mystery shopping how great companies design and manage an effective program

MYSTERY SHOPPINGHow Great Companies Design And Manage An Effective Program

Monday November 6, 2011

9:00am

Barry GrossA Goff Limousine & Bus

Brett TysonHarrison Global

Mystery Shopping can be defined as:

“The use of individuals trained/briefed to experience and measure compliance or any customer service process, by acting as potential customers/actual customers and in some way reporting back on their experiences in a detailed and objective way”

-Mystery Shopping Providers Association

Why “Mystery Shopping?”

Assess the quality of service, organization, and management

Review how staff performs against pre-determined standards

Observe interaction where staff are engaged

Establish measurables upon which to gauge improvement

Validity IndexIn order to be valid, a mystery shopping program must meet several criteria; It must be:

Relevant Credible Ethical Practical

Principles of Mystery Shopping

Scope Approach Experience Range Reporting

Per BARE International - 2007

Scope Explain the goals

Define the timeline

Define the methodology for securing the service

Define the parameters for reporting

Approach Specify the acceptable range of service/behavior

Specify the items to be observed and reported

Define the methodology for securing the service

ExperienceShopper needs to:

Fit a common passenger profile

Present reasonable knowledge of their service needs

Not be an especially difficult or “hard to please” customer

Do as little as possible to initiate the experience

Create an environment that allows the employee

opportunity to excel

Maintain secrecy as to their status as a mystery

shopper

RangeShops must:

Reflect as wide a range of variables as possible

Encompass the complete spectrum of employees

Gather a deep comparative sample

Must not be artificially manipulated to produce specific results

ReportingA Good Report is:

Timely Accurate Informative Unbiased

Who to use? Professional Firms Temp Agencies Friends & Family Key Staff

Professional Firms

Pros AccountableSpecialized Experienced Anonymous Customized Detailed

Cons Cost Labor intensive

Unfamiliarity Contract

Temp Agencies

Pros Accountable Anonymous Local

Cons Cost Untrained No Continuity Logistics

Friends & Family

Pros Cost Motivated Familiarity Loyal Control

Cons Less Anonymous

Less Accountable

Untrained

Key Staff

Pros Accountable Specialized Knowledgeable Motivated Cost Perpetual

Cons No Anonymity Labor intensive

Predisposition Diversionary

Defining and Achieving Quality

A case study by

Harrison Global

Quality?This can refer to anything that you desire.

It could be how your reservation agents talk to your customers

It could be how your chauffeurs manage their customers during an airport PU

It could be how your dispatchers stage vehicles for upcoming pick ups

Quality is the process/procedure and end result that YOU define as “THE RIGHT WAY”

Step 1: Defining QualityHarrison has defined the quality

measurements for each of its departments.

Today we are going to look at 2 of these measurements

We will show how we built themHow we implemented themAnd how we use them to shape the employees behavior to the desired quality

Case Study 1

Harrison Chauffeur Performance

Defining Quality: Chauffeurs

In defining the quality metrics for the Harrison chauffeurs, we began by establishing the core competencies that make up a good chauffeur.

We spoke to chauffeurs and asked them what elements made a good chauffeur

We spoke to Dispatchers and asked them what made a good chauffeur

We spoke to reservation agents and asked them what made a good chauffeur

We spoke to managers and asked them what made a good chauffeur We spoke to our affiliates and asked what they were looking for in

our chauffeurs We spoke to our clients and asked them what they were looking for

in a good chauffeurs

Defining Quality: Chauffeurs

What we got, was a lot of information about how chauffeurs WERE supposed to behave and a lot of information about how they were NOT supposed to behave

We took all this information and broke it down into 3 main categories

1.Driving Skills

2.Customer Service

3.Trip Preparation and Professional Presentation

1: Driving Skills• Was chauffeur on time for your pick up?

• Did the Chauffeur take the appropriate route, not get lost and get you to your destination on time?

• Did the Chauffeur drive safely?

• Did the Chauffeur drive smoothly?

• Did the Chauffeur refrain from making any • phone calls, including texting etc.?

2: Customer Service• Was Chauffeur waiting outside vehicle next to right rear door of car with the correct

sign?

• Chauffeur used company sign

• Did Chauffeur open car door for you on pick up AND drop off?

• Did Chauffeur manage your luggage on pick up and drop off. (To curb-airport, or inside-anywhere else?)

• Did the Chauffeur introduce him/herself?

• Did the Chauffeur reconfirm your destination before driving off?

• Did the Chauffeur ask if you had a route you would prefer?

• Did the chauffeur offer to assist you with the controls to the radio and temperature?

• Did the Chauffeur only talk to you as professionally needed?

• Did the chauffeur thank you for using Harrison Global

3: Trip Prep and Professional presentation

Was the Chauffeur dressed neatly and professionally in Black suit/white shirt/tie Chauffeur is clean shaven Chauffeur is wearing jewelry as prescribed Exterior of vehicle is clean and polished Interior of Vehicle is clean Did the car smell fresh? (Not smell of smoke, food, any offensive smell.) Vanity mirrors on roof work Side lights above each back door work Was the car at the correct temperature when you got in? (68 to 72 degrees) Was the vehicle set up correctly, (Hybrid: Water), (Sedan: Water, tissues, mints,

newspapers) Chauffeur has black umbrella (1 for sedan, 2 for SUV/Van) Radio was off Was car parked with rear door in line with the building door from which you were

exiting? Vehicle is gassed up Driver has a GPS system

Step 2: Train to the competencies

TrainingNew Hire: 3 days of classroom and on the road training

Remedial training: for anyone who does not demonstrate the core competencies

Refresher training for everyone on a periodic basis

Is training the Answer?No

Training is important, but its effect is generally short lived You must tie it to every piece of the operation

Step 3: Inspect what you Expect

After training

Harrison conducts 20 ghost rides per monthWe use a dedicated road supervisor, managers, and clients

The ghost rider uses an online form that has a built in formula to calculate a pass or a fail

We are looking for chauffeurs to demonstrate the core competencies that we have defined as our quality standards

This is an email that is automatically generated from a failed ride

Step 4: GIVE FEEDBACK Without feedback, the chauffeurs will not rise to the quality

standard you are looking for

Feedback must be given very soon after an observation

There should be at least 3 positives emphasized along with an area for the chauffeur to develop

Use a consistent and supportive corrective action process that includes retraining

Action Plan: 1 Coaching note

Action Plan: 2 Verbal Warning Training &

Evaluation

Action Plan: 3 Written Warning Training &

Evaluation

Action Plan: 4 Written Warning 3-day suspension Training &

Evaluation

Action Plan: 5 Termination

The complete process

High Quality Chauffeur

performance

1:Hire the right people

2: Train to the core competencies

3: Inspect what you Expect

4: Provide feedback

5: Provide retraining

6: Use Corrective action

Case Study 2

The Voice of the Customer

(VOC)

The Voice of the CustomerSix Sigma is a process that seeks to improve the quality of

process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes.

A six sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the services provided are statistically expected to be free of defects

Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction and/or profit increase).

One such project is called “ Voice of the Customer”

VOC Process The purpose of the “Voice of the Customer” is to truly understand

what your customers think is important, and then to measure your performance in terms of these items.

Step 1: Call a random sampling of your customers and ask them the following 4 questions

1. Was there anything about your experience that you were dissatisfied about?

2. What ways did our service meet their expectation (ask for stories. It really helps us understand)

3. Was there anything about their experience that was better than they expected

4. Have the customer describe their experience with other organizations that they regarded as exceptional organizations

Continue until you have at least 100 comments.

Gather a team of 3 or 4 people and divide the cards up into like categories

Continue this process until all the cards are sorted.

Now discuss the groups, and decide on a label for the group.

At this point, you have identified the elements that are most important for your customers

Now, you can develop your survey according to your customers voice

Now we have the questions to ask We conducted 200 phone interviews using the VOC survey

and here is what we found.

What do we do with the data

VOC Data

Share the data with the teams and ask

for their suggestions for

improvement

Retrain each department to the specifics

noted

Use the ghost ride form to

target specific areasUse other

departments observation forms to target specific

areas

Set up incentives to increase the

ratings

Use formal corrective

action process

Re-measure after a suitable

time(3 to 6 months)

The question is?How many of your

customers can you turn into Raving Fans?

ReviewSteps to creating a mystery

shopping program

Determine goals Set scope and timeline Establish methodology Create reporting template Assess logistics and budget Determine WHO performs the shops How will the data be utilized