In our current economy, customer retention is at the forefront of good business strategy. Well-managed companies know that keeping customers coming back, even in this difficult economic climate, will ensure success down the road.
The nature of services being Intangible makes it difficult to standardize the offering. Organizations are trying to achieve Customer Satisfaction and customer loyalty through improved service quality.
The service quality is measured by measuring the expectations of the customer before trying the service and after the receipt of the service. The narrower the gap, the better the service quality.
A great Market Research tool used to check on service quality is Mystery Shopping programs. It will give insight on the entire experience from the perspective of a typical customer, providing you with useful information about what is going on in your premises compared to what you think is or should be happening.
At Strategic Planners, we tailor Mystery Shopping Programs to our private and public sector clients. In certain instances, our auditors conduct Mystery Shopping visits where they check on provided service against a set of or Brand Standards designed and submitted by the client. Alternatively, we are contracted especially by the hospitality sector to build-up those standards to match with the international ones and later on test the service against those standards. The aim of Mystery Shopping is to check-up on how well individuals are meeting defined company standards in areas that are measurable.
What sets us apart from others is the way we report the results. It is not a lengthy document that needs many hours to spare in order to study. We give executive summary along with video and audio files that will let managers have a transparent idea about the service quality offered by their teams. Those findings will allow managers to check on their performance against set criteria or standards, tailor training sessions to address the weak point revealed and to reward outstanding staff.