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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Caveat Emptor – Let the Buyer Beware

As the proverb instructs us, buyers should always be vigilant when making purchases, even going so far as to say that it’s a buyer’s responsibility to evaluate a product before agreeing to part with his money. You’d be right to think this principle is a bit unfair; after all, sellers…
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‘Tis the Season for Your Budget

Even though Thanksgiving is still a couple of weeks away, the holiday season can’t come early enough for many who seek some distraction from the world’s concerns. However, budgets are spread thinner than ever, as the pandemic has resulted in work interruptions and unpredictable finances for all of us. Thankfully,…
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Selling in the Age of COVID-19

Salespeople didn’t know how easy we had it before March 2020. In those days, we mainly had to focus on asking open-ended questions, explaining how our products and services could meet the customers’ needs, overcoming their objections, and closing the sale. Throw in some follow-ups and referral requests, and you…
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Is Now Really a Good Time to Mystery Shop?

Unless you’ve just returned from a sabbatical in the Alaskan interior, you’ve probably noticed that these are unusually intense times we’re living in: the headline of every newspaper and the highlight of every cable news segment is singularly focused on just how perilous it is to even go outside. Hyperbole…
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The Mutual Benefit of Mystery Shopping

As you consider implementing mystery shopping to develop your business’s customer service and experience, you may wonder how your employees will feel about it. You may worry that some will feel like they’re being spied on, that you don’t trust them, that what they do is never good enough. Some…
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The Phone Is Still King

Nicola Brookes, writing for Vonage, included a series of fascinating infographics in her article, “The Multibillion Dollar Cost of Poor Customer Service”. Among these graphics, we can see that the company uncovered that businesses lose some $41 billion dollars each year due to poor customer service—in part due to the…
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