Even The King Needs Help

There was a time when hiring mystery shopping companies was thought of as kind of a luxury, to help an organization get a leg up on their competition. However, hiring mystery shopping companies is a necessity in todays global economy for any business that wants to stay competitive. This applies to both small one shop operations as well as huge conglomerates. Since the mystery shopping companies are an outside entity they are able to give an objective view to a business as to what they are doing well, and in what areas they need to improve. 

A coffeeshop giant recently decided that it needed to get back to the basics. Evaluations from mystery shopping companies and other sources had shown them that their product and their quality of service just was not up to the high marks that the brewing company had once been accustomed. And, even worse, mystery shopping companies had found that the competition was winning away some of their loyal coffee drinking customers! 

The mystery shopping companies discovered that hamburger joints and donut shops had put a dent into the niche that this coffeeshop giant had long enjoyed. The mystery shopping companies realized that these competitors were also serving up high quality coffee, and for a lesser cost.

And so what did the Coffeeshop Empire decide to do? Did they decide to sit back on their accolades and laurels and enjoy the fruits of their past labors? NO! This coffeehouse business decided to take the advice from these different mystery shopping companies and rise up to the occasion.

This coffeehouse giant decided to make an unprecedented move. From 5:30pm until 9:00pm local time on a Tuesday evening each of the more than 7000 locations shut their doors to the public. Each store used this downtime for retraining and educational purposes.  Everyone from franchise owners to managers to part-timers was involved in the training. All employees were refreshed and reinstructed on every aspect of the business. The importance of cleanliness was reiterated. How to provide the best customer service to each individual patron was reemphasized. How to perfectly create every different type of coffee order was repeated. The focus was put back on the fact that it is not just about the cup of java, but about the whole experience for the customer.

Many other companies can take a cue from this coffeeshop giant. What worked well last year may need to be improved upon this year. Complacency can mean the demise of any well meaning organization. 

It is a great idea for any business to seek the assistance of mystery shopping companies. Hire several different mystery shopping companies so you can get the different feedback from each one.  You can combine the valuable information obtained from the evaluations by these various mystery shopping companies and use it to your advantage. Are there some common business practices that your company is using that could be done in a more efficient way?  Do you have certain employees that are slacking off, and not working up to their full potential?  Has your competitor found a way to do the same thing you are doing, only at less of a cost? Hiring mystery shopping companies can help you with all of these questions and more.

Follow the lead of the coffeeshop giant. Every now and again implement a training program to help all of your employees refocus and get on the same page. And, who knows, you too might make national headlines, just like the coffee king did!

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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