Most would say that phone conversation is a dying art — text messages and social media have reduced it to a fraction of what it once was. But having a staff that can still sell and drive business to your location over the phone is as critical now as it ever was because it represents a key-differentiating feature for your business. Despite how much research is done online, customers will still call just to cut to the chase with an actual person. Whether that conversation goes well or not is often the difference between whether someone shops with you or someone else.
The best, most well-run companies employ telephone mystery shops to answer that question. After all, if you don’t measure how you’re doing, you can’t improve it. To ensure you’re winning those customers, you should target three things with telephone mystery shops:
Specific Times of Day
Any business has its busier and slower hours. How do your employees handle these different times of day? Are they still enthusiastic during the doldrums after lunch? Do they cover all their bases when they’ve been slammed in the morning? Telephone mystery shops can definitively answer that.
Individual Employees
Perhaps you have a new employee whose communication skills or product knowledge you want to test. Maybe you heard a rumor that a veteran employee does such a great job, you want to hear it for yourself. Whatever the case, you can create a target list for mystery shoppers to focus on.
Your Initiatives
Drive traffic to the store. New products and services. Promotions. An easy-to-navigate phone tree. Make sure your employees always say “please” and “thank you”. Whatever your business’s current initiatives are, you need to make sure the job’s getting done. Telephone mystery shoppers can key in on whatever areas you want to focus on.
When you read the audits and listen to the full audio recordings that go with them, you’ll be surprised at how much you learn about your employees with telephone mystery shops. Armed with that knowledge, you’ll be able to focus your training and identify which employees need coaching, and which initiatives are working.
For telephone mystery shops that get you the feedback that you need to run a profitable business, call us at The Brandt Group for more information.
