Delivering exceptional customer service is a crucial component for success. Companies strive to find the delicate balance with their mystery shopping programs. They need to hold employees accountable for their performance, while also fostering an environment of continual improvement and forward momentum. However, motivating employees to embrace their mystery shopping program and accept constructive criticism requires a careful approach that encompasses sharing, accountability, training, incentives and positivity.
Sharing:
One effective way to attain accountability/momentum balance is by including your team in the design and roll out process of your mystery shopping program. If employees view the mystery shopping program as “other” to them, they will be less likely to embrace it. Include your team, they can offer valuable insight into how customers use your business. If you set up a program that covers your KPIs, but doesn’t truly reflect employees’ daily interactions with customers, the mystery shopping program may falter. So include your team in the planning and designing process of your mystery shopping program.
Accountability:
Fostering accountability among employees is the cornerstone of a successful mystery shopping program. There is no use having a perfectly run mystery shopping program, but then not following up reports with employees or having an action plan. Setting clear benchmarks for customer service and establishing metrics for performance ensures that employees understand the importance of their role in shaping the customer’s experience. Through regular feedback and open communication, employees are held accountable for their interactions with customers, thereby instilling a sense of responsibility and dedication to delivering exceptional service.
Team Feedback:
Sharing the mystery shopping results can be done in specific ways to ensure employees accept the feedback as constructive, rather than personal. At Above Benchmark, we advise clients to not share who was actually mystery shopped, though the client has this detail. Sharing it as team feedback externalises the results and the whole team takes accountability, rather than focusing on one person, who may internalise the feedback, lessening the impact. However, ultimately it is up to the client if they want to share this detail.
A Holistic Approach:
We also recommend that clients view their mystery shopping program as a whole, rather than standalone reports or moments in time. Unless something extreme is reported, no mystery shopping report should lead to sanctions, citations, or dismissal. Only if a pattern develops should there be serious action.
Training:
It can be challenging to get your existing team on board with a new concept. Though, once implemented, new team members that join the business do so with the mystery shopping program already in place
Equipping employees with the necessary skills and knowledge is essential for the success of a mystery shopping program. Training sessions should cover the benefits of mystery shopping. It should also cover how it will help your employees with customer engagement, problem-solving, and effective communication skills. By including mystery shopping in their comprehensive training, employees gain the confidence and capability to handle diverse customer interactions, thus positioning themselves for success.
Rewards and Incentives:
Recognising and rewarding employees for their performance serves as a powerful motivator for them to embrace their mystery shopping program. Incentives can be bonuses for perfect scores, written or verbal acknowledgement, recognition of patterns, or opportunities for advancement. These will not only validate employees’ efforts, but also drive them to consistently strive for excellence. By aligning rewards with positive mystery shopping results, companies reinforce a celebration culture, where their employees feel valued.
Positivity:
Similar to the above point about rewards and incentives, we also believe mystery shopping reports should include some positive comments. Even if our mystery shoppers report a woeful experience, they know to always include a positive comment. It may be as simple as the greeting was welcoming or that the team member spoke confidently. This avoids employees feeling that the shopper was overly negative and write the report off as a “bad day.” It also softens the report, making the negative feedback more palatable.
Consistency:
The best thing a business can do to ensure a well-received and effective mystery shopping program is consistency. With a consistent mystery shopping program employees will expect a mystery shopping visit throughout the month. Therefore, their overall customer service will improve, based on this expectation alone.
Promote your Commitment to Customer Service:
Once a business has their customer service policy in place, and has defined their customer culture, they should be promoting it. They should be talking about customer service, where relevant, on their socials, company updates, employee contracts, and especially on job ads when they are recruiting. Businesses should be conveying that customer service should be of paramount importance to their employees.
When employees wholeheartedly embrace their mystery shopping programs, they become active stakeholders in the customer experience. By fostering a safe culture of sharing and accountability, providing training, and offering meaningful rewards and incentives, companies can transform mystery shopping feedback into a catalyst for growth and improvement.
Ultimately, this approach not only improves customer service, but also strengthens employee engagement and success. If you would like to discuss how a mystery shopping program can enable your employees to understand their strengths and identify areas for improvement, please contact us.
