» Best Secret Shopping Companies

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Looking for the best shopping companies used to be a lot easier earlier than it is now. The truth is that there are more anonymous shopping services than ever, most of them offering specialized services for specific clientele. If you have never used these services before, it can be confusing to know even where to start. Thankfully, there are some general tips you can keep in mind when it comes to finding the best shopping services out there.

Eye On The Price

It is a well known fact that quality products have their own price. A lot of times, it can be tempting to opt for cheaper alternatives and believe that you are getting the same thing for a better deal – this also applies to the field of anonymous shopping. There are, in fact, a large number of companies out there that promise you very cheap rates for their services. But it is important to remember that when it comes to undercover shopping, quality should be your keyword. You need to be sure that every aspect, from the evaluators to the security of your data is treated in the right way. Opting for a low-quality shopping service could mean that the actual assignment and even your data could end up being compromised.

But that also does not mean that all the best secret shopping companies charge exorbitant rates. At this juncture, it is best to do a little market research to study and compare different companies. If possible, try and get a feedback from other businesses that have employed hidden shopping services. That way, you will get a much better idea of not only the pricing factors, but also regarding the actual client experience other businesses have had with these companies. Bear in mind that a decent payment structure means that you will probably be working with evaluators who have a good deal of experience. This can make a world of difference to the actual assessment and the data that is harvested.

The Working Experience

Another thing that the best secret shopping companies will have in common is a great working experience. It is important to remember that you will be working with them, hand in hand, to make the assignment, a complete success. While you do need to have a clear picture of what you want out of the assignment, the service representative you work with will show you how best to go about it. You will need to draw up a specific strategy that touches all the feedback you want to receive. Apart from that, you can request services like feedback on a consumer hotline or for a particular customer profile.

Naturally, when you are scouting out the best anonymous shopping companies , its important that you feel comfortable working with them. If you have any questions or would even like some suggestions on how to go about the assignment, you should feel comfortable enough to ask. You should also be able to get in touch with them easily if you have something that needs to be cleared up. Apart from that, the service should also provide remote and secure access to your data via the internet. That way, you will be able to access your data at any time from any place.

Last but not least, the best anonymous shopping companies will have a steady list of repeat clients. If clients have remained with the service for a number of years, it shows that their work is not only high-quality but dependable as well.

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Thanksgiving time

Before you get busy preparing for this weekend’s activities, I wanted to take a minute to thank you.

Thank you for paying attention to our blogs and passing them on to your friends and associates. Our readership keeps increasing and that can only happen when you care enough to spread the word.

Thank you for supporting PhoneSmart’s effort to be relevant to our property management, secret shopping and self storage customers.

Thank you for being a client and helping us create a business model that helps you run a better business.

As you spend time with friends and family this week, I hope you take the time to be thankful and be joyful.

You will be on our list of people to thank.

Thank you,

Tron

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Thanks for visiting the secret shopping blog, our diary of our business.

I stopped for a iced coffee today at one of my favorite coffee stops. There was a new guy behind the counter. He may have been nervous. It may have been his first day. But he did not smile. He actually frowned a few times. Oh my. I was patient with him ,because I have started a new job or two in my time. But smilling at customers is the first and last thing you must do. If it is the only thing you do, it wins you points.

In your evaluations and in your interactions, remember how important a smile is. It may be your most effective tool. It costs you nothing to use. And it makes the smiler feel better, too. So what is the problem? Let’s smile!

bye for now, Tron

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Some thoughts and I would like to share for today’s secret shopping blog…our diary of the secret shoppng and myystery shopping business.

I once heard that a manager said, “We know when we are being shopped.” Then his boss replied, “Then why didn’t you get 100% on the evaluation?” It’s the million dollar question.

Apparently, he didn’t know he was being shopped or he gave his best on another call. We try to employ every resource we can when shopping so the shops “stay fresh and new.” We rotate shoppers, change times and days of the shops and even use *69 before calling, to name a few things. It’s not that any of these are groundbreaking ideas, but simple basics that we go by.

Maybe the golden rule is to treat every call like you are being shopped.

Don’t waste the customers’ time being windy. If the customer is letting you talk, keep going. If they say they need to go, wrap it up quickly. Control the pace of the call. If you need to speed up a little to get it all in, practice until it all sounds great. Usually callers give you about 5 minutes before they become impatient. We have some calls that run way over 6 minutes and I had one the other day that was almost 9 minutes.

We do normally have a time limit for shops. This time limit saves the evaluators from having to listen to a bunch of really long calls. We try to never stay on a call longer than five minutes. If the person we are shopping can’t get us in the “Yes mode” in five minutes, then it was not a successful call.

I have read somewhere that on the phone you only have 8 seconds to make a good impression, but in person, it can take 15 minutes. So get to the point, when you are on the phone.

Avoid putting the customer on hold. If you have to, do what you need to do and get back to the phone. We use shops on a regular basis that keep the caller on hold for 2 minutes or more. (see above point for more information). Would you wait on hold 2 minutes waiting for help?

Some employees don’t like the whole secret shopping world. We have a person that we shop that will flat out refuse to give any information if they think they are being shopped. They make up excuses like; “I am really busy can I call you back?”, or “I’ll give you another number to call for information” (it’s a call center number). I called him three days in a row and each day I talked to him he said that he had three customers at the front desk that needed help. It made me want to drive over there and see for my own eyes how busy this person really was. Does he do this to all callers?

We love it when people do well on their shops. We are not the bad guys. We cheer for everyone. Trust me; it takes less time to evaluate a good shop then a bad one. You’ll often hear one of the evaluators say out loud “100%!” or some other exclamation of a shop well done.

Don’t cringe every time the phone rings. Think of every ringing as an opportunity to get another customer into your place of business. Are there going to be those completely weird, off-the-wall calls that you’ll talk about for days? Yes. But thank goodness for the little bit of humor throughout the day.

Quote of the day…..

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” Mary Kay Ash

thanks, Natalie

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