Mystery Shoppers can Improve Customer Service

As a business, your priorities are “your customers”. Sometimes it can be easy for you – and your staff – to forget the simple things that contribute to excellence in customer service. One way to ensure that you and your staff are giving your customers the best customer service is to get feedback from an outside source. The Chamber’s mystery shopper program can help. Mystery shoppers are experts who pose like “regular” customers. They either call your business or visit your business to buy goods and services from you. They are trained to see with a critical eye and hear with a critical ear what level of service your staff is giving to your customers.

To some, the mystery shopper program may seem like an invasion of privacy or maybe even make you suspicious of everyone that walks through your door. But the negative side of it is outweighed by the positive. Getting mystery shopped is good for your business because it will help you and your staff improve on your customer service. This will ensure that your customers are so satisfied with the service they receive, not only will they give you repeat business, they will recommend your business to others.

Recently the Greater Dufferin Area Chamber of Commerce had a mystery shopper call the office, posing as a “typical” customer looking for membership information.

“Although we received excellent feedback on our customer service, the report and recommendations we received will allow us to deliver even better service to our members and the public looking to us for referrals,” said Lucy Kristan, Executive Director of the GDACC. “The mystery shopper report was simple and easy to follow, and their recommendations are easy and will cost nothing to implement. I would recommend this program to anyone who is in the customer service sector. Retailers and the self employed could gain an advantage in the ongoing battle to retain customers against the competition.”

If you own a business in the Greater Dufferin Area and have a membership with the Greater Dufferin Area Chamber of Commerce (GDACC), there are various cost saving programs available exclusively to you. Among them is the mystery shopper program, which is recognized and endorsed by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. This program is exclusive to Chamber members and will increase the value of your membership.

For more information on memberships and the mystery shopper program, contact the GDACC at www.gdacc.ca or call the office at 519-941-0490.

Rachel Landry is a co-op student at the GDACC from Westside Secondary School. She is hoping to pursue a post-secondary education in Journalism.