Courtesy of Ziggy Zubric at our parent site--The Magnetic Group.
Maybe it was the way you buried your face in your hands when we said, “Party of ten.”
Or maybe it was when we had to ask you for chips and salsa that other tables had, and you sort of groaned before begrudgingly conceding that okay, you guessed we could have some.
Or maybe it was finding one of your hairs in our chips.
Or perhaps it was when your co-workers auctioned-off our food, forgot a few items, and messed up some entrées, because, as you later explained, you were “sitting out back, taking a break.”
It could also have been our need to request silverware so that we could eat, the way you disappeared during long stretches of the meal, or the general lack of attention we received in a restaurant otherwise empty.
Whatever the cause, I felt like you didn’t care about our comfort at all.
But then I got your check with the sweet hand-written note wishing me a great day and thanking me for coming in.
And so I lingered behind my group to talk with you, and I realized that you didn’t hate us at all.
You had started your shift at 7am, and we walked in at 1:30 with a daunting group of ten. You were tired, ready to go home, and eager to enjoy the holiday weekend.
And after talking with you, I truly believe that you sincerely, genuinely hoped we enjoyed our meal at your restaurant, and that you really wanted it to be an enjoyable experience for us.
But I have to ask: Other than your heart being in the right place, what did you do to make our stay enjoyable?
* * * * * * *
And once again, I’m reminded of why feedback is so crucial.
You never realized how unwelcomed we felt because of your poor body language, ungracious behavior, and inept apologies.
You had no idea how frustrated we were, being neglected at some moments and poorly serviced at others.
And you have no idea that I’m writing this in complete sympathy, because your employer is clearly not investing in any sort of mystery shopping or customer feedback program to give you the tools you need to improve.
So you remain unaware of your flaws and ignorant of the negative perceptions you create.
I’ll probably never visit El Patron again. But I hope this gets to you somehow.
Because you’re a sweet kid who wants to give good service, but hasn’t received the resources and feedback to provide it just yet.
Source: The Sweet, Misunderstood Waitress (from Hell) (http://www.themagneticgroup.com/home/2010/9/9/the-sweet-misunderstood-waitress-from-hell.html) by Ziggy Zubric
]]>Key takeaway: Make sure your customers are defining and validating the goals of your mystery shopping program.
]]>Also, we have scoured our data base thoroughly and can positively assert that this is NOT one of our mystery shoppers!
]]>Courtesy of Ziggy Zubric at our parent site--The Magnetic Group.
Last week, Bruce Temkin discussed the ins and outs of tying employee compensation to customer feedback scores.
He offers a few observations on the issue, my favorite of which is:
We have seen this in action, and it’s sort of like the People of Walmart site, in that you sort of need to see to believe.
Not too long ago, we worked with a national restaurant chain that performed several in-store assessments per month.
For one section of the assessment, the evaluators were asked to identify the manager, and note whether or not the manager was seen visiting tables and talking to guests.
One night, at a particular location, one of our evaluators was approached by a young employee wearing a manager’s shirt.
After a short conversation about how the dining experience was going, our evaluator commented to the manager that she seemed awfully young to be managing a restaurant.
To which the employee replied:
So yes, tying compensation to customer feedback will definitely lead to some degree of shenanigans, and the challenge is to develop feedback programs that offer as little opportunity for manipulation as possible.
It’s definitely a learning experience (as opposed to the People of Walmart).
]]>Did this employee want to enrage a customer? Of course not.
But until we identify moments like this and help the employee understand the impacts of her every word, mistakes like this will continue.
Mystery shopping isn't about punishing employees or getting them in trouble. It's about giving them real-world feedback that helps them improve their service.
]]>
Not us.
At 12:30pm last Friday, a retail client called. They were having a big 4th of July promotion and wanted to know how well sales reps at the distribution locations were representing their products and promoting their specials.
They needed our research, and they needed it immediately.
We sprung.
Within hours we had an entirely new project up and rolling.
Saturday and Sunday, the evaluations occurred. Monday, we created & delivered the in-depth summary report to the client.
How’s that for a rapid response team? From a blank slate on Friday to a completed project by Monday. Oh, yes we did!
Sure, you don’t want every day to be that intense.
But pulling off the impossible gives us the professional thrill that you can’t get with regularly scheduled programming. So we really appreciated the chance to test & prove ourselves.
On Tuesday, the happy client called to request more research.
And that’s why we do what we do.
]]>The main point is this:
Tellers who simply sling brochures at prospects are flagrantly wasting incredible opportunities to land new business for their bank.
And we’d like to point out that these training insights are based exclusively from the data collected by Marketing Endeavors’ top-notch mystery shopping services.
]]>The desk associate at the Louisville Science Center could have just handed us our IMAX tickets and said, “Have a nice day.”
He could have ignored the fact that the movie was seconds from starting and that we were 3 floors away from the entrance.
He could have thought, “It’s not my problem they’re running late.”
He could have done the bare minimum (just hand us our tickets), and went about his day.
Instead, he proactively called a co-worker at the IMAX theater and informed her that there were two more viewers on their way up. He even called us “guests.”
He never told us he was doing this. If I hadn’t overheard his conversation, I never even would have known.
He just did it.
When you start going above and beyond out of habit, you know you’re offering outstanding customer service, and it's clear that this organization has created a culture dedicated to making customers smile.
]]>We work hard to buck that trend and create positive relationships, believing that it creates better research.
Some companies really think that they can be rude to shoppers and still count on them to demonstrate a strong work ethic and provide insightful information.
But as we all know, what you give is what you get.
So we treat our shoppers with respect and good will, and that's what they give us in return.
When we get emails like this from our shoppers, we know we're doing it right:
"Aaron and Ryan both are such a pleasure. I called Aaron's cell phone last night on a whim to see if a particular shop might be available. It was after hours, but he still offered to check for me. Lo-and-behold, it looked like the assignment was available. He called Ryan to confirm, then assigned it to me. (Apparently, someone else had flaked earlier in the day.)
Thank you, and great work!"
Thank YOU for sharing, and for shopping with ME.
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