their Mystery Shop. Once they have completed their visit and submitted their survey on our reporting platform, our Quality Assurance Team checks the survey and processes it for our clients. At the end of the month, we collate and analyse the results for our clients and they discuss these results with their team. 

What tech do you need to be a Mystery Shopper?

Mystery Shopping has come a long way since shoppers had to fill out hard copies of survey forms and post them back to the companies. Now, all you really need is your smart phone and wifi. Here’s a list of tech you need to successfully complete your Mystery Shop: 

1. A smartphone. You can access the guidelines, instructions and survey form on our mobile-friendly reporting platform. There are so many smartphone apps that make Mystery Shopping easier. You can take written notes in your Memo app or voice notes in your voice recorder app. You can take a photo as proof of your visit, which many Mystery Shopping assignments require. 

Your phone is also how we will contact you with urgent Mystery Shops or questions about your submitted surveys. 

2. A computer. While not a necessity anymore, it sure does help to have a proper computer on which to comfortably view your instructions and fill out your survey form.  

3. A printer. It used to be a requirement to print the survey form and take it with you to fill out as soon as you were away from the location you were assessing. With the advent of smartphones, it’s not as pressing to print out the survey form; however, we still find it the easiest and best way to record everything.

What skills do you need to be a Mystery Shopper?

1. Discretion: Don’t take the “mystery” out of it and tell everyone you know about your new hobby. If you tell Sally from playgroup you can guarantee she’ll be in the next store you assess and will say loudly “Are you mystery shopping?”

2. Good report writing skills: You should have a strong grasp of the basics, such as sentence structure, grammar, etc. However, we can help you develop this as our Quality Assurance team provides feedback on every submitted survey. 

3. Objectivity: A Mystery Shop is completely separate to you and your opinion and emotions; it has no impact on you and it’s not personal. Therefore, the comments on your survey form should be factual and correct.  

4. Good interpersonal skills: Interaction with staff is a key aspect of Mystery Shopping. You need to communicate well, and also use manners and common courtesy. This goes for every interaction you have with our company. The way you interact with our admin team is a good indication to us of what you’ll be like during a Mystery Shop. 

5. Patience: A lot of Mystery Shopping is waiting: waiting for job releases, waiting to be assigned, waiting for paperwork, waiting for service, waiting at the register, etc. It’s important that you have patience. If you’re easily annoyed, please don’t pursue Mystery Shopping. A real red flag on reports is “I can’t believe I had to wait 5 minutes for service!” 

What does Mystery Shopping mean for you, the Shopper? 

1. It’s pocket money. You will get paid between $5 to $50 a job, with the standard payment being between $15 to $20. In most cases, you will be responsible for working out the tax and declaring your income. You don’t need an ABN to do assignments, as long as you complete a Statement by Supplier form from the ATO.

2. There’s effort involved. If you want to get the best jobs and work frequently, you will join every company out there and check their websites on a daily, if not hourly basis, constantly refreshing in the hopes of seeing new work. Some companies (like Above Benchmark) list all of their assignments at the start of the month and assign in bulk, but a lot of other companies will release jobs seemingly at random.

3. It’s fun! Come on, what other job pays you to shop? On any given day a Mystery shopper can have lunch comped, buy something nice for themselves in a homewares store, pick up something at the pharmacy they need, try on some nice shoes and get paid for it all.

BUT, here’s point two again: when you get home you will have to enter the results of the surveys, which can take between 5 and 30 minutes, depending on the company and type of assessment. If you’re good at writing and typing, it will be a breeze!

4. It’s important. Sure, the shoppers find it fun, but it’s serious business. Companies rely on these results to understand what’s happening in their stores, which is why we are so insistent on the importance of following all of our instructions.

5. Which leads us to our fifth point, it can’t be faked. You are being trusted to follow instructions, conduct the survey, and submit an objective report. Real people will read the report and be impacted by it, so be fair and honest.

What does Mystery Shopping mean for our Clients?

A Mystery Shopping program can be invaluable for any business that depends on customers as it provides an unparalleled understanding across their tiered service levels.  

1.  It’s a detailed tour of the customer’s experience in the business, through the objective view of a trained Mystery Shopper. 
2. It’s data-gathering guided by custom instructions and questions. A regular Mystery Shopping program will provide the answers to specific questions about the business. 
3. It’s a great way to identify what’s wrong with your customer service, but also what’s right with it. Our Mystery Shopping programs focus on the positives, so our clients Team Members embrace their Mystery Shopping Program. 
4. It’s flexible. We customise monthly Mystery Shopping programs to what’s happening in our clients business. If they have a promotion or need to collect new data to help decision making, we build it into the program.  A good Mystery Shopping Program should be able to change with the business and remain fresh. 
5. It can be used for training purposes. Mystery Shopping results are perfect for training new staff and even franchises. 

And what does it mean for us, Above Benchmark?

Mystery Shopping is the core offering of our business and has been for the last two decades.  

1. Mystery Shopping Providers have two groups of people to satisfy: our clients and our Mystery Shoppers. At Above Benchmark, we acknowledge that equal attention and value should be attributed to both.

2. We’re the experts. Both our clients and our Mystery Shoppers should trust that our experience in this industry will get them the results they need.

For clients, this transpires into real-time results, increased customer advocacy, and sales growth. 

For mystery shoppers, this is seen in our smooth systems, clear instructions, and quick payments. 

3. Improving the experience of customers will lead to more in-person retail and dining. We are shifting towards more online purchases and at-home dining, and risk losing the art of customer interaction. To us, Mystery Shopping is the way to improve the experiences of customers and to provide a critical point of difference between online and on location service. 

How to tell if you’d be a good Mystery Shopper: 

1. You enjoy shopping
2. Meeting new people is a highlight of your day
3. You give people the benefit of the doubt
4. People have said you have an eye for detail
5. You manage your own time and can work to a deadline
6. Customer service is important to you
7. You have posted a Google or Facebook review to acknowledge good service
8. Constructive feedback is a good thing 
9. ‘Grammar’ is not your relative and punctuation is your friend
10. You realise Mystery Shopping is a hobby and don’t expect it to be a full time or regular job

Here’s how to apply for a Mystery Shopping role with Above Benchmark: 

Please click on the application tab. If your application is accepted, you will move onto the next step, which is a quick and informal phone interview. 

What we’re looking for on applications:

We receive thousands of applications from potential Mystery Shoppers and can’t read every single one. Therefore, we look for potential shoppers in the areas where we already have clients. Some applicants are an immediate no, where it’s obvious we’re just a ticked box on a Centrelink requirement. While others may go in the “trash” pile if they’re ridiculously brief, lack basic sentence structure, or we identify a deal breaking character fault (it happens). 

1. A good rule of thumb is to make it your own; we ask for your answers to our questions on the application form so we can get an idea of who you are. We’ll not only know if you copy off Google, but we’ll also know that you can’t think for yourself and prefer shortcuts. 

2. If you think our application form is too long… please don’t continue. Our application form is designed by the same team who brought you our survey forms and provides a good example of what to expect.

3. Likewise, every question was chosen for a reason, same as our survey forms. If you question the validity of what we are asking, then please hit the x. 

4. Please take the time to write well. Read over your comments to ensure you can understand them and if there’s any other detail you can add. If there are mistakes in your application, or it’s too brief, we will assume your submitted survey forms will be the same poor quality and will not accept your application. 

How to help get your application noticed: 

We love to read honest application forms where your personality shines through. At Above Benchmark, we value our shoppers as people, not numbers like some other Mystery Shopping Providers. We want to read about the time you featured in your local paper because you saved a koala or that you love going camping with your family. 

Also, if you have Mystery Shopping experience, don’t be afraid to provide some examples, while maintaining company and client confidentiality of course! Listing the types of stores you’ve assessed is great, but actual comments about those visits is what will make you stand out. 

What if you’re already a Mystery Shopper, but want more assignments? 

1. Ask for more work (we can’t always make it happen, but an email doesn’t hurt)
2. Ask for feedback on how you can improve   
3. Submit within the deadline (and if you really want to impress us, submit early in the allowed timeframe. Our Quality Assurance Team love it when shoppers don’t leave everything to the last day)
4. Submit within 24 hours of conducting your survey
5. Follow all of our instructions about how to conduct surveys
6. Write concise reports that convey what happened without making us feel we’re reading Moby Dick 2.0
7. Communicate! If something happens, email us to let us know. We’re not mind readers and always welcome the opportunity to correspond with one of our shoppers
8. Stand out to us: reply to our newsletters, comment on our social media posts, send us a nice text or email in response to one of ours 
9. Reply to us how we communicate with you. If we send an email, respond by email, a text for a text, and so on. We often communicate via email so we have a written response that we can refer to down the track, if necessary 
10. Realise real people are affected by your submitted surveys. You can’t describe the Team Member as “dumpy” or that they “didn’t even know anything about the product.” A person is going to read this report and we need to be factual and fair, not personal and critical. 

There are thousands of Mystery Shoppers working on a regular basis for Above Benchmark and, in general, they seem like a happy bunch, so the fun must outweigh the effort. Well, for our Mystery Shoppers anyway!

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post Everything you need to know about becoming a Mystery Shopper appeared first on Above Benchmark.

While EOFY might just be the end of the financial year, we should definitely view it as a turning point for 2020; a chance to both adapt and reset. We continually seek to help our clients with this. Most of our clients have added Covid-19 related questions to their Mystery Shopping and Customer Satisfaction surveys and we will also assist with data interpretation and patterning around these focus areas. This will help them adapt and grow in the “new normal.” 

Even without considering the monumental changes to the retail and service industries, the new financial year has always been a great time to reflect and notice gaps in your knowledge of the business. Mystery Shopping and Customer Satisfaction programs are the best way to help you not only answer those questions, but identify unexplored areas. That is why July and August are typically our busiest months for survey design as we try to help as many new clients as possible achieve a deeper understanding of their business. 

Here are just a few New Financial Year Resolutions for 20-21 with which we can help:  

1. Get a better understanding of your customer’s perspective 

Are you filling a need or creating an experience? If it’s the former, great, you have a product or service that people need, but not much leverage against competitors. We can provide you with your customer’s perspective so you can better understand those who do return and those who don’t. 

2. Create a WOW factor

All customer experiences should be valued and enjoyable, but there should be a clear difference between your online or takeaway experience and your in-store/dine-in experience. Let us help identify your in-person WOW factor. 

3. Embrace Change  

Stores and restaurants have had to implement certain hygiene and social distancing requirements. Let us help you keep on track of those changes and perfect them because it looks like they’re here to stay for a while. Heck, the ways stores and restaurants handle these changes could even become a reason customers prefer your business to others! 

At Above Benchmark, we admit to being marketing nerds so we are excited about the new challenges coming up and the developing patterns. We see the new financial year as a time to use the new normal to create even better customer experiences. Contact us to see how we can help you realise your New Financial Year Resolutions.

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post Your New Financial Year Resolutions appeared first on Above Benchmark.

Mystery Shopping is a dynamic, fast-paced and fun industry, which we love. Unfortunately, it also attracts scammers because it’s primarily arranged online, often involves the outlay of money to a third party, and payments are made direct to the shopper’s bank accounts. So many scams use mystery shopping the whole industry’s reputation has been tainted and some people don’t even think mystery shopping is real. 

Here are a few ways to identify the scams:  

1. Paying for the privilege 

You are working for the mystery shopping provider, so they pay you, not the other way around. Mystery shopping can be fun and interesting work, but work it most definitely is, so don’t pay to do it.  If a mystery shopping company asks for an application processing fee or any other kind of payment, lose their number.

2. Laundering

Some scammers set up fake mystery shopping assignments in order to launder ill-gotten gains. If a purchase is required for a job, it should be made with your own money and then reimbursed with your survey payment. If you remember that, the only money laundering you will be doing is when you accidentally leave a $5 note in your jeans pocket. 

3. Too good to be true

“You’ll give me a $200 voucher to just visit the store? I’m in!” No, they may tell you that to get your attention, but it’s most likely only one in a hundred who actually get a voucher, if even that; the rest get spammed relentlessly by email and phone. The target here is your contact details, which they sell to all and sundry. Regret will set in after about the tenth penis enlargement email on the first day or the call asking if you’ve been in an accident recently. 

4. Ghosts 

A real mystery shopping company will have a presence. They will have client and mystery shopper testimonials, be active on social media platforms, be available to talk to, etc. You will know there are real people behind the company. 

5. Monopoly money

Mystery shopping providers pay through bank deposit and Paypal. Run if you hear Western Union, cheque, or Bitcoin. It’s not that any of these themselves are scams, it’s just not how MSPs do business. Bank deposit and Paypal are safe ways to receive your pay.

6. Information for a price

There are many lists of companies and other sorts of information about mystery shopping that people are trying to sell in various forms, from ebooks to hard copy. However, mystery shopping providers don’t play hard to get, we want to be found because we are always looking for more mystery shoppers. It is in our best interest to be as informative, transparent, and available as possible, so please don’t pay to find out about us. Armed with this list of what to avoid you can just do some educated Googling. 

So what should you be looking out for when you select a mystery shopping provider? Here are 6 tips: 

1. Make sure the company is a member of the MSPA, the Mystery Shopping Professional’s Association. The association strengthens and unites the mystery shopping industry through a focus on standards, ethics, and quality. Being a member of the MSPA provides more credibility to a Mystery Shopping Provider. http://www.mspa-global.org/about-mspa.html

However, it doesn’t automatically mean the MSP isn’t legitimate if they are NOT an MSPA member. They may just not meet the MSPA’s Code of Ethics. This could mean they’ve had several complaints, haven’t been paying Mystery Shoppers or they just don’t see the value in joining the Association (warning bells of another kind!)  

2. The Mystery Shopping Provider’s website should look professional and complete, with multiple pages. Their contact details should be clearly visible. In this digital age they will more than likely have links for Clients and Mystery Shoppers to log in. If they’re working from a Facebook page only, run! If you see numerous spelling errors in their copy, run! 

3. A consistent digital presence is critical to Mystery Shopping Providers. They should be active on Social Media and have both Google and Facebook reviews. Their website should contain social media links and Client testimonials from companies and brands you are familiar with.

4. The pay cycle should be transparent. Above Benchmark pay every Friday, like clockwork. You should never wonder when, or if, you’re getting paid. Sometimes there may be an issue with a report or outstanding forms, but this should be clearly communicated to you. Even reputable companies get behind, so if they are no longer keeping their end of the bargain, don’t enable them, stop accepting assignments. 

5. Which brings me to communication. Good Mystery Shopping Provider’s communicate with their Shoppers. They should provide comprehensive introductory information, thorough guidelines, a thoughtfully constructed survey form, then follow it up afterwards with feedback, and answer any queries promptly. If emails are going unanswered, that’s not a good sign and you should focus your efforts on companies that do want to hear from you. 

6. A presence on The Australian Mystery Shoppers’ Forum is also a great indicator that the MSP is legit. It’s also chock full of professional shoppers with more awesome advice. Most countries around the world have at least one Mystery Shopper Forum, so join up and ask some questions.

Although there are a lot of professional scammers out there who want to take your money, steal your identity or sell your personal details, there are a lot of genuine Mystery Shopping Providers too. Some are better than others, the key is to do thorough research before you sign up for anything and be very careful with giving out your personal information.

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post How to Spot a Mystery Shopping Scam appeared first on Above Benchmark.

Previously a brand ambassador referred to a person hired by a company to promote their brand. However, this term has now been adapted to include any employee of a company as marketing professionals have realised the immense, and often untapped, power of a truly engaged employee who loves the brand for which they work and want others to love it too. When your employee is the ambassador they believe in the brand, defend it and care about its reputation

The new customer’s experience of your brand may begin with an advertisement they see on television or on Facebook, that plants the seed of your brand and gets them in. Whilst your marketing team would have a solid understanding of your brand and implement it effectively, it doesn’t end there.

The experience then continues in store, where everyone who has had a hand in the construction, design, and display must also have been engaged with the brand. If one person in the chain thinks “that’s good enough” they are not an authentic brand ambassador, unless one of your core values is “that’s good enough.”

Perhaps the most ‘frontline’ version of employee as brand ambassador is the staff who actually interact with the customer or client. They are the ones who are able to have the most impact on the customer. You want this person to have identified with your brand at such an innate level that their own personality has become part of the brand objective. Lorna Jane has done this brilliantly and with credibility; you usually can’t see where the staff member’s personality ends and the brand begins. Authentic brand ambassadors don’t have to “sell”, their enthusiasm for the brand is so natural it’s what closes the sale without effort.

Find out if you have brand ambassadors on your team by implementing Mystery Shopping and Customer Satisfaction programs. Discover who among you deserves praise and who would benefit from more engagement. Also, ask your employees their opinion. We’ve done it at Above Benchmark. We identified that we have true brand ambassadors working with us by asking them to answer a short survey about their relationship with our company. We were stunned and thrilled by the results! Take the plunge and identify your authentic brand ambassadors.

The post Why You Need Authentic Brand Ambassadors appeared first on Above Benchmark.

There are two main types of franchises: product distribution (petrol stations, car dealerships) and business format (McDonalds, Zarraffas, Dominos). The business format is the most popular type of franchise in Australia and a popular industry is quick-service food. Six of the top 10 leading franchises in Australia are quick-service food brands, with an average estimated franchise cost of $350000.(2) 

It may seem overwhelming as there is a lot to consider when franchising: the agreement, fit-out, branding, financials, core values, third party companies, etc. Often customer service is an afterthought (i.e. thought after the business starts getting negative reviews). Your customer service standards should be the first expectations you communicate to potential franchisees. Just as you would share your policies for processing and preparing orders, so should you share your policy on serving a customer. The franchisees and their staff will be representing the brand, they need to represent it well. 

At Above Benchmark, we can help you understand your customer service policy and ensure your standards are communicated and upheld. We do this by designing a Mystery Shopping survey to assess your current customer service standards. Ideally, this survey would be accompanied by a Customer Satisfaction survey to also gather feedback from actual customers. This would both identify opportunities for improvement and recognise great moments in service. It also should lead to an increase in sales.

How does a Mystery Shopping program benefit your business? 

• We provide measurable data and KPIs, which could be passed directly to potential franchisees. 
• The surveys could be used as training tools to showcase perfect customer experience scenarios.
• You can hold franchisees accountable to these standards
• Get unbiased insight into what’s happening at ground level
• Also allows you to check other standards, such as food quality and team/location presentation
• Our software allows for two levels of questions. You can collect data that the franchisee does not have access to. 

How does a Mystery Shopping program benefit your franchisees? 

• It provides a clear expectation on the brand’s customer service policy 
• The data can be used as a training tool for both current and new Team Members
• Positive surveys can be used to boost team morale 
• It’s their Mystery Shopping program too, they should feel included in the process

Like most business decisions, timing is everything. While you can implement a Mystery Shopping program after you’ve launched your franchise model, writing the program into your agreement can give you the winning edge. Here are the top 3 reasons you should have a Mystery Shopping program when you launch your franchise.

1. You can incorporate the fees into the franchise agreement
2. The customer service expectations will be clear from the start
3. There will be consistency when new locations open 

It’s never too late! If you’ve already launched your franchise model, you can still implement a Mystery Shopping program. You may need to have some careful conversations with current franchisees, but they will soon realise having a customer service policy that is measured with a Mystery Shopping program will help them to grow their new business. New franchisees will be accepting of the program from sign-up as the customer culture will already be in place. 

How do you choose the right mystery shopping provider for your business?

You want a company who will understand and share your core values, who believes in your business and supports you. Some mystery shopping providers only consider their bottom line and will only work with industry giants. At Above Benchmark we’re passionate about helping small businesses grow into industry giants. We understand that outlining and measuring your customer service is critical to your growth and should be included in your franchise model and agreement and we’d love to help you with that!

1 https://www.business2sell.com.au/blogs/franchise/top-ten-australian-franchises

2 https://www.businessfranchiseaustralia.com.au/blog/top-10-leading-franchises-australia

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post Why you need a Mystery Shopping Program before you franchise appeared first on Above Benchmark.

Here are just seven reasons you need a Mystery Shopping Program for your restaurant:

1 – Quality Control 

Let’s face it, sometimes things go wrong and the food isn’t great or may not be to one person’s taste, that’s understandable. Our trained Mystery Shoppers will provide objective feedback about their visit and a consistent program will identify if a lapse in quality is a pattern that needs addressing. 

2 – Solutions

Before Karen from Caringbah leaves your restaurant a negative Yelp review, implement a good Mystery Shopping program to identify any current or possible problems and provide feedback on how to improve your customer service. As you would measure and maintain a piece of machinery, Mystery Shopping can work as preventative maintenance on customer service. Possible service issues can be uncovered before they damage your reputation. 

3 – Fly on the Wall  

Be a fly on the wall (but not in the soup) in your restaurants. While it’s great to have regional representatives checking your standards and core values are being properly reflected on the frontline, employees change their habits around peers and superiors. A Regional Manager won’t discover that a store employee isn’t greeting customers or confidently answering questions about the menu, without feedback from customers and Mystery Shoppers.  

A Mystery Shopper can interact with staff anonymously, ask set questions, and receive genuine service. The authentic interaction between the Mystery Shopper and staff can then be objectively evaluated and compared against other locations with the same criteria. A Mystery Shopping program eliminates variables that skew results.

4 – Consistency

Ideally, if a customer receives excellent service in one of your restaurants, they should receive the same level of service in your other restaurants. That is not the reality of the service industry; experience differs and quality fluctuates. You provide the benchmark, a Mystery Shopping program ensures that benchmark is being met and monitors consistency across locations. Consistency is key.

5 – Training and Franchising 

A consistent Mystery Shopping program will help you hire, train, and keep in touch with your employees. It will also allow you to grow the business, if you wish to do so. It provides case studies on what to do and what not to do and tangible data. The program will both communicate the company’s expectations and assess based on that criteria, making expectations clear and consistently reinforced. 

6 – Rewards 

Who wouldn’t want a chance to recognise and reward their best team members? Everyone loves to be told they’re doing a great job. A company might initiate rewards and incentives for top performing employees. It could be an awards night, bonuses for top scoring locations, even a KPI for salaries and commission. These help team morale and further promote the idea of employees being brand ambassadors. Measuring and monitoring service is the first step to improving service, which leads to increased sales. 

7 – Clarity 

Many business owners believe they can get the same results with an in-house representative. Sending in someone with ties to the company may skew results and not afford you the same multi-layered feedback that a trained Mystery Shopper can provide. With an unbiased, anonymous assessor comes clarity. 

There will always be ups and downs, new competitors, changes in technology, etc., the focus should always be on customer service because that is what leads to growth. It’s common sense to make sure your business is doing everything in its power to assess, improve, and benefit from that customer service.

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post Seven Reasons Every Restaurant Needs a Mystery Shopping Program appeared first on Above Benchmark.

We speak to so many people in the goods and services industry who know the importance of having a Net Promoter Score, but who are not sure why it’s so important or what it is exactly. 

So, what is it exactly?

The Net Promoter Score measures customer loyalty using an index from -100 to 100, using a standard question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend this business to friends and family?” 

The tool then uses the answers to filter into three categories: Promoters; Passives; and Detractors. 

Promoters (9-10): are the customers who are loyal and enthusiastic about your brand and will promote it to others.

Passives (7-8): are satisfied customers, but not enthusiastic enough to promote you to others and are open to considering competitors.

Detractors (0-6): actively try to disparage your brand by spreading negative feedback to others. 

The key difference between a Net Promoter Score and averaging customer responses, is in its unique calculation. 

For example, if we surveyed 3 customers and asked how likely they would be to recommend the business and their answers were 6, 8 and 10 the average of those answers is 8, which is pretty good. However the actual NPS for that scenario is 0.  

Remember, NPS uses the answers to filter into three categories; Detractors, Passives and Promoters. From here, the calculation is no longer about the actual score, it’s about the number of Detractors, Passives and Promoters.

The customer who scored an 8, is a Passive and they are excluded from the calculation as they aren’t really promoting the business at all.

The customer who scored 6 is a Detractor and they have negative things to say about the business, thus doing it damage. They count as 1 Detractor.

The customer who scored a 10 is a Promoter and they are actively promoting the business. They count as 1 Promoter.

The NPS Calculation excludes the Passives (the 8) and then it subtracts the Detractors (the 6) from the Promoters (the 10) which leaves a 0. One customer in our example isn’t talking about the business and the one giving negative feedback cancels out the one giving positive feedback. 

Here’s an online calculator to see it in action http://www.npscalculator.com/en

So to have a great NPS, you need lots of Promoters (9’s and 10’s) 

To turn Detractors and Passives into Promoters, you have to understand why they gave the score they did, so you can improve. 

No business is going to have a perfect score, not even a not-for-profit company giving away free hugs. There are still going to be detractors. For example, Apple has a NPS score of 72, that is considered extremely high for a company in the tech industry. 

The beauty of the Net Promoter Score is that it is easy to understand and communicate with your team. It is also easily obtained through customer satisfaction surveys. The NPS can have immediate consequences that your team can act on, as well as long term benefits for sales growth.  Every business should measure their own NPS and should know the NPS of their industry so they can compare and benchmark. 

However don’t be fooled into thinking that simply knowing your NPS is enough, you should also know why you received the score and what you can do to improve it.  Word of mouth, reviews and recommendations are critical to business. Get your customers talking about you for the right reasons and you’ll grow your business and get the edge over your competitors.

A Customer Satisfaction program is super simple to implement and provides an abundance of feedback from your customers for a very small investment. Contact us to get the ball rolling and unlock this golden feedback today.

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post What is a Net Promoter Score Exactly? appeared first on Above Benchmark.

We understand that some businesses are wary of starting a Customer Satisfaction Program because they are concerned the submission rate will be low and, therefore, neither reliable nor actionable. However don’t dismiss this fabulous service because you think you might not get much feedback. Follow our tips below and give it a go.

So, how do you get more customers to take your Customer Satisfaction survey?

Here are our top 7 tips:

1. Ask your customers – Teach your Team Members to actually ask customers to give feedback. This could be at the register in a retail store, or when a customer is paying for their meal in a restaurant. Choose a moment during the customer’s journey where it makes the most sense. 

The most effective way to get feedback is to actually ask your customers. At the point of sale, your Team Members should be pointing out the survey link on the customer’s receipt and asking them to fill it in, giving them a reason, such as an incentive or to improve their next experience.

2. Keep it simple – The world is a lot busier now and shoppers have a thousand things vying for their attention. You want your survey to be as easy and immediate as possible before… “Oh look, a shiny penny!” Above Benchmark’s reporting platform was custom designed with mobile submissions in mind and is the perfect option for all types of consumer surveys, from Customer Satisfaction to Mystery Shopping.

3. Be concise – You can get a lot of feedback in a relatively small space when your survey is expertly designed by a team who, guided by your KPIs and targets, can select the right questions to maximise learning capabilities and promote sales growth. Choose the right questions, get the answers you need to make decisions.

4. Provide an incentive – This can be as simple as making your customer feel important or as tangible as a voucher for $2 off their next purchase. While we have found offering discounts does work very well, if you don’t want to go that way, don’t write off a genuine thank you for feedback. Customers love the interaction with businesses, to feel valued and like they have a voice; it’s why review sites and Facebook business pages are so popular.

5. Phrasing is key – If your survey invitation is being sent out to your customer base via email, the wording is very important. You want the subject to be memorable and unique, and your content to be straightforward. Most importantly, it needs to be spam-filter proof by avoiding trigger phrases like “free” and “you have been selected”. Use attractive words and phrases, like “elite”, “easy” and “no obligation”.

6. Personalise it – Customers love to feel important, like they are not just another sale, so address the survey to them. “Your opinion matters…”, “We want to hear from you…” and “We care about you…”

7. Ask again – If you don’t receive a response from customers, ask again. This is particularly successful when the survey is emailed to the customer as you have a point of contact.  

Customer Satisfaction Surveys don’t just identify potential problems, they tell you what you’re doing well. Celebrating excellent feedback with your team is fantastic! Compliments do wonders for team pride and culture.

These are just some of the many ways you can increase the survey submission rate. However, the best way to help your customer satisfaction program run smoothly is to outsource it to the experts. At Above Benchmark, we are here to help our clients optimise their programs.

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post How to get customers to take your Feedback Survey appeared first on Above Benchmark.

So it is with Mystery Shopping: if you test your customer service muscle regularly, you won’t lose it.  Here’s why it’s important to keep your Mystery Shopping program on a consistent month to month schedule. 

1 – It’s not a pop quiz: 

Intermittent Mystery Shopping programs inevitably fail as they send the wrong message to your team. It’s not a pop quiz designed to trip them up, it’s a focused series of assessments over time. Those who perform well are rewarded with acknowledgement; those who don’t, are shown how they can improve and build on their customer service skills.

2 – Perfect reports are just as important:  

Sometimes clients may consider stopping their Mystery Shopping program because their team has done so well in previous cycles, they think there is no point to continuing it.

 However, it’s not just about identifying problem points, it’s also about recognising excellence. The Above Benchmark team would love to be flies on the wall when Team Members receive their 100% reports. We’re thrilled for them to just read the results. We think the looks on their faces, and the way they carry themselves after that, justifies a consistent program. People like to be recognised and rewarded for their excellence and the most successful Mystery Shopping programs inspire excitement, rather than complacency.   

3 – Detailed comments tell the story: 

It’s not just about the scoring. Well designed Mystery Shopping surveys include compulsory comment sections where shoppers can expand on the answers they selected. It may turn out that the Team Members did do everything right, according to the questions the client chose for their report, but that their manner when offering an upsell was brusque or uncomfortable. Or the restroom sign was not obvious enough, etc. 

4 – Be the first to know about a potential problem, not social media:  

Don’t wait until a potential problem is plastered on your business’s social media pages by unhappy customers. A consistent Mystery Shopping program will identify any issues before they go viral.  

5 – Use it for hiring purposes: 

If you have a consistent Mystery Shopping program you can build it into your hiring procedure so your team knows what’s expected of them from the start. Make it a positive part of working for your company, but also make it a necessary part. 

6 – Avoid a pattern: 

If a store is shopped month on and month off, your employees will notice a pattern and they will act accordingly. A consistent program, every month, will negate your team trying to pinpoint when they will be visited. It just becomes an accepted part of working for your company.

7 – You can change it up and keep it fresh: 

Just because you have a consistent program in place, does not mean it needs to stagnate. Whilst the majority of the survey may remain the same, you can focus on different areas, ask new questions, change it up, etc. This flexibility provides greater insight into your customers’ experiences. 

Ultimately you not only want to identify the good and the bad, but you want to see sales growth. If you have a consistent mystery shopping program you can really use it to your best advantage, through every facet of your business.

Take action

Here at Above Benchmark, we make Mystery Shopping simple. We help our clients design their ideal customer service experience. Then we have our professional Mystery Shoppers evaluate their customer service so we can compare it to their benchmark.

We live and breathe customer service and have been designing unique Mystery Shopping programs for almost 2 decades.

If you want to grow your business through better service and experiences, contact us today.

Simply call 1300 400 716 and let us help you achieve above your benchmark.

The post 7 Reasons Why a Consistent Mystery Shopping Program is Key appeared first on Above Benchmark.