The “Mystery Shopper” system, which has recently gained a lot of attention in our country, allows business owners or key managers to assess the quality of customer service at their sales points by conducting test purchases or simulating test purchases with specially designated individuals who are perceived by the sales staff as regular customers.
Of course, any tool has both its advantages and disadvantages. Only a complete and thorough understanding of the properties of a particular tool can guarantee that its use will not harm the company and will not lead to
an excellent result or even one that is opposite to what was expected.
It is quite interesting that the “Mystery Shopper” system touches on not just one aspect of management, but is a product of a specific management philosophy aimed at constant oversight of subordinates. For example, there is another
a philosophy that is designed, conversely, to trust subordinates. At the same time, we know that the truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle and is encapsulated in the approach of “trust, but verify.” To find ourselves in that very middle, let’s imagine a dialogue between two people, one of whom we will call the “controller” and the other the “motivator.” To make it easier for us to follow the course of their conversation, we will place the opinions of the “controller” and the “motivator” in two different columns. So:
| “Controller” | “Motivator” |
|---|---|
| The “Mystery Shopper” system is a new trend in the HR services market in Ukraine. Many companies around the world regularly use the “Mystery Shopper” system to monitor the performance of their sales staff. | In fact, the “Mystery Shopper” system is not all that new. It gained popularity in the 1940s in the United States. The management philosophy at that time was based on a “military” command style and involved coercion. subordinates to work. Naturally, in such a situation, constant monitoring of the results of managerial influence was required. |
| The “Mystery Shopper” system is an ideal tool for monitoring and motivating staff to provide high-quality customer service. | At the end of the 20th century, the “command” management doctrine was replaced by the “leadership” doctrine, which posits that a manager’s role is not to give orders and monitor compliance, but to create conditions in which their subordinates are motivated to achieve the best results on their own.
With this approach, control measures, when deemed somewhat necessary, are viewed more as a demotivating factor than a motivating one. In this situation, control is presented to subordinates not as “inspection” or “audit,” but as an opportunity to improve work and provide effective assistance. |
| There is a demand for “Mystery Shopper” services, and now specialized companies have emerged that provide these services and guarantee results for their clients. | It’s better to look at it from another perspective. Companies that provide such services are an example of a remarkable, investment-free business. They post an ad, gather an army of paid volunteers who are ready to visit retail locations from time to time, and then approach employers to offer “Mystery Shopper” services. In other words, it’s more about the offer than the demand. |
| The “Mystery Shopper” service is not just about sending agents to retail locations; it involves careful preparation and the creation of questionnaires that the “Mystery Shoppers” will fill out after interacting with the sales staff. staff. |
Any visit from a “Mystery Shopper” is personal and subjective in nature. Depending on the overall impression, the agent will inadvertently influence the reader of such surveys towards a certain opinion while filling out the questionnaire. Moreover, no conclusions can be drawn about the seller based on a single visit from a “mystery shopper” to a retail location. For the data to be reliable, multiple visits are required. This entails different costs and a different approach. The “Mystery Shopper” system is more suitable for assessing the quality of the entire staff rather than individual sellers. |
| The questionnaires filled out by agents are free from subjective factors and are designed to inform the client about how well the customer service standards are being implemented on the ground. | Unfortunately, the service standards that they are trying to teach the sales staff… staff are often too far removed from reality. The standards are developed and implemented by those who do not actually work on the sales floor. And the enforcement of these standards is not always provides an understanding of what influences sales volumes at the retail location. For example, according to service standards, a store employee is required to approach a customer and ask, “Can I help you with anything?” An experienced salesperson who truly delivers results tries to avoid such a clumsy, off-putting phrasing. They are able to gauge the customer’s intentions and refrain from approaching them if they sense that the offer of help would make the customer uncomfortable, especially if they are lost in their own thoughts. Moreover, if they do offer assistance, it will be done sincerely and with a different tone, rather than in a formal and detached manner. And this is not captured in the survey. |
| It is important for the management of the trading company to understand the effectiveness and applicability of the training conducted, as often the sales staff performs poorly not because they don’t know how to do their job, but because they don’t want to. | What conclusion will a business leader draw when they see from the “mystery shopper” surveys that their salespeople are not motivated to perform well? Should they fire the underperformers not because they don’t know how to do it, but to hire motivated individuals instead? Or perhaps they should consider where these unmotivated people came from in the first place. Were they like this from the start, or did the workplace turn them into this? In the first case, there is a clear flaw in the recruitment system, and the new hires will likely be just like the old ones. In the second case, no matter who you hire, they will still lose motivation and will only work under pressure. |
| The “mystery shopper” system can help identify the company’s “pain points.” These are the areas that need improvement and address the company’s issues, leading to increased sales and better service quality. | At the same time, very often, the management style revolves around identifying and solving problems. Managers find their purpose in addressing issues and… they end up finding them. In this case, reports from “mystery shoppers” serve as reports on the symptoms of a problem, rather than the problems themselves. Fighting the symptoms won’t cure the disease. You can’t heal a broken arm with painkillers. You can only make the situation worse. |
| After the introduction of the “mystery shopper” system, sales volumes increase, sometimes by two to three times. The investment in the “mystery shopper” service pays off within the first few months of use. When salespeople know that anyone who enters the store could be a “mystery shopper,” they give their all to every customer. | There are two very serious arguments against any systems of permanent control. First, people who are afraid of making mistakes tend to act awkwardly, and their performance suffers, even though all service standards are met. This is, in fact, an unprovoked “Italian strike.” Even worse is when people start making mistakes precisely because they are being monitored. This is known in psychology as the “log paradox.” The second argument is that a person becomes accustomed to constant monitoring and stops paying attention to it, no longer guiding their actions by the possibility of being monitored. In this case, it cannot be said that productivity increases. Rather, one could argue that productivity returns to the level it was at before the monitoring system was implemented. |
| It’s very beneficial when sales staff know that “mystery shoppers” might come in. This will motivate them to perform better. This is one of the advantages of such a system. | Then why buy such a service if you can simply tell the staff that a “mystery shopper” program has started and just wait for sales to increase? There may be some growth, but you can’t expect consistent new results. At the same time, achieving real productivity growth is impossible through the implementation of any systems that merely state the facts. The best way to work is when the sales staff genuinely believes that the company’s success is their success. This is a less straightforward management approach compared to a team-based one, but it is much more effective. Control is still necessary in this case, but it should not be overt so as not to undermine trust. This control should not be aimed at finding blame or slackers; rather, it should assess overall trends and sentiments within the team. Moreover, this control should be positive, and its outcome should not be punishment (why punish someone who genuinely cares about the business but made a mistake?), but rather an understanding of what support the entire staff or a specific employee needs to achieve better results. |
Okay, are there any advantages to the “Mystery Shopper” system?
Of course, there is. “Mystery shopping” is a very effective tool, but it is just as useful as it is dangerous. It’s like a finely sharpened knife. You can use it to cut, but you can also cut yourself. It’s concerning how businesspeople treat the “mystery shopping” service like a “beautiful weapon.” They use it improperly, essentially playing with it like children, without understanding the basic rules of handling the tool. And that is dangerous.
- It is dangerous to draw any conclusions on your own without the involvement of professional interpreters of the results. One must be able to distinguish between a symptom and a diagnosis.
- It is dangerous to independently create service standards and demand their adherence without being confident in their effectiveness, simply relying on “one’s own opinion.”
- It’s dangerous to think that control is motivating.
- Dangerous to punish people.
In any case, control will be useful and necessary only if the company has, or will necessarily develop as a result of the control, a system that ensures the genuine emotional engagement of the staff in the outcome, rather than a material one.
This system should include established communication channels with guaranteed feedback, a focus on competitiveness, ongoing coaching and training, support for employee skill development, and the creation of a culture where, when a subordinate makes a mistake, the manager first asks themselves: “What did I miss?” and “How can I help them?”
There is another aspect of the “Mystery Shopper” technique that is often overlooked. Or rather, it’s not so much forgotten as it is not suggested, since in this case, the services of an external agency are not needed. The essence is that you should visit your competitors as often as possible. Be a “mystery shopper” for them. Observe how your competitor operates, what they do well, and what you can adopt.
It’s even better when your own sales staff acts in the same way, precisely because they genuinely want what’s best for the company.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the “Mystery Shopper” system is primarily focused on identifying flaws and shortcomings. The best result a “mystery shopper” can achieve is compliance with all standards. Nothing more. At the same time, it may be more important for us to understand not why a person did not buy from us, but why they did. What happened? What captivated the customer? Why did they choose us? Rarely does anyone try to dig for answers to such questions, instead fixating, like a fly against glass, on “compliance with standards.” Yet, it is precisely the answers to these questions that allow us to create those very standards without aimless wandering.
Therefore, there is another remarkable service on the market that is similar in philosophy to the “mystery shopper” service. It is called “Why You” Analysis or “win/loss analysis.” Smart companies always protect their successes and avoid painful losses of clients/customers by trying to find out the reasons behind these occurrences. Most managers operate with a lot of unverified information, often without delving into the essence of the issue. The goal of the “Why You” analysis is to increase the number of signed deals and boost sales volumes. This can be achieved by obtaining factual information from potential and actual clients about why they chose to do business with you or your competitors.