Mystery Shopping for Dentists and Dental Practices

Dentists can benefit from mystery shopping, because they can get objective feedback on how they and their staff are performing.

The problem with asking patients about how you’re doing is that dentists and patients often have good relationships. As a result, a patient won’t tell when they’re truly dissatisfied, or they’ll downplay an issue they have, because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. So you won’t get the best possible feedback on the quality of care and patient loyalty for your practice.

This is where mystery shopping can help. Mystery shoppers can not only give objective feedback, but they can make sure that proper procedures are being followed. It’s an old management adage that employees are on their best behavior when the boss is around — “when the cat’s away, the mice will play” — which means that the staff will do everything they’re supposed to when the dentist is in the room.

But what about when he or she isn’t?

Working with a mystery shopping firm can help dentists and dental practices get that proper feedback. A mystery shopping professional will pose as a patient, go through all the necessary procedures, keep track of the care they received, and provide the necessary feedback to the agency.

They’ll answer questions about things like:

• Are the hygienists answering questions?
• Did the hygienists spend a lot of time with the patient?
• Did the dentist visit?
• How long did he or she stay?
• Did the hygienists get clean gloves from the box?
• Was the hygienist friendly and gentle?

Best of all, this mystery shopping is something the dentist or office manager will arrange. You and your practice are not subjected to random visits from unauthorized mystery shoppers. This is something you yourself will have arranged.

Now that review sites like Yelp include feedback on doctors and dentists, it’s important that dentists keep track of what is being said about them. Rather than waiting for complaints to reach Yelp, they can use mystery shopping to identify problem areas and fix them before they become a serious problem for patients.

Photo credit: sj_sanders (Flickr, Creative Commons)

Perform a Brand Audit for Your Tool Company

While people think a brand audit is generally used for some of the more “fluffy” brands, like food and clothing brands, you never think that a tool company would think about things like branding and marketing. That’s because most tool users are the contractors, the do-it-yourselfers, and the weekend woodworking warriors.

They buy what their friends tell them, what the pros use, or what they saw Norm and Scott using on TV this weekend. So you would think that tool companies don’t need marketing or branding.

But you’d be wrong. These guys do a lot of advertising and marketing to make sure their customers know exactly what’s going on. They have colorful displays in stores, they attend trade shows, and they advertise in woodworking and home building magazines.

It’s the stores that can give tool companies the most trouble, and the biggest reason they still need to do a brand audit. That’s because the tool companies can control the brand experience at the trade shows and magazine ads, as well as any tool shows they put on in retail stores.

But it’s the stores themselves that need the brand audit checks. That’s because tool companies pay for display space. They pay for shelf and end cap placement. They pay to have posters put up and displays set out. With thousands of hardware stores around the country, that’s an awful lot of money to spend and base the performance all on trust. That’s where the brand audit comes in handy.

For some companies, they’re paying for a set amount of time, like 30 days or 60 days, on a national campaign. To lose a day here and there can even work out to a lost month of the campaign in a single store. A brand audit will mean sending mystery shoppers to the stores to make sure that all branding material is in place.

By launching a brand audit campaign, the tool companies can ensure their marketing materials are in place and reaching their customers.

Brand Audits Help With Debranding

Brand audits can help with the downside of brand protection: debranding.

Debranding happens when a franchise or headquarters company revokes the license of a franchise owner or licensee. It can happen because the franchisee leaves, or because they weren’t meeting the corporate requirements, such as maintenance, upkeep, and decor, necessary to carry that brand’s name.

We’ve seen it happen frequently to different hotels carrying the name of a national brand. Their standards slip, and a few months later, it’s a completely different (local) name on the front of the hotel. Or stores that are no longer allowed to carry specific brands because of a business relationship that’s gone sour.

It’s important for the national brand to make sure the franchisee has completely decommissioned the license. That means no sign on the front of the building, no signage, no products on display. Nada.

When a company decommissions a franchisee’s license or terminates a relationship, they should conduct brand audits to make sure their brands, logos, and materials are not being used. After all, if the franchisee is no longer paying licensing fees, and their license has been revoked for any reason, they should not be allowed to benefit from its continued use.

But rather than assuming everything is taken care of, or waiting for stories to eventually reach back to the home office, brand audits can ensure everything is done correctly.

The brand audits can be completely anonymous, handled through a mystery shopping agency, or it can be a scheduled spot check done by a regular inspector. The reports are delivered back to the marketing department and/or licensing department for further action.

We recommend these debranding brand audits be done a few times a year. There have been instances of former franchise holders using the assets and branding of the corporation to market their company or sell products. It may not happen immediately after the relationship has ended, but it could. Quarterly brand audits can ensure it doesn’t happen to your brand.

Some Mystery Shopping Agencies May Skew Results Toward Their Training

Most mystery shopping agencies offer unbiased, objective feedback to their clients. After all, that’s what they’re hired for — to give clients a clear look at how their staff perform when management isn’t watching.

But be careful: some mystery shopping agencies may have a vested interest in skewing their shopping results. That’s because these agencies also offer customer service training and employee training programs. Some of these mystery shopping agencies may skew their shopping results in a way that their training is also a good fit for the client. They won’t out-and-out lie about their data, but they could “put their thumb on the scale” a little bit to tip things in their favor.

It’s actually dishonest and even harmful. People’s salaries, bonuses, and even their very jobs depend on shopping results being accurate and unbiased. It’s the responsibility of the mystery shopping firm to provide that accuracy — they shouldn’t downgrade results to lead to more training, or upgrade results to hide a problem they can’t train for.

Whether it’s the person at the cash register, the manager, or even the district manager, someone may get unnecessarily blamed or praised because of the skewed results. Real problems may go unaddressed, while small, less important problems are made bigger. Ultimately, the client spends money on training they don’t need, while losing money to problems they didn’t know about.

At Measure CP, we don’t have a vested interest in getting hired to do training. We don’t offer training services as part of our services. We focus strictly on providing pure, unbiased, untainted mystery shopping feedback. If training is necessary or recommended, we can provide referrals to several qualified training companies.

When you’re looking for a mystery shopping agency, be careful of the ones that provide training, especially when the results they present to you match up the training programs they provide. You’re better off working with an agency that does not do any training at all, and can instead recommend you to a separate, unassociated training company.

How a Mystery Shopping Editor Works

In the mystery shopping industry, there are a lot of people who work to make sure the clients get the best possible information from their mystery shoppers.

We all know the basic process of mystery shopping: the shopper visits the client’s business, writes the report, and sends it off to the agency. But a lot of people don’t realize what happens after that.

Barbara Wray is a mystery shopping editor for Measure CP in Louisville, KY.

Just like any other written piece of information, it needs to be edited and polished so it’s concise, easy to understand, and error free. Plus, the editor needs to make sure the shopper has followed all the instructions, and met the deadline for submitting their report.

The editor is also knowledgeable about mystery shopping, so they know what to look for when they read a shopping report.

Let’s say a shopper is conducting a shop on a bar. She could be asked to see how long before the bartender brought her drink, brought her check, whether he was friendly, and even check on the cleanliness of the bathrooms.

The editor will then take the report, check it over for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, making any necessary changes. He or she will then look for supportive narrative, to make sure there is enough information to support the actual shop. The editor will also make sure that all the requirements for the shop have been met. Maybe the shopper forgot to check the bathrooms, or maybe she was supposed to order food with her drink. The editor will then either reject the shop or send it back to the shopper for clarification.

But if the shopper has provided all the necessary information, once the edits are made, the mystery shopping editor will pass it on to the client, along with all the other shopping reports and quantitative data.

The mystery shopping editor has an important job, because their work ensures the client is satisfied with the agency’s work. They make sure the mystery shopping reports are easy to understand and that they contain all the information needed for a complete report.

Mystery Shopping for Call Grading

Mystery shopping is not only done by visiting stores and restaurants with secret video equipment. It’s also done on the phone and via computer, doing call grading on call centers.

Call grading is basically where a mystery shopping agency evaluates a customer service call center to see how well the employees are handling their customers.

While post-call surveys are one option for call grading, too often the customer service rep will taint the results by asking each caller to “give me good marks.” The caller will often inflate the score as a favor, giving false results, which can completely gloss over any problem areas or training needs.

By using a mystery shopping firm for call grading, the company is able to determine which employees are meeting their goals and expectations, and which ones need more work and training.

This is especially important for call centers that regularly receive calls from angry and rude customers. In some cases, the call center employee will be rude in return. Without proper call grading, this could actually develop into a bad habit.

Our mystery shopping auditors can not only pose as callers to evaluate employees, but we can also listen in on all your other recorded calls. For many call centers, managers listen to random calls to see how their reps are doing. But Measure CP can actually have humans listen to every call, every minute, and score them based on pre-established criteria.

Some companies use voice recognition software to analyze a conversation for keywords, but it cannot understand the interaction of human-to-human relationships.

Software will never be able to measure the vibe or emotions that are part of a conversation.

Our mystery shopping auditors are trained to listen for sarcasm, frustration, weird pauses, and snarky comments, whether they come from the callers or your staff. They’ll timestamp and index the recordings, and deliver reports and scorecards to let you know how your call center is performing.

For more information on call grading through mystery shopping, you can call us at (502) 749-6100.

Why Do Mystery Shops for Theme Parks

Mystery shops for theme parks may seem like an odd use of mystery shopping resources and customer feedback. After all, most people have a great time at the theme parks, and will usually only complain when there’s something to complain about.

Or will they? Many times, people will keep the small complaints to themselves. But, when they add up, the small complaints turn into a mountain of a reason that a family will never return.

Whether it’s the magic of Disney, the thrill of Six Flags or the excitement of any of the great independent theme parks throughout the US (like Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, just west of us here in Louisville), when consumers visit theme parks, they typically spend a lot of money in exchange for memories to last them a lifetime.

For this reason, theme parks need to ensure that they exceed their visitors’ expectations, even on — maybe especially on — the small things. One of the most effective ways for theme parks to ensure they are delivering excellent customer service and offering a memorable guest experience is by conducting frequent mystery shops.

So what takes place during mystery shops at an amusement park? Before the mystery shop event takes place, the shopping agency will meet with the theme park’s marketing or management team to create a list of criteria for evaluation. This may include anything from the park’s customer service, overall environment, or even feedback on the rides and attractions.

During the mystery shops, professional secret shoppers will visit the theme park and evaluate the pre-determined criteria. The mystery shopper will take note of environment, cleanliness, attractions, and the level of customer service offered.

They may even wear discreet video equipment or take photographs in order to provide a more detailed report. Upon completion of the mystery shops, the shoppers will complete a detailed survey regarding their entire experience at the theme park.

Mystery shops are a wise investment in guest satisfaction and retention for theme parks of all sizes. When conducted through a reputable mystery shopping agency, it is a process that will provide invaluable feedback that can help theme parks improve upon their customer experience management program. And, when it comes to theme parks, this means a more magical, memorable experience for each and every guest.

Outsource Your Mystery Shopping Audits for Objectivity

Mystery shopping is one of the most valuable and effective tactics a business can use to obtain insight and feedback regarding business operations. Conducting a mystery shopping audit seems simple enough, and many companies often decide to take on the process internally by hiring contractors or even having friends and family conduct the shops.

Unfortunately, most of these companies do not get optimal results. Why? In truth, there are several reasons why it is important for companies to outsource their mystery shopping audits.

In most cases, businesses tend to run into the same issue: objectivity. Current employees should not be used to conduct mystery shopping audits, as they already have their own ideas and opinions about the business and its operations. These pre-existing opinions, both good and bad, can greatly influence the results they obtain. Even trusted friends or family may not be 100 percent comfortable providing complete and brutal honesty about a business’ flaws.

Contractors hired directly by a company to perform a mystery shopping audit may be ineffective as well since they have already developed a relationship of sorts with the company, and therefore may be apt to give more positive feedback as to not offend the person signing their paycheck.

In addition, although mystery shopping gigs are highly sought-after, the actual pool of qualified, experienced and well-trained mystery shoppers is small – and with so many mystery shopping scams, most seasoned auditors opt to work solely with reputable mystery shopping agencies.

For these reasons, the majority of companies that run mystery shopping audits typically turn to a respected mystery shopping agency to conduct audits on their behalf. Agencies that specialize in mystery shopping audits have worked with everything from Fortune 500 to small- and medium-sized businesses. In addition, they have typically worked with a wide variety of industries and are well-versed in the needs of all clients, regardless of their speciality.

Agencies that specialize in mystery shopping audits are well-versed in the entire auditing process and are able to conduct mystery shops more quickly and efficiently than those who are not as familiar with the process. This makes for a smart investment for companies seeking solid, measurable results and a high return on investment.

Mystery Shopping is NOT a Do-It-Yourself Venture

Mystery Shopping is one of those skills that every successful venture has tried at one time or another. The problem comes when business owners and managers decide they want to do it themselves. For whatever reason — to save money, “because I know my business,” or because it just seems easier — many business owners try to do their own mystery shopping, only to find that this was a bad idea. Here’s why:

During a mystery shopping audit, a secret shopper will visit your business in order to make a purchase or ask questions. They will take note of environment, cleanliness, product offerings, the employees’ product knowledge and quality of customer service. When they’re done, they’ll submit a detailed report about their entire experience.

You’ve heard the phrase, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play.” This means that when the cat is around, the mice are on their best behavior. So when you shop your own store or restaurant, or have an employee do it, you’re not getting the full picture.

What you need is objectivity. Current employees already have their own ideas and opinions about the business, but a mystery shopper does not. They are hired directly because they have not developed a relationship with your company. They provide an unbiased through the eyes of a customer, not the eyes of someone who knows how things “should” be.

Another issue with doing mystery shopping in-house is the amount of time and planning involved. Although it may seem like an easy undertaking (hire someone, send them out to their store, get feedback), a well-run shop takes more planning.

Companies from Fortune 500 to small businesses typically use a mystery shopping agency in order to have them conduct the audits on their behalf. These agencies are well-versed in the mystery shopping process and can conduct secret shops more quickly and efficiently than those who are not, making them a smart investment for those companies that need solid, unbiased results.

Avoid Mystery Shopping Scams: Watch Out for Fake Emails

Although mystery shopping scams have been around for years, scammers have now taken on a new trick: targeting unsuspecting victims via email. With so many mystery shopping scams, many people think there are no legitimate secret shopping jobs available.

With such a high volume of scammers, it can be difficult for new shoppers to pick the scam emails and websites from the legitimate opportunities. Fortunately, there are a few telltale signs you’ll find in a scam email.

1. You Need to Pay to Get Started
No legitimate mystery shopping company will ever make applicants pay a membership fee, cover training costs or send them money for any reason whatsoever.

2. You Receive an Unsolicited Email
Unless you’ve registered with a mystery shopping agency in the past, any unexpected emails regarding secret shopping jobs are likely a scam. Legitimate companies only hire people from job postings or their database. They never send out emails at random.

3. It Sounds Too Good to Be True
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If an ad for a secret shopping job promises a large income, an exact salary, or a chance to mystery shop a Caribbean cruise or Disney World, we’re sorry to say, it’s a scam. In all our years of experience, we have never even heard of a Caribbean cruise shop.

4. Moneygram, Western Union, or Banks are Involved
One of the newest and worst scams is a traditional wire fraud scheme veiled. The company sends you a check, and asks you to deposit it in your bank, and transfer the money via Western Union, Moneygram, or even their bank. No legitimate shopping company will ever ask you to do that.

Before sending any personal information to a prospective shopping job, take some time to research the company online. One of the safest ways to find mystery shopping jobs is through the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA). It’s the world’s largest and most respectable mystery shopping associations, and they even have a free job board.

The MSPA also publishes a list of their member agencies.. Any agency on this list is in compliance with the industry standards the MSPA works to uphold. If they’re not on this list, avoid them.