MYSTERY SHOPPING

How Great Companies Design And

Manage An Effective Program
Monday November 6, 2011
9:00am

Brett Tyson
Harrison Global

Barry Gross
A Goff Limousine & Bus

Mystery Shopping can be defined as:

The use of individuals trained/briefed to experience and measure
compliance or any customer service process, by acting as potential
customers/actual customers and in some way reporting back on their
experiences in a detailed and objective way
-Mystery Shopping Providers Association

Why Mystery Shopping?

Assess the quality of service, organization, and
management
Review how staff performs against predetermined standards
Observe interaction where staff are engaged
Establish measurables upon which to gauge
improvement

Validity Index
In order to be valid, a mystery shopping program must
meet several criteria; It must be:

Relevant
Credible
Ethical
Practical

Principles of Mystery Shopping

Scope
Approach
Experience
Range
Reporting

Per BARE International - 2007

Scope
Explain the goals
Define the timeline
Define the methodology for securing
the service
Define the parameters for reporting

Approach
Specify the acceptable range of
service/behavior
Specify the items to be observed
and reported
Define the methodology for securing
the service

Experience
Shopper needs to:
Fit a common passenger profile
Present reasonable knowledge of their service needs
Not be an especially difficult or hard to please customer
Do as little as possible to initiate the experience
Create an environment that allows the employee
opportunity to excel
Maintain secrecy as to their status as a mystery
shopper

Range
Shops must:
Reflect as wide a range of variables as possible
Encompass the complete spectrum of employees
Gather a deep comparative sample
Must not be artificially manipulated to produce
specific results

Reporting
A Good Report is:

Timely
Accurate
Informative
Unbiased

Who to use?
Professional Firms
Temp Agencies
Friends & Family
Key Staff

Professional Firms
Pros
Accountable
Specialized
Experienced
Anonymous
Customized
Detailed

Cons
Cost
Labor
intensive
Unfamiliarity
Contract

Temp Agencies
Pros
Accountable
Anonymous
Local

Cons
Cost
Untrained
No Continuity
Logistics

Friends & Family

Pros
Cost
Motivated
Familiarity
Loyal
Control

Cons
Less
Anonymous
Less
Accountable
Untrained

Key Staff
Pros
Accountable
Specialized
Knowledgeable
Motivated
Cost
Perpetual

Cons
No Anonymity
Labor intensive
Predisposition
Diversionary

Defining and Achieving Quality

A case study by
Harrison Global

Quality?
This can refer to anything that you desire.
It could be how your reservation agents talk to your
customers
It could be how your chauffeurs manage their
customers during an airport PU
It could be how your dispatchers stage vehicles for
upcoming pick ups

Quality is the process/procedure and end result

that YOU define as THE RIGHT WAY

Step 1: Defining Quality

Harrison has defined the quality measurements
for each of its departments.
Today we are going to look at 2 of these
measurements
We will show how we built them
How we implemented them
And how we use them to shape the employees
behavior to the desired quality

Case Study 1
Harrison Chauffeur
Performance

Defining Quality: Chauffeurs

In defining the quality metrics for the Harrison chauffeurs,
we began by establishing the core competencies that make
up a good chauffeur.
We spoke to chauffeurs and asked them what elements made a good
chauffeur
We spoke to Dispatchers and asked them what made a good
chauffeur
We spoke to reservation agents and asked them what made a good
chauffeur
We spoke to managers and asked them what made a good chauffeur
We spoke to our affiliates and asked what they were looking for in
our chauffeurs
We spoke to our clients and asked them what they were looking for
in a good chauffeurs

Defining Quality: Chauffeurs

What we got, was a lot of information about how
chauffeurs WERE supposed to behave and a lot of
information about how they were NOT supposed to
behave
We took all this information and broke it down into 3
main categories

[Link] Skills
[Link] Service
[Link] Preparation and Professional
Presentation

1: Driving Skills
Was chauffeur on time for your pick up?
Did the Chauffeur take the appropriate route, not get lost
and get you to your destination on time?
Did the Chauffeur drive safely?
Did the Chauffeur drive smoothly?
Did the Chauffeur refrain from making any
phone calls, including texting etc.?

2: Customer Service
Was Chauffeur waiting outside vehicle next to right rear door of car with the correct sign?
Chauffeur used company sign
Did Chauffeur open car door for you on pick up AND drop off?
Did Chauffeur manage your luggage on pick up and drop off. (To curb-airport, or insideanywhere else?)
Did the Chauffeur introduce him/herself?
Did the Chauffeur reconfirm your destination before driving off?
Did the Chauffeur ask if you had a route you would prefer?
Did the chauffeur offer to assist you with the controls to the radio and temperature?
Did the Chauffeur only talk to you as professionally needed?
Did the chauffeur thank you for using Harrison Global

3: Trip Prep and Professional

presentation
Was the Chauffeur dressed neatly and professionally in Black suit/white shirt/tie
Chauffeur is clean shaven
Chauffeur is wearing jewelry as prescribed
Exterior of vehicle is clean and polished
Interior of Vehicle is clean
Did the car smell fresh? (Not smell of smoke, food, any offensive smell.)
Vanity mirrors on roof work
Side lights above each back door work
Was the car at the correct temperature when you got in? (68 to 72 degrees)
Was the vehicle set up correctly, (Hybrid: Water), (Sedan: Water, tissues, mints,
newspapers)
Chauffeur has black umbrella (1 for sedan, 2 for SUV/Van)
Radio was off
Was car parked with rear door in line with the building door from which you were
exiting?
Vehicle is gassed up
Driver has a GPS system

Step 2: Train to the competencies

Training
New Hire: 3 days of classroom and
on the road training
Remedial training: for anyone who
does not demonstrate the core
competencies
Refresher training for everyone on a
periodic basis

Is training the Answer?

No
Training is important, but its effect is generally short lived
You must tie it to every piece of the operation

Step 3: Inspect what you Expect

After training
Harrison conducts 20 ghost rides per month
We use a dedicated road supervisor, managers,
and clients
The ghost rider uses an online form that has a built
in formula to calculate a pass or a fail
We are looking for chauffeurs to demonstrate the
core competencies that we have defined as our
quality standards

This is an email that is automatically

generated from a failed ride

Step 4: GIVE FEEDBACK

Without feedback, the chauffeurs will not rise to the quality
standard you are looking for
Feedback must be given very soon after an observation
There should be at least 3 positives emphasized along with an
area for the chauffeur to develop
Use a consistent and supportive corrective action process that
includes retraining

Action Plan: 1
Coaching note

Action Plan: 2
Verbal Warning
Training &
Evaluation

Action Plan: 3
Written Warning
Training &
Evaluation

Action Plan: 4
Written Warning
3-day suspension
Training &
Evaluation

Action Plan: 5
Termination

The complete process

Case Study 2
The Voice of the
Customer
(VOC)

The Voice of the Customer

Six Sigma is a process that seeks to improve the quality of
process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of
defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing
and business processes.
A six sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the
services provided are statistically expected to be free of
defects
Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization
follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified
financial targets (cost reduction and/or profit increase).
One such project is called Voice of the Customer

VOC Process
The purpose of the Voice of the Customer is to truly understand
what your customers think is important, and then to measure your
performance in terms of these items.
Step 1: Call a random sampling of your customers and ask them the
following 4 questions
1.
2.
3.
4.

Was there anything about your experience that you were dissatisfied about?
What ways did our service meet their expectation (ask for stories. It really
helps us understand)
Was there anything about their experience that was better than they
expected
Have the customer describe their experience with other organizations that
they regarded as exceptional organizations

Continue until you have at least 100 comments.

Gather a team of 3 or 4 people and divide the cards

up into like categories
Continue this process until all the cards are sorted.
Now discuss the groups, and decide on a label for the
group.
At this point, you have identified the elements that are
most important for your customers
Now, you can develop your survey according to your
customers voice

Now we have the questions to ask

We conducted 200 phone interviews using the VOC survey
and here is what we found.

What do we do with the data

The question is?

How many of your
customers can you turn
into Raving Fans?

Review
Steps to creating a mystery
shopping program
Determine goals
Set scope and timeline
Establish methodology
Create reporting template
Assess logistics and budget
Determine WHO performs the shops
How will the data be utilized