What A Secret Shopping Company Can Do

A secret shopping company is a definite asset to many different types of businesses. This is especially true for call centers, particularly ones that focus on sales. The problem is when a sales person says the same thing day in and day out they can get stuck in a rut, yet not even realize it. So, call centers that sell self storage via the telephone are able to learn a great deal from the objective view of secret shopping evaluators. 

The secret shopping evaluator is an outsider that is trained to pick up on bad habits that the phone rep is not even aware of. With the help of a written evaluation form, the secret shopping evaluator can give the sales person advice on how they can improve their techniques.  The written evaluations are given to the sales management staff, which in turn can use it for training purposes.

There are three different words that get on the nerves of one particular secret shopping evaluator. She hears all three of these words several times a day from many different people.  The secret shopping evaluator truly feels that if a salesperson would try for one week not to say any of these words that the sales of that person would improve immensely. 

The first word is cheap. Cheap conjures up the idea of something that is inferior. Saying we have a cheap storage facility or we are cheaper than our competitor can make customers think of dirt floors, flimsy building materials, and inferior security. Instead, the sales person should rephrase it to, we have the lowest prices around. This is a far more positive approach to saying basically the same thing. The secret shopping evaluator knows that salespersons should always just completely avoid the word, cheap.

The second word is, do. Using this word automatically turns every question into a yes or no query, which is always a bad idea in sales.  Do you want to rent a storage unit? No. Do you want to come by on Saturday? No. Do you have a credit card?  No.

Instead, a salesperson should be asking either or questions. Would you prefer the climate controlled or the regular storage unit? Will you be coming by on Friday or Saturday?  Which major credit card would you like to use today?

The secret shopping evaluator knows the former questions make it too easy for a customer to take the easy way out and just say, no.  The latter questions force the caller to participate in the conversation.

The third word is, Ummm. The secret shopping evaluator knows that this is not really a word per se, but it might as well be. Americans use it constantly, and are not even aware of the habit. The secret shopping evaluator realizes though that customers notice the ummm, and oftentimes think less of a salesperson that says it repeatedly. The secret shopping evaluator often recommends to people to count how many times in a fifteen minute period that they uttered, ummm.

The outside objective view of a secret shopping company can be of a great deal of assistance to any type of business, especially a call center. And the secret shopping employees know that by simply tweaking their spiel every now and again that every salesperson can stay at the top of their game.

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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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