Striving for Service Excellence – and the use of mystery shopping (Professional Marketing Magazine, March 2009)

Recognising that client relationships and the quality of service make or break a good client relationship, we have seen a growth in the importance of client service reviews within the professions.

This is undoubtedly good practice and firms gain useful feedback from it. However this only gives feedback on the service received from existing clients, where you are literally talking to the converted. What about those that enquired but went elsewhere – the unconverted? Why did they go elsewhere?

To find out how professional firms could address this element of client service research more effectively, I spoke to Richard Morrey, Managing Director of Service Science, one of the UK’s leading mystery shopping companies.

Sue:    Richard, could you explain how a mystery shopping programme works and where it fits within a typical business development strategy?

Richard:  Mystery shopping is a tool that is used in the business development process and it plays a vital role in driving up service excellence.  We often work with HR departments as much as marketing and business development staff as all service issues are closely related to personal performance.  It works best where it is linked to clear strategic objectives such as “developing a competitive edge through excellent client service” and is often used in tandem with other forms of research such as reviews and surveys.

Usually we would work with the firm to set a series of service standards which they realistically aspire to achieve.  Mystery shopping is then used to test actual performance against these standards and the results provide guidance that will inform the business and personal development needs of
the firm.

Sue:    How are standards set and how easy is it to tailor them to professional services?

Richard: It is very important that our programmes are designed on a bespoke basis so that not only will they reflect true customer values, but that they match the corporate objectives of our clients.

During the set-up process we involve front line staff, fee-earners and management personnel in setting the service standards.  This ensures an accurate and realistically reflective programme and has the added benefit of ensuring buy-in and ownership from within the firm.

Sue:    What are the main differences compared to a client service review?

Richard:    Clients in such reviews may still wish to keep a healthy relationship with their advisory firm and are therefore sometimes reluctant to be truly honest.

Our mystery customers are independent of the firm and are, in the first instance, reporting to us as an independent body, so it is  easier for them to be honest.

Our programmes also provide feedback from throughout the experience which gets noted down as it happens, and in a lot of detail too.  A client review will suffer from a degree of memory loss particularly in those crucial first impression stages which are so important to the success of any business.

There is also a difference in the time and costs associated with each technique.  Individual client service reviews are usually used only on the most important key account clients, whilst mystery shopping can be used to test individual services and a wide variety of client types.

Sue:   Mystery shopping is commonly used in the service sector.  Can you explain how these organisations benefit?

Richard: The overriding way in which a business benefits from a mystery shopping programmes is very simple: their customer service tangibly improves. This leads to more repeat business through customer loyalty; more referred business through customer advocacy leading to an enhanced reputation; and additional revenue from a higher customer spend and ultimately greater profitability.  The result, when managed well, is a highly motivated team with a clear vision.

There are many ways in which organisations arrive at the above outcome, but to name just a few:

• Many consumer organisations understand the buying psychology involved along the customer journey in quite some detail.  80% of potential improvements that we identify are ‘quick-fixes’ involving little or no cost that can be implemented quickly.
• The whole team becomes more customer focused and every customer becomes a suspected mystery customer
• Training resources are directed much more effectively as individuals can be appraised and developed in specific areas where tangible improvements can be made and measured in the future.

Sue:        Are any service standards common across all industries?

Richard: Very much so. Whether you’re selling Porsches, Hotel Rooms, Property valuations or employment law advice you have to acknowledge, connect and respond to your customer in an approachable and professional manner.

You would be amazed how many customer service standards cross professions. However, of course some standards are more relevant in some industries than others and this is why it is important that the firm is involved in setting their own standards.

Sue:       Do you think that this works as well with professional service firms?

Richard:  Absolutely. Wherever one human being interacts with another in a business transaction, mystery shopping will yield benefits. Customer service is more often than not the main differentiator between organisations and in order to be successful all businesses must understand what their customers think of them and act on this.

In large tender situations, firms are finding themselves asked to provide evidence of the quality of customer service – our independent reports can certainly provide a competitive advantage in a tender document as well as demonstrating a real commitment to service excellence.

Sue:       How well does mystery shopping work with business clients?

Richard: It is the same principal – two human beings dealing with one another.  Finding the right business mystery client is sometimes a challenge compared to finding consumer clients, but this is what we do well and we have many loyal and happy clients in the B2B sector.

Sue:        How do you find the mystery shoppers?

Richard:  We currently have a database of approximately 7000 mystery customers covering the whole of the UK. We have a wealth of socio-economic data for each one. If on the rare occasion we are short of a particular customer type in a geographic region, we carry out discrete and anonymous local advertising. All are screened for two essential qualities: a willingness to help our clients and an eye for detail.

They are real customers who are, have recently been, or have the potential to be, in the market of our clients. For this reason they have realistic expectations of the service they would receive.  As a result, our reports tell you exactly what a typical client thinks of your firm.

Sue:       Surely it is easy to spot a mystery shopper?

Richard: Not if we’re doing our job correctly, and our existing clients tell us we are! They’ll tell you that 99% of the time the suspected mystery customer is a real customer, and as a result they received VIP treatment along with several other “suspected” mystery customers.

Sue:    How far into the process would they go?

Richard: That depends on what our clients require and the complexity of the scenario. Frequently the scenario stops at the enquiry stage in the B2B sector but this is usually enough to be able to measure the customer service ethos of an individual or company during a customer interaction.

If our mystery shopper genuinely needs a will drafting or a tax return completing, then they may report through to completion and any follow up. We have done work in the past which involved our mystery customer accepting delivery of £50,000 worth of temporary office accommodation!

Sue:      How is the feedback handled?

Richard:  This is where it is important to work closely with the business development and HR or training team.  Even if the message is negative, we will accentuate the positive opportunities that have been identified as a result.  All our reports are presented in a constructive manner, the graphs are clear jargon-free and easily understood by fee-earners and management alike. Our work though also has to be in close partnership with our client and we rely heavily on a supportive management team on the client’s side. Mystery shopping works most effectively as a tool to personally develop people within the organisation (a carrot rather than a stick). If this happens at an individual level and is supported by an effective management team, the resulting synergy feeds straight to the bottom line.

Sue:   How long does a programme last?

Richard:  Forever!  Typically we review our clients’ performance with them on an annual basis. We analyse the results using our traffic light report, where the green standards are the great strengths and the reds are the areas to concentrate on in the following year. This results in an upward trend of scores and the obvious benefits of this.

After some time, and our client is consistently achieving strong results with some ease, it’s time to congratulate and then to change the goal posts and make the standards tougher. Customer service can always be improved, but this ongoing process ensures our clients’ service levels remain consistently above the competition.

Sue:  What sort of costs are we talking about?

Richard: Prices start from approximately £50 for a relatively basic recorded telephone enquiry, and rise from here depending on the complexity of the scenario, availability of the customer type, and the frequency of the assessments required.

Sue:  Have you experienced any particular problems with mystery shopping professional services?

Richard: It is not as well established as a recognised business tool as it is within other business environments. 

In addition, a mystery customer programme requires some time and work input from the firm’s side in the set-up stages, but the benefits will soon pay back and reward this effort.  It is important that it fits within the firms strategic objectives and as with any successful business development programme strong leadership is required.

Sue Bramall is Director of Berners Marketing www.bernersmarketing.com
Richard Morrey is Managing Director of Service Science, www.servsci.co.uk