Why Employees Should Care About Net Profit

Anyone who has ever looked at a business’s financials will quickly understand the difference between gross and net profit. But for clarity sake, let’s define them. Gross profit equates to how much money is made on a sale after deducting its production costs, while net profit is what’s left over…
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Learning from the Competition and Beyond

Customer-service expert Shep Hyken has another great take on what it takes to deliver a superior customer experience, this time taking a look at the importance of studying the competition. But, as he explains, it’s not as simple as copying what they do: “if all you are is a copy…
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Customer Experience Consistency

Famed customer-service expert Shep Hyken posted an article titled, Avoid Customer Confusion, wherein he details a confusing experience purchasing a ping-pong table from a nearby store. He had researched the price online at their website but was shocked to discover that the brick-and-mortar location had a much higher price—and worse…
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The High Cost of Cheap

Consider the age-old saying, “you get what you pay for,” and compare that to another that says, “a fool and his money are soon parted.” These are two extremes on the axis of value, where each of us has to judge whether something is worth the cost. But as we…
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Watching the Tape

When most business owners think about mystery shopping, they picture an average consumer entering a store to evaluate the customer experience. This includes everything from the impressions they form when approaching the store’s exterior to how the employees treat them once they’re inside. Additionally, they’ll usually have feedback regarding store…
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Which Industries Benefit Most from Mystery Shopping?

You might think this question is purely rhetorical, as there’s an argument to be made that all industries can benefit from mystery shopping. Given that The Brandt Group specializes in mystery shopping, you might also think that we would agree with the sentiment—and you’d be right, of course. But there…
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Mystery Shopping During a Pandemic

Whether you’re a longtime mystery shopper, a dabbler, or a first-timer, you’ve probably wondered how this process works in light of the coronavirus pandemic. After all, restricted occupancy, social distancing, and facial coverings are sure to make any customer experience awkward and your task as an evaluator challenging—to say the…
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Finding Opportunity Amid Uncertainty

Even in the best of times, there has always been uncertainty in the marketplace, regardless of the industry your business is in. Trends come and go, the economy might be up or down, and even an election might change your company’s outlook. And because this is 2020—one of the strangest…
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Adapting Your Business for Zero Contact

Whether ordered by state or local governments, or out of an abundance of caution, many businesses have closed their doors during the coronavirus pandemic. Many of those businesses want to stay open, of course, if only to bring some income in during this time so that their employees are not…
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