Common questions we’re asked by our new clients is, “How often should I mystery shop?” and “How many feedback surveys do I need?” To gain an understanding of our philosophy, let’s take a dive into the notions of quantity versus quality.
Both Are Valuable
You’ve undoubtedly heard adages about them, placing one over the other. Different industries place varying priorities on each: for fast food, products are typically low-margin and require high volume to make acceptable profits, meaning each individual sale is of low quality (or value), making high quantity is necessary. In boutique retail, margins are high—as are prices—and thus volume is by nature low. Those companies embrace notions of exclusivity and limited availability to create buzz and maintain a premium reputation.
Quantity and quality aren’t mutually exclusive, of course. A reputation for quality will lead to an increase in demand, which will mean more overall sales. This is within reason, admittedly: no matter how great the reviews are for a luxury sedan, how impressive the craftsmanship is, it’ll never sell at the volume that an economy vehicle does. Yet neither manufacturer is necessarily complaining, as each has found its niche. Different people value different things, which is why separate market segments exist to serve those disparate needs.
How They Are Related
While the notion of a greater quality leads to an increased quantity is obvious (i.e. a good reputation leads to more sales), you might be wondering if there are any examples where the inverse is true. When does increased quantity lead to improved quality? The main industry that comes to mind is data, the collection of information to be tabulated, correlated, interpolated, and compared, which is exactly what we do with mystery shops and feedback surveys.
In the world of data, more is better because outliers are easier to identify and trends are more obvious. Sometimes employees have exceptionally good days or exceptionally bad; sometimes there are uncommon circumstances that will heavily impact a person’s opinion. Indeed, opinions are volatile, so if you want to get a look at the big picture of your business’s customer-service health (and not be stuck on aberrations, good or bad), you’re going to need as much information as possible, especially if you want to know what direction your company or the industry is going.
Putting It Together
What does that mean when it comes to how many mystery shops you should order, or how many feedback surveys to aim for? Each business is different, and you know yours best, but retail and customer-service employees should be targeted at least once per week, and salespeople no less than once per month. The modest costs associated with mystery shops and feedback surveys are well worth it in the face of your increased customer loyalty, stronger reputation, improved up-sells and add-ons, and overall enhanced profits. If you want your business to achieve these goals, you’re going to need as much data as possible.
As we mentioned before, every business has a niche. Ours is customer service and profit enhancement. If you want to start getting quality information about the health of your business, about how to improve that customer service and profit, reach out to us at The Brandt Group now, and we’ll help you work out all the details, including details like quantity. We can help with everything from staff development to long-term planning. Don’t be shy! Let’s get started today.
