Become A Mystery Shopper

Customer service issues are a common thread among businesses, and museums are no exception. However, there are issues unique to museums that pose a challenge to ensuring levels of customer service are met while adhering to budgets and financial obligations.

The American Association of Museums published a 2006 Museum Financial Information survey which indicated that the average cost of serving a visitor is $23.35. With an average admission of $6.00 and additional spending of approximately $2.36 for gift shop and food items, the amount guests are spending contributes minimally to the amount it costs for them to visit. Museums must rely on government funding as well as private contributions, which are a large part of their annual budget.

Another challenge museums face is the need for volunteers versus employed staff. To keep costs down, museums rely on those who will volunteer their services in the gift shop, concession areas, and informational services.

The question as to how a museum can affordably evaluate customer service levels and ensure that volunteers are providing excellent customer service remains consistent. Employing a mystery shopping program, in which mystery shoppers pose as typical guests, is a solution to this challenge.

Mystery shoppers are trained through a mystery shopping provider, which serves as a third party source for providing feedback. The shoppers will visit the museum as a typical customer does and evaluate key areas, including the ticket purchase, exhibits, signage, cleanliness, and staff interactions. Afterwards, the mystery shopper will complete a written report in which details of the experience are documented. The reports generated provide a wealth of information and allows staff to view the museum from a customer’s perspective.

Mystery shopping can be affordable in that it gives you information you cannot gather using other methods- it can bring to light issues that you were not aware of, and this information will help you improve your facility. For example, you may learn that the gift shop is not easily located by signage or other information. If customers can’t easily find the gift shop, they will not visit and spend money there.

As an added benefit to the mystery shopping program, many museum facilities will incorporate some marketing questions into their program. This will allow you to gather helpful information about your customers. Questions such as “Are you aware of our upcoming events?” will give you valuable insight as well. For example, if you are finding that mystery shoppers are not aware of any upcoming events, you will need to find a way to promote these more effectively so your marketing efforts are paying off.

Britain’s tourism office provides a similar service to measure customer service levels and “ongoing customer care” through the Visitor Attraction Quality Assessment Scheme. Based on a mystery shopping program, this scheme allows companies to evaluate their customer service easily and efficiently. Mystery shoppers evaluate the initial telephone interaction they experience when calling to get directions and schedules, the greeting when they arrive, the exhibits and interpretation where applicable, cleanliness of the facility, and layout and aesthetics. Key standards are evaluated to ensure guests are satisfied and have had pleasant experiences.

A historical museum in the suburbs of Chicago uses mystery shopping for a different perspective of their facility. They host several special events each year that bring people to the museum for the first time. In an attempt to increase membership levels, it is important for the volunteers to actively discuss and suggest membership as customers arrive for such events. This facility relies on memberships as part of their annual budget, and it is vital to ensure that membership information is being offered during these events. With multiple shoppers attending the event, the results can be tabulated by museum staff afterward to determine if volunteers adhered to required policy. If incorrect information was provided to the mystery shopper, this can also be addressed.

In summary, mystery shopping is an excellent solution to the challenges museums face with staffing and budgetary issues. Both affordable and self-sufficient, mystery shopping can provide insight that will help museums increase service standards, membership levels, and overall customer satisfaction.

Marianne Hynd is the General Manager at Ann Michaels & Associates, a market research firm specializing in mystery shopping, customer feedback, employee services, and social media monitoring. Ann Michaels & Associates’ website offers additional information about mystery shopping and market research services that are available to companies across North America.

Author: Marianne Hynd
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Mystery shopping has traditionally been thought of as a B2C instrument to measure customer service levels. However, this service is invaluable in the B2B industry as well. In this industry, the stakes are higher – it is difficult to lose customers, but when those customers are large corporations, the impact of such a loss of greater significance.

In the B2C sector, consumers’ purchases are driven by price along with good customer service. However, in the B2B sector, the relationship between company and vendor plays a more important role than solely price. For that reason, it is important to measure service levels and objectively evaluate service levels within a company.

Many companies wonder exactly how B2B mystery shopping works. Quite simply, it works in the same manner as more traditionally thought of mystery shopping, with the one exception being that customers, or mystery shoppers, will pose as companies who are calling to inquire about your services and products.

The benefits of B2B mystery shopping

With B2B mystery shopping, you can evaluate the following aspects of your business:

1. General customer service levels & product fulfillment

By setting up fictitious accounts or company profiles, trained mystery shoppers can contact your business via telephone or email to make inquiries about your products/services. You will gain a better understanding of how your potential customers are treated, the information that is shared with prospective customers, and what follow up, if any, is completed in order to attain a new client.

Furthermore, fictitious accounts and company profiles can be created to evaluate the ordering and purchasing process. From here, you can see if your employees are attempting to upsell/cross sell, offering additional products/services that are important to your customers, and the general service levels provided.

2. Branding presence

Through mystery shopping, you will determine how your branding is portrayed to other companies. This is important in gaining customer loyalty and longevity. Studies have shown that strong branding will encourage customers to be loyal to the product, be less likely to seek out competing brands, and not be adverse to pricing increases.

3.Online interactions/email inquiries

With the shift in online technology, more and more companies will seek information through email inquiries versus picking up a phone. Quick response time can make or break a potential sales opportunity.

4. Training and sales development

It is vital that the sales team presents information in a clear, engaging manner, builds rapport with potential clients, and conducts the sales calls in a manner in which sales can be generated. If sales are not where they are expected to be, it is difficult to determine if it is because of the lack of sales development within the company or if there is a flaw in the sales techniques used. Mystery shopping programs can provide companies with a program that will help them determine which areas are lacking, make improvements, and even determine if sales training needs to be altered.

Examples of B2B Mystery Shopping

Below are two examples of companies who have utilized mystery shopping in the B2B sector to measure and improve service levels.

1. A supplier of office supplies and materials wanted to determine how special request orders were fulfilled and what options were provided to businesses who contacted them. Furthermore, they wanted to find out if upselling and cross selling was initiated during the ordering process, and what promotional materials, if any, were included in the customer’s packaging.

The program utilized mystery shoppers who were small business owners in an industry that would need such supplies in a reselling capacity. Using their business information, they contacted the client’s locations to place a specific order with special requirements. They evaluated the order placing process, tracked time for delivery, and then reported on how the order was packaged, what promotional material was included with the order. Pictures were taken and uploaded onto the survey.

2. A plastics and materials testing laboratory conducted baseline evaluations to determine speed of email responses, knowledge of testing and laboratory capabilities, and follow up attempts with potential customers. Additionally, they wanted to see firsthand how email inquiries were routed within the company, at which point in the routing system the emails “fell through the cracks” when emails weren’t responded to.

Mystery shoppers were trained and educated on the company’s laboratory testing capabilities and the industries they serve. Each mystery shopper was assigned a fictitious company name and position within the company. They were instructed to contact an assigned location via email asking about testing specifications and what information was required for certain tests to be conducted.

Mystery shoppers tracked the time to respond to email inquiries. Additionally, the knowledge of testing capabilities and referral sources were evaluated, and mystery shoppers documented whether or not the associate attempted to follow up on the initial inquiry or if actual follow up attempts were made within 2 business days of the initial inquiry.

Conclusion

While the planning stages of starting a B2B program are more detailed in nature, the program can run simply and easily once initiated. With this type of mystery shopping, the client plays a crucial role in the development of scenarios to play out as well as the implementation of fictitious company names/accounts. Depending on the nature of the industry, this may require setting up accounts in the company’s system that are covertly flagged to indicate they are not true accounts. In other cases, it may only require companies assisting the mystery shopping provider in determining which types of businesses mystery shoppers should represent in order to interact with staff in an authentic, relevant manner. These programs have proven to be highly successful, and while this has been an often overlooked service in this industry, there is an increasing trend for B2B companies to turn to mystery shopping to evaluate their overall service levels.

Author: Marianne Hynd
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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