Mystery Shop Your Office

Do you ever wonder how your customers or clients are being treated by your team? You’ve trained your employees on your company service standards, but what type of service are your customers really receiving from your staff? Managers can easily become detached from the frontlines and often have a very inaccurate picture of what customers are experiencing.

One of the best tools for learning about your frontline team is to record mystery shop calls where a third party poses as a prospective customer or client. Because employees may play it by the book when the boss is around, mystery shop calls allow you to gauge the average customer experience when employees are unsupervised. When selecting a mystery shopper, be sure to tell him or her the parameters of your business’s customer service policies so that they don’t have incorrect assumptions about what your employees are empowered to do on their calls.

Another alternative is to tape record live calls, but make certain that you are in compliance with all of the call-recording laws and regulations. U.S. federal law allows recording of phone calls with the consent of at least one party. This means that if you are recording a call that you are participating in, the other party does not need to be notified that the call is being recorded—hence the popular “this call may be recorded for training and quality” greeting. Connecticut requires that both parties are notified that the call is being recorded, but New York and New Jersey do not. Using either of the above methods can teach you a great deal about not only what words are being said, but also about the tone and manner in which they’re being said.

Keep in mind, though, that mystery calls are only valuable if they are being used to help employees improve their sales and communications skills. Once you have reviewed the recording and feedback, there’s much more that needs to be done to take customer service training to a higher level:

• Review Calls with Employees. It can be enlightening for you to hear the calls, but your employees are the individuals who really need to listen to them. Reviewing calls is something that should be done on a regular basis. If calls need improvement, work individually with employees. If there is a call that is handled exceptionally well, ask the employee’s permission to play it for the entire team. Much can be learned by listening to the back and forth of these phone conversations.
  
• Constructive Feedback. No one enjoys listening to their recorded voice. It can make even the most skilled customer service representative cringe. Be sensitive when offering feedback and suggesting necessary improvements. Yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to discuss voice tone if it is an issue. However, it’s not ok to critique accents or pitch if they are simply speech characteristics that an employee cannot help. Instead, keep recommendations focused on improving enthusiasm, increasing product knowledge, and developing problem-solving skills.
  
• Detail Specifics. Once an employee has listened to a mystery shop call, highlight areas in which he or she has excelled and faltered. Discuss ways to improve techniques, and emphasize the importance that each and every call has on day-today business. Don’t offer vague suggestions. Provide specific examples and clear details on ways to improve.
  
• Practice. As important as it is to offer constructive criticism, it’s just as vital to encourage practice. Customer service and sales techniques are learned skills. Give the support and encouragement employees need to reinforce behaviors. Use role playing in training and discuss tips and techniques during meetings.
  
• Set Company-wide Standards. It’s not just the customer service representatives who are answering the phones. In a typical office, the accounting staff, administrative assistants, mail clerks, and front desk attendants are all coming in contact with your customers. It only takes one rude employee to sour a relationship with a customer. Standards for how to speak with customers should be company-wide and consistent.
  
• Become a Customer. Sure, you can acquire a great deal of information from professional mystery shoppers. There are firms that conduct mystery shopping programs. (To find a service near you, contact the Mystery Shopping Providers Association at mysteryshop.org.) But, don’t let the evaluations stop there. Owners and managers should regularly call to see if the automated phone system is working and phones are being answered properly. Evaluate wait times on hold, number of times transferred, the music being played while on hold, and the number of rings before someone answers.

While mystery shop calls can be extremely useful, set the groundwork for good customer service before an employee takes his or her first call. Everyone who is responsible for answering the phones within the company should have very clear guidelines as to what good customer service entails and what is expected.