Editor's note: Donna Garrou is vice president of sales and marketing for Shop'n Chek, an Atlanta mystery shopping firm.

Urban legends are those wonderfully fantastic tales that travel through society only because they possess just enough credibility to make people wonder if they might actually be true, or because they grow more fascinating with the passage of time. Our company, Shop'n Chek, has an urban legend that illustrates the process that many organizations go through once they decide to institute a mystery shopping program. Incredible as it may seem, the following story is true.

A few years ago, a potential client listened with interest to a presentation on how the development and institution of a mystery shopping program at his company could boost service levels and performance. Since he couldn't be out in the field, constantly checking the performance of his employees, he welcomed the evaluations of experienced shoppers.

He appreciated the effort involved in finding shoppers who mirror his client base and understood the importance of questionnaire design. But then the client heard something that troubled him. He was told that one of the key elements involved in a successful program is communication and feedback to the front line - essentially telling employees that the mystery shopping program is in place. This includes explaining to employees why certain questionnaire elements are important and how each question is evaluated, and using the shopping program as a motivational tool. The client pondered this for a moment, looked quite puzzled, and asked, "But if I tell my employees they are being shopped - if I take the mystery out of it - then everyone will score 100 percent!" If only it were that simple.

In reality, mystery shopping is a proven form of customer-oriented research which provides hard, quantifiable data on service performance levels. Unfortunately, simply gathering the data does not lead to improvements. An organization can be presented with the most detailed graphs and the most illuminating summaries of results, but if it is unwilling to accept the validity of data that results from a well-designed mystery shopping program and use that information as a tool to improve service, the effort is wasted.

In Shop'n Chek's 24-year history and my personal experience working with clients for over 13 years, certain patterns can be observed when new programs are implemented. By closely examining and tracking these patterns, Shop'n Chek management has begun to see that they are actually a key part of a successful mystery shopping program's evolution.

Often clients become discouraged initially as their program goes through the stages described below. Before changes in service delivery become noticeable to customers, the client's own organization must embrace the program and use it to achieve those improvements.

The patterns or stages of a mystery shopping program exist almost regardless of the program type. These stages, while not scientific, are surprisingly predictable. The actual progression of these stages or patterns varies depending upon the organization's previous experience (if any) with mystery shopping, how well the program is presented to the client's field organization, and the type of performance incentives that are established.

The number one factor behind the acceleration of this process is that the program be top-driven. Without the support and enthusiasm of top management, no service evaluation program will be effective. Organizations must realize that a shopping program is instituted in order to determine what management is doing wrong in the selection, training and motivation of employees - not what specific employees are doing wrong. If employees are not meeting performance expectations, it usually means they are confused about what is expected of them. Alleviating this confusion is management's responsibility - taking the mystery out of the process.

Stage 1: denial

The first stage for many organizations following initiation of a mystery shopping program is denial - meaning there is little or no acceptance that the results are accurate. How often has a store manager lamented after initial results are delivered: "It's impossible to believe that my cashier didn't thank the customer. We have training sessions on that and all my people do it! If only they hadn't shopped me on Saturday. If the company knew anything about retail they would know it's not fair to evaluate me then!" Criticism at this stage often centers around company management, the mystery shopping company, the shopper base and the selected scenarios. There are a number of reasons for this denial stage, including:

  • previous experience with poor quality mystery shopping providers;
  • general suspicion of corporate programs;
  • poor communication regarding how the program results will be utilized;
  • blaming poor results on a "bad day" or "bad employee."

Another contributor is the often completely unexpected nature of the results, as Unibanco, one of Brazil's largest banks, can attest. As a client of Indicator, a Shop'n Chek licensee, Unibanco has utilized mystery shopping programs for six years. Their biggest surprise the first year? Tellers were not wearing name badges even though company policy mandated it. Unibanco also learned that the number one problem reported by shoppers was the quality of the personal treatment they received from bank employees.

For Unibanco, faced with stacks of objective data, a light went on. Management realized that shopping results truly reflected the experience of bank customers. This lead Unibanco to focus on changes needed in the area of customer service.

A large utility company also made a surprising discovery when it partnered with Shop'n Chek to set up a benchmark study in 1989. The company had eliminated the deposit that customers must pay in order to obtain service, due to negative customer feedback on the policy.

During the mystery shopping process, however, this utility company learned that there was one region that still required deposits from all customers! While the company was greatly surprised by this lapse in communication, management accepted the truth of the situation and used this intelligence to enhance regional communication.

Stage 2: acceptance

As multiple shop waves occur, corporate, regional and store level personnel alike begin to see patterns emerge in the data and to accept the possibility of its validity.

Accepting the results of a shopping program as truth usually requires that several waves of shopping be completed. It may be easy for managers to deny results of a single shop by rationalizing that "it was a bad day," or "my worst employee." But after multiple shops are completed performance patterns emerge regardless of the time or day of the week a shop is performed. Obviously results can not be attributable to a single employee, or a single location; the resulting acceptance and buy-in is the next stage in the evolution of the mystery shopping program, and the key to its ultimate success.
Acceptance is hastened when:

  • top and middle management clearly express the goals of the program and stress its use as a tool and not a punitive system;
  • field personnel such as store managers have a forum to discuss findings or obtain additional feedback (Shop'n Chek establishes a toll-free line staffed with a person dedicated to fair resolution of any concerns);
  • the mystery shopping program utilizes strict quality assurance procedures to provide unimpeachable, accurate data.

After accepting the results as meaningful and useful, the company's field organization can begin to implement solutions. Such solutions can take many forms - from a basic hands-on discussion of an individual store's results with the crew to complex corporate training and enhancement programs.

Basic solutions generally start at the store level. Store managers post results in a conspicuous place (eliminating any employee names) and discuss results in weekly staff meetings. A good way to get everyone involved is to encourage employees to brainstorm concerning what could or should have taken place in a certain scenario. In this way everyone participates and learns. More creative store managers can devise special incentives for the team, such as a pizza party when there is a perfect score, or individual incentives such as a special parking spot when there is a "winner." One company created a contest between stores, with the best in the district receiving a tin of popcorn. Establishing a dialogue between employees and managers is the key here.

By building a well-communicated series of awards and recognition into a program, an organization can motivate employees to perform according to established expectations. This enforces training programs and policies and shows that excellence is both rewarded and appreciated.

At the next level, district and regional managers may implement many of the same techniques to motivate their store managers, and may even set up competitions among themselves. At the corporate level, additional incentives and particularly recognition further encourage performance. One incentive corporate management can provide is informal training using individuals from key departments and/or development of new training materials (such as interactive CD-ROMs) to provide more support. Another popular motivator is recognition of top performers and stores in the company newsletter and at company award dinners.

After Unibanco learned that one of the shoppers' greatest concerns was the quality of personal interaction they had with bank employees, it developed "In Harmony With the Client," a training program designed to encourage bank employees to consider clients' needs first.

"When we started the 'In Harmony' program, Unibanco was at the same level of customer service as other banks in Brazil - quite low. Now Unibanco is renowned for its customer service. They're actually way ahead of other banks in terms of meeting the needs of clients," says Eduardo Schubert of Indicator, the Shop'n Chek licensee that created Unibanco's program.
Unibanco has incorporated the actual results of each mystery shop into its employee motivation program. Each branch is ranked according to its questionnaire score. Those with high scores receive prizes, letters of recognition, and participate in award ceremonies.

Stage 3: primary rewards

Following implementation and execution of solutions to generate shopping score (and thus service) improvements, primary rewards begin to occur. While improved mystery shopping scores may be the initial focus, especially when incentives are involved (this is a reason that items like trophies and plaques may only produce short-term motivation and results), once performance begins to improve and the focus shifts to improving service versus just winning awards, the real benefits or primary rewards, begin to accrue. These include:

  • improved customer satisfaction;
  • better customer retention;
  • improved customer loyalty;
  • increased sales;
  • higher employee retention and satisfaction;
  • external customer service/satisfaction awards.

Stage 4: cultural indoctrination

Once an organization begins to accrue these rewards, the final conscious connection is made between the shopping program, used as a tool for improvement, and these primary rewards. The organization at all levels cannot imagine operating without this tool or returning to the previous levels of performance.

This is the step known as cultural indoctrination. In more than one case, we have had clients cancel a program due to budget restrictions or other reasons only to encounter a groundswell of response from the field organization to reinstate the program.

Shop'n Chek has received feedback from our mystery shoppers as well. Sometimes shoppers will tell us they have noticed a decrease in customer service at establishments that have terminated their mystery shopping programs. Shoppers have also let Shop'n Chek know when they notice a great increase in the level of customer service at companies that utilize an ongoing mystery shopping program.

These phases are normal

Knowing that these phases are normal - in fact necessary - elements in the evolution of a mystery shopping program can be helpful when initiating or revamping a program. Acceleration of the process leads to a faster achievement of the primary rewards which are the goal of every business and the ultimate reason for utilizing a mystery shopping program.

The "mystery" in mystery shopping must never refer to the objectives and ultimate goals of an organization's program. The irony of the process for our company is that if every store everywhere "scored 100 percent," we and our industry would be expendable; yet that is the goal that drives us each and every day.