 Anne M. Obarski |
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, “Oh, you do mystery shopping; I always wanted to do that!” I think most people find the thought of posing as a customer and reporting back on how they were treated rather intriguing. But there is a lot more to it than skulking around in a trench coat and spyglass! I believe most companies, including garden centers, have taken the plunge and decided that it really is important to conduct frequent mystery or secret shops of their garden centers. The question remains: Do they do anything constructive with the information or is it used as a disciplinary tool?
Before you start having people snoop around your garden center, consider the following clues that will help guarantee a successful program.
1. Is there value in a mystery shopper program? The most important reason to conduct a mystery shop is to see your garden center through the eyes of your customer. Not only should you consider mystery shops, but using quarterly focus groups made up of some of your actual customers can provide you with valuable information you can use immediately.
A well-thought-out mystery shopper program allows you to assess the accuracy of your training program. If your employees are taught to greet the customer in a certain way, the “shop” will show the results. It is also a way to hold employees accountable for what they learned in training. If you train them you can test them. Finally, it helps a garden center focus on areas that need improvement based on the customer’s input.
Too often management believes there needs to be changes in one area, and customer feedback shows that the focus needs to be elsewhere. Management may think that a tightly merchandised floor is giving customers the selection they want, and in reality the customer is overwhelmed and uncomfortable and doesn’t make a purchase.
2. Should the mystery shop be a secret? Pop quiz! How many of us read the two preceding words and remember a grumpy teacher walking into a classroom? Panic just struck your soul.
The same thing happens with employees. If you want to build a team, let the players know the game plan. Tell employees why you’re planning a mystery shop. Explain that it is part of ongoing training, and a way to find out what the customer really wants. It’s also a way to hold employees accountable for information they received during training. Employees are far less likely to be upset with test results if they had sufficient time to “study.”
3. Where should we start? Decide what information you want to obtain from these reports and what you are going to do with it. Developing questions is critical to the success of the program. Start with your training material and employee handbook to develop procedural questions.
Your initial questions may focus on employee dress, communication skills and customer service. Most garden centers then usually focus on three or four areas where they want accurate customer feedback. The first area is often the garden center itself. Was the location easy to find? Was the entrance neat and clean? Did I feel safe parking after dark? Was the layout attractive and was it easy for me to find what I was looking for?
The second focus is on inventory or on merchandising. Was signage helpful as well as informational? Was the garden center stocked with what I needed? A critical area to focus on is customer service. How was I greeted? Was the employee easy to find? Was the employee knowledgeable? Was the transaction quick and did they offer additional services, i.e. taking my items to my car or helping to load my purchases? Did the employee answer all of my questions and would I tell others about my experience? Did the employee invite me back? And don’t forget to add a question about your restroom facilities!
4. Who do we hire to do the mystery shop? You can hire a company to coordinate your entire shopper program, or you may try doing it yourself if you have a small garden center. If you choose to do it on your own, I suggest you delegate the job to your office staff, and have them hire people to conduct the shops.
I am often asked, “How often should I do a ‘shop’ and how much should I expect to pay?” If you are looking at saving money you can always choose to do your shops randomly. Pay is usually based on the length of time it takes the shopper to do the “shop” from the time they leave their residence until they get back, and the pay is all across the board, from $50 to $100 per shop.
Depending on budget and whether you choose to do them weekly, monthly or randomly, make them a pivotal part of an ongoing training program and do not do it for less than one year.
5. What do we do with the information? Garden centers that run successful mystery shopper programs have found they have a much better reaction from employees if they praise first. The garden-center manager should have a meeting and present the feedback to the employees focusing on at least 3-5 things they are doing well. Make note of no more than three areas they can improve on as a group and ask for their feedback on what would help them do their job more effectively.
Many garden centers tie their mystery shopper program to a monetary reward system. The employees work very hard to receive a crisp $100 bill if they know their performance on a mystery shopper report depends on it.
A mystery shopper program takes time to create and administer. If done well, it provides the feedback that can be used to improve the performance of the garden center immediately. By using this tool, elements of good customer service won’t remain a “mystery.”
Columnist Anne M. Obarski is a retail strategist and frequent speaker regarding customer retention and relationship-building. Join her new group for garden center professionals at www.merchandiseconcepts.com/gcroundtable.
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