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Welcome to the secret shopping blog, our diary of the world of secret shopping and mystery shopping. You can set up your next evaluations by prepping your staff with a quiz. After they have completed the quiz and you have reviewed answers with them, do some monitoring or secret shops on the topic to make sure the information stuck.

Here is a quiz we did last year for one of our apartment management companies.

Name:_____________________________ Date:_________________________

Please hand in to the folder by the commission sheet hand in folder ASAP. Thanks.

1. Can you tell the Kitty Hawk apartment manager to call back a customer at 12:30 to answer their questions?

Why?

2. Say it is Friday 9am… Bon Gor apartment Caller wants to schedule an appt. for Monday. What time can you set the appointment for on Monday… 10am? 1pm? Or 3pm?

Why?

3. Say it is Tuesday…At what time can you schedule a Kitty Hawk site visit for on Saturday?

Why?

4. For a Bon Gor caller– needs to leave a message for manager… what is the voicemail 4 digit number that you would transfer them to?

5. What is the total, excluding any possible taxes, would a Kitty Hawk renter need, to move in if the caller…

-rents a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment
-will bring their cat to live there
-has their own apartment insurance coverage
-has 1 other adult moving in with them

*** Bonus question…
How many birds can fit into a 1bedroom apartment?

This was a great way to make sure we were not confusing callers on a number of issues. You can break down your requirements into small bits and pieces too, and quiz, review and shop the topics.

bye, Tron

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Welcome to the secret shopping blog, where we look at issues surrounding the world of secrest shopping and mystery shopping. As you develop your team, consider this law of sales and service.

The Chuckle Rule
By Tron Jordheim

There are many mathematical formulas and behavior theories that one must consider when crafting a sales program and projecting out a sales cycle. None of these rules are more fun than the Chuckle Rule. There are very few basic drives that steer humanity. Once the basic needs food and shelter are taken care of you are left with fear, greed, sex drive and the love of laughter. Some behaviorists might disagree with me. They might place laughter in a completely different category. But I think it is indeed one of the most basic drives that determine human behavior. It also appears to be one of the healthiest and most enjoyable activities a person can participate in. When laughter is used in the selling process, it becomes a powerful tool.

Most selling situations can get a little tense. There are a lot of emotions involved in any buying process. Certainly people do not find the need for storage to be a happy circumstance. Most selling situations involve two companies or two sales people competing for business. This can bring the pressure to a boiling point. If your occupancy is a little off or if you feel threatened by a new competitor in your market, you might feel the need to fight for your next rental.

So there you are at the counter not wanting this rental prospect to slip away. There is the rental prospect walking in your door wishing he was hitting his thumb with a hammer rather than having to spend the day shopping or buying. Yes, the use of all your best sales technique and all the newest and coolest methods will help seal the deal and get a signature on the lease. But there is a simple and fun way to dramatically increase the likelihood of doing business with that prospect. Share a few chuckles.

Here is the small print on sharing a chuckle. The chuckle has to be appropriate and has to fit the situation. So you need to listen to the prospect, assess the prospect’s mood and then find something to laugh about or find something to poke fun at. With the first chuckle you will see the stress on the prospect’s face melt away and the shine in his or her eyes start to show. The second chuckle will give the person even a deeper release and the third chuckle will make the two of you friends for life.

In fact the power of the chuckle is exponential. Two chuckles shared increases the likelihood of doing business by a factor of 2. Three chuckles increase your success rates by a factor of three. There is a point of diminishing returns somewhere around the 3rd to 5th chuckle depending on the situation and the people involved. So 17 chuckles does not insure you will do business. It may, in fact, give someone a heart attack if that person has not had enough laughter in recent weeks and is all of a sudden overloaded with laughter.

You may find in your quest to share a few chuckles that the prospect you are dealing with has no sense of humor. . It is sad that such people exist. But you still may be able to do business with them if you fall back on your well-honed selling skills.

There are some ways to prime a person for a chuckle. Find some clean and funny cartoons to post where everyone can see them. Learn a few good jokes and tell them to people while you are walking them to the unit you are going to show. My personal favorite is the Far Side series. If you have one of these silly cartons where people can see, you may get a chuckle without even saying hello.

You may find that your current customers will come to see you in your office just to tell you a joke or show you a cartoon they cut out for you. What a great way to keep your customers coming back for more. Give them chuckles and they will be there.

bye for now,
Tron

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Welcome to the secret shoppng blog, our diary of the secret shopping world.

How do you rate your feelings? Sometimes when you are on a shop, the person you are rating may make technical mistakes and ignore important policy proceedures but still give you a good experience. You got good feelings from the person and liked him or her.

How much is this worth in your evaluation? How much is it worth in real life? If you get bad feelings from a subject, it may not mater how well he or she followed a script or proceeedure, you will still have a bad experience.

Now if you can get someon to follow the “plan” and give out good feelings, then you are in business. How do you give out good feelings? Maybe this is the job of customer service people. Don’t give out cookies or business cards, give out good feelings.

bye for now,
Tron

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Welcome to the secret shopping blog, where we loook at the mystery shopping and secret shopping business.

Here is the big question:

How does your staff sound to your callers?

With secret shopping, you will know.

Secret Shops help you with:

-Sales Training
-Improving customer service
-Quality controls
-Meeting anti-discrimination standards

Here are a few pointers to make it work.

-Present this as a training aid and a way to help the staff members improve performance.
-If staff members view it as a spying mission set up to punish them, it will fail.
-Start with small goals.
-Set specific performance goals to start. For instance…a smile in the voice, two standard qualifying questions, one standard closing question. Then after you see these standards being met well, add something a little more complicated.

Try to keep it simple, so your staff can find success with secret shopping and so they can feel as if secret shopping helps them become better at their jobs.

bye for now,
Tron

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Welcome to the secret shopping blog. We keep a diary of our experiences in the secret shopping and mystery shopper business.

I was recently at a business conference and had the pleasure of hearing an awesome motivational speaker. Now, I realize that this persons’ job was to motivate, but it really worked. I left the conference fired up and ready to take on the challenges of the outside. One of the programs that I attended was on communication. Which brings me to what I would like to write about in today’s blog, “How I learned to communicate better?”

Basically, there are four styles of communicating:
1. Aggressive
2. Passive
3. Passive-Aggressive
4. Assertive

Aggressive communicators believe, “I count, You don’t”

Passive communicators believe, “You count, I don’t”

Passive-Aggressive communicators believe, “I count and I won’t tell you that you don’t”

Assertive communicators believe, “I count, You count,”
Do any of these ring a bell in how you communicate?

I fall into the Passive-Aggressive type and the more detailed description that was given at the conference really hit home. Now, one of the points of the program was that ideally, we should all try and be more assertive. That means the Aggressive person backs down a little, the Passive person steps up, and the P-A person sees the picture more clearly and more caring, and with a choice.

Now, as far as secret shopping goes, how does this relate to how we communicate as an industry overall. Are we the loud, pushy, demanding type or the quiet, accommodating type of communicator? Again, the point is to be more assertive, to say what you mean, to mean what you say, and don’t be mean when you say it. Wow, it’s not brain surgery; it’s speaking the truth (communicating), without conflict to get the results you need. How many times have you shopped someone and they spend a whole 40 seconds on the call/sale and are done? If we say it once, we’ll say it a million times, if you can’t dedicate your very best to every call or sale, why are you there? Treat every call/sale like there is something riding on it. In fact, something is always riding on it. It might be your job, an incentive, a bonus, an evaluation, a raise, monitoring or hey, what about this one…..a customer!!

I learned five steps to being more assertive:
1. Breathe (you’ll get all red in the face if you don’t)
2. Use “I” statements (I need…, I feel like…, I am…)
3. Slow down and deepen your voice (don’t be rushed and squeaky)
4. Watch your non-verbal communication (eye contact, weight distribution, body language)
5. Be nice—there is policy and there is policy… (Being nice…seems like an easy thing)

Let’s try and be nice. Visualize your goals and remember to appreciate the people that are good to you, and surround yourself with positive people. It’s catchy.

**I would like to thank Marilyn Sherman, owner of UpFront Presentations for the information she shared with us that day. Marilyn rocks!! If you ever have the chance to see her speak, go; trust me it’s worth it. And don’t forget to sit in the front row… wink, wink.**

xoxoxo,
Natalie

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Thanks for surfing over to the secret shopping blog, where we deal with mystery shopping and secret shopping issues.

I am at a marketing conference for people in the apartment industry, given by the Multi Fmaily Pro magazine. Several of the people in the sessions I attended expressed their frustrations about training and policy issues. Many felt that they can give a good training session and create great training materials, but they all felt like they lose something after the training. Many of the proceedures and initiatives don’t get implemented, or only get half implemented.

One of the first ideas people had at the session was to secret shop their staff after an initiative or a training topic was introduced in order to make sure that people understood the topic, knew what was expected of them and followed through.

This is of course great news for me, but you do have to be careful how you create a secret shopping expedition in order to ensure you are testing for and evaluating the exact things you need to see. Be clear in the behaviors or sales talk that you want your staff to practice. Then decide if you are going to use the initial secret shops as a test of how well you designed the training…did it stick? …or if you are going to test how well the staff is doing the follow-up they knew they were expected to do.

Sometimes you think you covered a topic well and you didn’t. Sometimes you covered the topic well, were clear in your expectations and your staff just didn’t feel like following through. Be careful you don’t spank your staff if you were at fault. And be careful your staff doesn’t ignore your initiatives and try to make you feel like it was your fault. It can get a little tricky. Good luck with your efforts.

bye for now,
Tron

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Welcome to the secret shopping blog, where we share our experinces in the mystery shopping industry and secret shopping trends. We can help you with your secret shopping business if you are already in the “Biz”, or give you insights into how the mystery shopping professional works if you are looking to hire or become a secret shopper.

Here is a piece the PhoneSmart director Tron Jordheim wrote that he also based a training seminar on. You may find that there are some good tips for creating a sales and customer service culture that will do great when you get secret shopped.

Create a culture, set up hoops, and watch candidates excel!
By Tron Jordheim
Most of us agree it is better to have sales-savvy staff than not. Our business requires intense customer interaction. The person at the front desk wearing your logo shirt is the reason people choose to store with you or your competitor. When a tenant has a problem, it is your staff person’s ability to handle it that makes the difference.
So how do you attract sales-savvy people? You have to build the culture first. Every workplace has its own feel and unspoken understandings—this is your culture. It revolves around language; stories, myths and legends; rituals; and unwritten rules. When your culture encourages sales and the development of selling skills, you have created a workplace where sales-savvy people are comfortable and can excel.
Language
Start speaking the language of sales. Teach employees how to use qualifying questions, alternate-choice closes, concerns and assurances, assumptive statements, closing percentages and missed opportunities. Learn the keywords and code words that help your staff keep “sales” at the front of their minds.
Stories, Myths and Legends
Share stories and myths about selling with your staff. For example, there is a great story about a young kid straight out of high school who went to work for a department store that sold everything you could imagine. At the end of his first day, the store owner asked him how many customers he had helped. He was shocked and dismayed to hear the hire had only helped one customer and asked him to explain.
The kid explained he had offered a customer a fishing hook, only to find the man had no rod, reel and or tackle. After he helped the customer pick out that gear, he discovered the man had no fishing boots or outdoor clothes, so he helped him choose the right boots, pants, jacket and hat. Then he realized the customer had no boat, so he helped him select a boat and appropriate trailer. When the man mentioned he would have trouble hauling the boat with his Volkswagen, the young sales clerk took him to the truck department and helped him choose a pickup truck with a towing package and CD/DVD player.
Finally, at 4:45 p.m., the customer who had been with the young salesman since 10:30 that morning had everything he could possibly need for a weekend of fishing. The owner of the store was amazed. He asked, “You sold all this merchandise to a man who came in to buy a fishing hook?” The kid replied, “Well, actually, I started the day in the pharmacy, and the customer asked me where to find the band-aids. While I was helping him, I happened to say, ‘Looks like a good weekend to go fishing.’”
There are all kinds of fun stories about salespeople. There are some great cartoons, too. Have you ever seen the “Far Side” cartoon featuring the King of Salesmen? He is waving good-bye from a boat as he pulls away from a shore-side Eskimo village. The Eskimos are standing proudly by their new refrigerators and waving back. You can tell their fondness for the salesman in the sad expressions on their faces.
Then there are sales myths, like the “Rule of Thirds,” which breaks customers into three distinct categories:
• One third of customers will rent from you, as long as you don’t chase them off, because they already like your location or know someone who has rented from you. Your job is simply to not talk them out of the sale.
• Another third of customers will not rent from you, either because you can’t meet their current needs or their needs are too far in the future. If you are nice to these folks, they might remember you when it is time to rent.
• The final third could go either way. These are the people with whom you need to use your best sales and listening skills.
Finally, talk with employees about legends of great sales feats accomplished by members of your business. For example, tell them about the time one of your managers had a record rental day. Talk about the funny ways staff has asked for the rental and gotten it. At my company, we still talk about the day one of our sales reps, Dana, reserved seven 10-by-20s for one caller, and we still try to beat Paula’s eight-hour record of 23 credit-card reservations.
Rituals
You can also establish business rituals for your staff. These might include the manner in which you make notes on your call logs, the way you stand up to greet customers who walk through your door, the way you turn the lease toward new tenants so they can see where to initial and sign. Look at the things you do during your selling routine. Use consistency to allow some of these actions to become rituals.
Unwritten Rules
Then there are unwritten rules. For example, consider the rule that you should never end a rental inquiry without asking which day the person would like to move in; or the rule that says there’s no eating at the front counter; or the rule that says you should look everyone in the eye when you greet them. You probably have many such guidelines that work in selling your facility to new tenants and re-selling it to current ones. They may not be typed in the policies and procedures manual, but you encourage employees to follow them nonetheless. Let employees know what those rules are so they can use them.
Attracting the Sales-Savvy
Now that you have created a selling culture, you need to attract people who are sales-savvy. How do you get the right people to inquire about your positions? What do you call those positions? Do you look for managers, sales assistants, marketing reps or retail-sales reps? Think about this before advertising or promoting an opening. You will generally get what you ask for in an ad.
Start screening candidates with some qualifying hoops. The first a potential new hire jumps through is the recorded audition. When a candidate calls your “employment hotline,” he is invited to talk about himself and his experience on a voicemail message. Listen to all the messages and only contact the people who sound good on the phone, use visuals in their stories and sell themselves well. The impression employees make on the phone is essential to getting rentals. Why not hire only people with a great phone presentation?
If a potential hire passes the recorded audition, the next step is the phone interview and mystery shop. If you like the way the person deals with you and sells himself during the phone interview, move on to the shopping phase. Wait a day or so, call his place of work, and interact with him as if you are a prospective or current customer of that business. How he treats you in this situation will tell you a lot. Did your potential hire ask for your business, try to fix your problem, and attempt to cross-or up-sell?
Testing, 1,2,3
Next is the personal interview. For this, you will need to create a test that will weed out the wrong people for the job. It can be frustrating when a person interviews well, then turns out to be a bad fit for the position. I once hired someone with a good resume and appropriate work history who interviewed very well. When the other team members learned about the hire, they asked if I was nuts. Apparently, he had been rude and even hostile to three or four people while waiting in the break room for his interview. Enter the birth of “The Break-Room Test.”
Now when I conduct personal interviews, I intentionally leave the candidate waiting in the break room for five or 10 minutes before I meet him. I have several team members interact with him during that time and gauge his reactions. If the prospect does not offer natural, friendly re

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