Business Owner, Do You Need a Secret Shopper ???

Do You Need a Secret Shopper ???

Most business owners probably think, "the last thing I need is another expense."

We used to go to church with someone who was a secret shopper. It was easy to see why people would hire he. She would visit stores to see how the product was displayed; to see if the store was clean and to see if the clerk was courteous.

I've experienced many businesses who could really use a secret shopper.  For example,

I lived in Pennsylvania for 17 years. There was a famous hotdog chain which I had never visited. One day when I was running errands, I drove past one of their hotdog restaurants and figured I should try it out.

When I walked in I heard the young cashier say to the other, "I’m gonna take this customer and then take lunch." I had no idea what I wanted so I wasn't able to give him my order.  What made things worse was the look on his face as he grew more and more impatient and irritated. It didn't help that I was the only thing standing between him and his break. I just turned around and never went back to that restaurant.

Our dog has always been very important to us. Hence, her groomer has also been very important. Unfortunately, the shopping center where the local groomer worked was bring closed and our groomer was relocating to another store 20 minutes away. Since we liked the groomer we figured we’d go see her. Well, it was a rainy day and therefore not the nicest day to be out. My wife had left early since we didn't know exactly how much time it would take to get there. When my wife arrived the first thing the receptionist said was, "You’re early". Well, it was hard enough to get there without hearing that. Do you think we ever went back? 

When I was in between jobs. I had my choice of recruiters to reach out to; recruiters who obviously would've earned a commission if they placed me in a role. When I went to one recruiter the receptionist was rude. I don’t remember exactly what she did, but she made me not wanna deal with them. She never should have been in a people facing role.

Another time I was driving with the kids when we decided we wanted donuts. We drove into the drive - thru and announced we were ready to give our order. We heard nothing. After asking one more time we decided we should drive around to see what was going on. No one was manning the window either. When we drove a little further, we saw four employees sitting on tables looking at their phones. We quickly left.

The problem is businesses don’t know about these things. They monitor call center conversations but they never take time to monitor what walk-in customers are experiencing. If they did, they wouldn't lose so many customers and they'd have more successful businesses.