Shortly after graduating from college I worked in Allied Stores' buyer training program. Although I didn't complete it, it gave me an excellent educational/working experience.

I was assigned to the dry goods department. At that time, electric blankets were the hot item and many of the nation's leading bedding manufacturers were competing vigorously for market share. Each attempted to train and motivate our department's employees to promote their brand because the store sales personnel had such enormous influence over the brand consumers selected.

One brand used a very successful approach to sales clerk motivation. This company employed a woman who came into our department and told the clerk that she was interested in purchasing an electric blanket but wasn't sure which brand to buy. As she was being shown the brands available she asked questions that allowed the clerk to provide details regarding the differences among the products. By the end of the sales presentation, if the clerk had accurately (and positively) identified the features of the sponsoring firm's blankets this "mystery shopper" would identify herself and present the clerk with a $5 bill, which back then was nearly a full day's pay for a sales clerk.

Because the program was well publicized and the reward so special, the sales clerk made certain that the product features of the company using the mystery shoppers were fully presented. This program was a such a strong motivator for the people selling electric blankets that I wondered why more companies didn't take a similar approach.

Since my time at Allied Stores I have not been directly involved in mystery shopping. Recently, however, we have been receiving calls requesting more information on the subject and names of firms who specialize in it.

To bring me up to date on the subject, I contacted three individuals with substantial expertise in mystery shopping. They are: Judith Hess, Customer Perspectives, Hookset, N.H.; Jeffrey Friedlaender, Meyers Research Center, New York City; and Christian Doomanis of Commercial Service Systems, Van Nuys, Calif. Each is an officer of their respective company and has been involved in mystery shopping for a number of years.

Although each had unique observations and comments they agreed that the use of mystery shopping grown rapidly in the last five years. There are a number of reasons for this, but certainly one of them is the reduction in middle-management/supervisory employees, which has forced companies to make greater use of outside organizations to monitor employee performance, particularly when dealing with customers and prospects.

Typical users of mystery shopping are department and discount stores, restaurants/fast food units and banks. Others include industrial firms, health care organizations, catalog sales and telemarketing firms, and high-tech - basically any industry where personal contact is made and service is an issue.

Successful mystery shopping requires well-trained personnel who are familiar with the business being shopped, can blend in with the regular customers, and can do a fair, objective evaluation. Shopper training for a specific study can run eight hours or more.

The evaluation forms the mystery shoppers use should be as objective as possible to insure that each contact can be compared on an equal basis. There should be an opportunity for the shopper to provide qualitative comments but they should be outside of the regular questionnaire and be a separate section of the report.

It has become more common to mystery shop the competition. Some of the firms providing mystery shopping services have become so specialized within certain industries that they have established industry norms. These norms let them rate their client's performance to industry averages.

The frequency of mystery shopping varies by industry and client. Some fast food outlets are shopped weekly, while grocery stores or banks are often checked on a monthly basis. Increasingly, well-publicized mystery shopping programs are being used to deter retail store employees from promoting only the products that earn them the highest sales incentives.

Other uses of mystery shopping include the testing of outside vendors in the medical industry. The shopper makes an appointment for a service and visits the health care provider. The individual is able to duplicate the experiences of a patient to determine customer service and quality issues.

Another involves telemarketing, where shoppers are used to determine if phone staff are following proper procedures. The client can be either the telemarketing company or a firm which is outsourcing its telemarketing projects. Telemarketing mystery shops can also be used to evaluate technical support for high-tech items.

Banks, brokerages and insurance firms use mystery shoppers to determine if employees are following rules on disclosure and fairness. For example, investment program bank employees are checked to insure they properly disclose risks associated with non-insured investments and loan department personnel are monitored to ensure that all customers are treated fairly and equally.

When it comes to choosing between providers of products and services, consumers most often cite price, quality and service. When price and quality are similar, the prospective customer's choice will probably hinge on the quality of service they receive. Mystery shopping is an excellent way for companies interested in capturing customers to make sure their service is top-notch.