Portas highlights power of product knowledge!

Mary Portas Secret Shopper – Episode 4

Opinion : Another really good show -”the west facing is the new south facing!”, good grief! We have all experienced it. The estate agency estate game is seen as money for old rope and does have a poor reputation. At a recent large networking event I attended, an Estate Agent delegate stood up, introduced himself and then apologised for being what he was! That can't be a good thing.

The son Simon was so entrenched in his business that he couldn’t see the obvious things wrong with the industry. It took time, but well done to him for making the change.

Out of all of the shows I felt this was the most enjoyable with really good tips to make the industry improve and ideas that other real estate agents can simply use if they dare to be different.

Feedback

It seems a shame that Mary Portas did not look properly at the whole process rather than just the property viewing. For example, when the buyer moves in what happens? When a buyer moves to a new area how can the agent educate them?

We did a lot of mystery shopping in Australia within this sector and we measured numerous different processes within the real estate industry. Improvement was required over the whole experience and not just the property viewing.

My thoughts on Episode 4 of Secret Shopper are:

1. Product knowledge = confidence = enthusiasm = passion = energy! Customer service is an energy business! Look how much better they conducted the viewings when they really understood their product, the house they were selling!
   
2. Use plain English all of the time – customers lose trust when they don’t understand.
3. Mystery shop the opposition to identify where your service ranks with your competitors. If you have been running a business for a long time you must ensure you look at different ways to do business – going stale kills business.

Contact us if you feel you could use some help in identifying what your customers think about your business! www.shopperanonymous.co.uk or www.shopperanonymous.co.uk/contact/kent

B = f (I E)

"If you wonder what getting and keeping the right employees has to do with getting and keeping the right customers, the answer is everything."　 Fred Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect

If ever there was a great example of this, it was surely on last night's (19 January) Channel 4 episode of Mary Portas's Secret Shopper programme. The fast fashion outlet Pilot had probably taken on the right employees but wasn't setting the right environment to keep them that way! The demotivated, unenthused, uninterested staff that the programme portrayed showed that clearly. And 65% of the Pilot customers said they were unhappy about the level of service in Pilot. How many of those customers would Pilot keep, I wonder?

B = f (I E) - Behaviour is a Function of the Individual and the Environment. The Pilot management had set a product-led culture and a product-led environment. And the staff behaved accordingly. We are what we are and you can't necessarily or easily change the core characteristics of an individual but boy can you do a lot to change the environment. See what happened when Portas took the staff into a buzzy, exciting, fun, energy-laden business to serve customers. Their behaviour changed instantly!

Fred Reicheld got it right and Portas gave us a great example last night!

The Siren Evolves!

Starbucks is causing a bit of a stir as, in a major rebranding initiative, it's taking the words "Starbucks" and "Coffee" out of its logo! This is only the second time that Starbucks has rebranded in the last 40 years or so.

If you look around, you can see that quite a few progressive companies are going or have gone down the route of having an icon-only logo (e.g. Nike, Apple) or a logo that is still readily identifiable when you see the icon part of it without the words (e.g. Macdonalds, Audi).

It's quite a brave move and suggests a brand that is extremely confident of the fact that it is well-known.

There are a number of positives that come out of such a move. Firstly, the iconic logo will have no language or alphabetic barriers around the world. Secondly, it lends itself nicely to any plans that may be afoot to launch digital applications such as smartphone apps, where simplicity is king.

Mike P, Starbucks Senior Creative Manager says: "After hundreds of explorations, we found the answer in simplicity. Removing the words from the mark, bringing in the green, and taking the Siren out of her ring. For forty years she’s represented coffee, and now she is the star."

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says: "Throughout the last four decades, the Siren has been there through it all. And now, we’ve given her a small but meaningful update to ensure that the Starbucks brand continues to embrace our heritage in ways that are true to our core values and that also ensure we remain relevant and poised for future growth."

"As we look forward to Starbucks next chapter, we see a world in which we are a vital part of over 16,000 neighborhoods around the world, in more than 50 countries, forming connections with millions of customers every day in our stores, in grocery aisles, at home and at work. Starbucks will continue to offer the highest-quality coffee, but we will offer other products as well – and while the integrity, quality and consistency of these products must remain true to who we are, our new brand identity will give us the freedom and flexibility to explore innovations and new channels of distribution that will keep us in step with our current customers and build strong connections with new customers."

Personally, I'm not sure I would immediately equate the new brand to Starbucks, would you?

Please ignore the customers!

There's an increasing trend in High Street retail, to open early to the public on a Sunday to allow customers a certain amount of "browsing time". This is often done to get around the Sunday Trading laws in which shops over 3,000 square feet (that's the majority) are only allowed to open their tills for six hours on a Sunday, a law which came into force in 1994.

This trend has come to light recently, as for the first time since 2004, the 2010 Boxing Day holiday - traditionally a big Sales day for retail - fell on a Sunday in 2010.

According to The Telegraph, a spokesman for Debenhams said they had drafted in extra staff, and were opening far more tills than normal, to cope with the expected queues of shoppers. "We're not breaking any laws, and we need to make sure we serve our customers."

Quite right too, but we have learned from a reliable source that in at least one branch of Debenhams, staff have been instructed to avoid all contact with the public during this browsing time.

I wonder how that feels to the customer who needs a bit of advice and help to make a buying decision? Is it really serving the customer? I don't think so!

Let's hope that Debenhams' mystery shopper company doesn't send its people in to their stores early on a Sunday morning!

Please! Help me to buy!

Increasingly, our work is becoming crucial for businesses who need to increase their sales or the size of their individual transactions. And we love to help our clients to help their clients to buy.

I'd like to share a very recent example with you where I dealt with an experienced sales person who seemed to forget his role and most certainly did not help us to buy!

The client sells motor caravans and had asked for our help to support them in increasing their turnover. Having experienced caravans before, my wife and I decided to do this initial job ourselves and turned up on a bright, dry Saturday morning, posing as a credible couple looking to buy a 2-berth motorhome with a budget of around £30,000 (I wish!).

On arrival, there were some problems with signage for parking spaces outside the business and this meant we had to park further away than we needed, as we soon found out. (Help me to buy - tell me that I can park on the forecourt in those spare bays!)

So not the very best start but nothing too serious. The range of motorhomes was excellent, baffling perhaps for a first-timer and we spent over ten minutes wandering around the stock outside, without anyone coming out to greet us. Opinions are divided over whether customers like to be approached or left alone but we definitely needed a little direction; an approach from a sales person such as "Good morning, Sir, if you need any help please ask, you can find me in the sales office" would not have offended at all and would have ensured that we didn't walk away, bewildered by choice. (Help me to buy - I am clearly browsing broadly and I will probably therefore need a bit of direction. Make youself known to me and tell me you are available if we need you, which we do!)

Being reasonably persistent and having a job to do, we had to go and seek help in the sales office.

We entered the sales office, whose muddy floor and untidy desks created a less than brilliant first impression. We were warmly greeted, however, by a staff member who quickly realised that she could not help us. Despite there being seats for customers to use, we weren't offered one and we were left standing, alone whilst the staff member went to find someone else. We resisted the temptation to run off with the motorhome keys that we could see on desks! (Help me to buy - make a good first impression on me; offer me a seat since you have some for customers and because you are going to leave us on our own for a couple of minutes.)

Our salesman duly arrived after a couple of minutes and he, too greeted us nicely, asking how we could help. We told him what we were looking for and I asked if we would find a new vehicle with a £30,000 budget. A rapid and emphatic "No" was the reply. Tone and words only make up a relatively small part of how we perceive someone's communication but the salesman had chosen both badly! I looked at my wife whose eyes told me that she knew I now felt like an idiot. A leaflet was then produced showing that an entry level vehicle was available at £33,000. (Help me to buy. Don't make me feel stupid because I don't know what you know. My budget is close so why couldn't you have said something more positive like "You're not at all far away from a new vehicle with that budget, Sir".)

Our salesman showed us to an example of the nearly-affordable new vehicle and a couple of only-just-secondhand models that were within our budget, suggesting that we go inside each and spend time on our own having a good browse. This was appreciated. (You just helped us to buy!)

We loved one of the secondhand vehicles we were shown at £27,995. It was better equipped, more sumptuous and even had a fitted cycle carrier for my mountain bike! The information in the window was difficult to read but showed it was very low mileage and there was a call to action to arrange a test drive. Perfect! There were some information sheets inside the vehicle, too but it didn't say whether we could take one, so we didn't like to. (Help me to buy. Make it obvious that I can take away an information sheet.)

We went back into the sales office, grinning and were warmly greeted again by our salesman, who was sitting behind his desk. He allowed us to remain standing alongside the two chairs in front of his desk that were presumably for potential customers. We told him what we had seen and what we had liked, and also why we had liked it. We asked a few more questions and received answers. (Help me to buy. Take me out to the motorhome and talk us through the things we might want to know. Make sure we know about the key benefits of this one. The more time we spend in it, the more we will feel we own it! Get us more excited about it!)

Our salesman remained firmly seated behind his desk. We remained standing, uninvited to sit down. Our salesman didn't ask us any questions at all. He didn't offer any information about the vehicle. (Help me to buy. Make us feel comfortable. Find out what we need and match a solution to that. Tell us why the motorhome we like will make us happy. Do something!)

Running out of steam, we ask one more question: "Do you get many like that coming in secondhand in such nice condition? Answer: "No, rarely and I couldn't even tell you how much they cost new. We don't have the franchise for that make you see, and if you want to find out the new price you'll have to go to xxxxxx motorhomes over at xxxxxx. " (Help me to buy. You can close a sale by a transfer of your enthusiasm for the product. Don't insult me by telling me that you don't even know how much it cost new and that you can't be bothered to find out. I don't care anyway - we like this one - it's got a bike rack on it for Pete's sake!! Don't send me elsewhere! What are you doing?!!!)

Still standing, we leave a long pause, waiting for some glimmer of a sales process to kick in. Like maybe taking our details or something? We managed to get "All our stock is on the website and it's up to date, so have a look on there". (Help me to buy. I'm not interested in your chuffing website - I've spent 10 minutes outside browsing your stock! And actually, haven't you picked up on the fact that we like the vehicle we've been talking about? With it's bike rack and everything???)

Long pause. (Help me to buy. Let us sit down. Take our details. Offer us that test drive. Develop rapport. Do something. Anything. Please!)

"OK, thanks for your help. We'll have a look on your website. Cheerio!"

Needless to say, we should be able to help this client convert more sales, going forward! If we can help you convert more sales, please get in touch with us. www.shopperanonymous.co.uk

The Customer is Always Right - True or False?

I was recently asked the question "Is the customer always right?" when presenting at the Maidstone Muesli Mafia networking group. It also cropped up during a recent training course I was running for a 4 star Hotel.

Interestingly it's also a question that's just been posed by our good friend in Australia, Jurek Leon, and I've included some of his thoughts here too.

So, is the customer always right? It was only about twenty years ago that customer service gurus were teaching the following two rules:

• Rule 1: The Customer Is Always Right!

• Rule 2: If The Customer Is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule 1.

I disagree. There are some serial fault-finders out there and some serial complainers. I would find it hard to apply the above rules to them! We also have to remember that customers are human beings who get things wrong sometimes - they are not always right!

If you've ever read Jan Carlzon's book "Moments of Truth", you'll be familiar with his concept of "flattening the pyramid" to give front line staff more power to serve the customer well (and deliver a Moment of Truth!). This relies on having flexible rules in place. Richard Branson agrees, having recently written in the New York Times, “If your company is going to stand out from the rest because of its truly excellent customer service, staff should treat the (company) rules more as flexible guidelines, to be followed as the situation demands. The customer is not always right – and neither is the rule book.”

The customer is not always right - and neither is the rule book. How about that for a great new mantra! Jurek interprets this beautifully and says that when we hear "The Customer is always right", what we should really be thinking is that "It doesn’t pay to prove the customer wrong". He then goes on to suggest two new rules to replace those above:

• Rule 1: It doesn’t pay to prove the customer wrong.

• Rule 2: Give customers the benefit of the doubt and always treat them with respect.

Now that makes good sense to me! What do you think?

Kent mystery shopping company boosts sales at local animal attraction

Media Release

Mystery shoppers lead to 10% boost for award winning animal attraction. Shopper Anonymous help power rise in visitor satisfaction.

Note to editors: Images & interviews available, also opportunity for journalists to go ‘under cover’ as a mystery shopper.

A Kent-based mystery shopping company has helped the world-famous wildlife park at Port Lympne, part of The Aspinall Foundation, address customer service issues resulting in improving the uptake of one of its main attractions by an impressive 10%.

Shopper Anonymous Kent (www.shopperanonymous.co.uk), part of the UK’s leading mystery shopping company, employed twenty mystery shoppers including parents, grandparents and single visitors to visit the top attraction ‘under cover’ and report on their experiences.

Managing Director of Shopper Anonymous Kent, Graham Seymour explains:

“Our mystery shoppers not only got to have a great day out at the attraction with their families, but were trained by us to look at a whole range of factors. These encompassed everything from researching their trip on the web and their experience at the ticket office right through to the food and customer service but also smaller things that can make all the difference to a day out such as signage, litter bins and even the cleanliness of the toilets."

“Over the course of a year our mystery shoppers reported back to us on their experiences and patterns soon emerged, with certain factors repeatedly being cited as not customer-friendly. We were then able to report these to Port Lympne and work with them and their staff to make the changes that really improved the customer experience.”

As a result of feedback from Shopper Anonymous mystery shoppers a whole range of changes were instituted, from asking all staff to wear name badges to training all staff in customer service, with training provided by Shopper Anonymous.

One of the most significant changes was in the promotion of The African Experience, an exciting four-wheel drive safari to see wildlife including zebra, giraffe and wildebeest. Following mystery shopper feedback, the location of ticket sales for the safari was changed, contributing to a 10% rise in ticket sales.

Other customer feedback included the fact that visitors loved the occasions on which drivers on the African Safari switched off the pre-recorded commentary and introduced it live, so the staff are now being trained to do that more often. Port Lympne also made changes to signage (including ‘You are here’ stickers on maps, a minor factor that makes a huge difference) and made sure that feeding times and keeper talks took place at the advertised time.

According to Port Lympne Retail Manager Gary Gould, the changes, though subtle, have made a big difference:

“The advice we received from Shopper Anonymous, tied with other marketing campaigns, saw almost a 10% rise in uptake of The African Experience Safari from 2009 to 2010."

“We are going into our second year using Shopper Anonymous and we are really happy with the service. Howletts and Port Lympne are committed to giving our visitors the very best customer experience at every stage. The reports we receive have made a big impact internally, helping to reinforce our culture of excellence in customer service across every aspect of the visitor experience. Off the back of the reports we were encouraged to put all our retail and safari staff through customer service training, ensuring they are fully equipped to give the very best experience to our customers. This training has actually been headed by Shopper Anonymous themselves, who can approach the training through their extensive experience from a customer’s perspective."

“Seemingly small suggestions like ensuring every member of staff wears a name badge, can make a big impact, and we will continue to use the mystery shopper reports to make sure we maintain our high standards across the board.”

The Shopper Anonymous work at Port Lympne continues, with regular reports from mystery shoppers ensuring customer service standards are kept up and attraction management know what their visitors really think.

Graham Seymour of Shopper Anonymous Kent says that there are a number of lessons that any tourist attraction can learn from Port Lympne’s experience:

“Staff should be encouraged to interact with visitors, even if they’re just selling them an ice-cream, as it makes people feel welcomed and makes staff feel like part of a team, not just a worker. An engaged customer is more likely to revisit and recommend to friends.”

“It is definitely worthwhile testing the business to see what customers really think, in real time, not just waiting for comments or complaints to appear in a comments box. Staff really do value training as it helps them become more engaged and loyal. A mystery shopper programme helps set the benchmark for staff behaviour and actions, something that is not always in place. How can staff live up to expectations if the expectation is not set?”

ENDS

For all media enquiries about Shopper Anonymous including images and interviews please contact Steve Bustin at Vada Media on 07803 729208 or steve@vadamedia.co.uk.

For all media enquiries about Port Lympne and The Aspinall Foundation please
contact Charlotte Jones on 01303 234121 or charlottej@aspinallfoundation.org.

About Shopper Anonymous

Shopper Anonymous (www.shopperanonymous.co.uk) is an independent mystery shopping
company, specialising in improving customer service standards by providing businesses with constructive, non-emotive feedback through a mystery shopping program.

Shopper Anonymous programs are unique due to the quality of the observations. Shoppers are hand picked which means the quality of the feedback is accurate and written in a style that explains the experience in a full, constructive but honest manner.


About The Aspinall Foundation

Howletts & Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks were set up by the late John Aspinall with the aim of protecting and breeding rare and endangered species and returning to safe areas in their native homeland. The Aspinall Foundation is the charity which manages Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks and it is funded solely from charitable donations and visitors to the
park. World leaders in conservation - The Aspinall Foundation working in conjunction with the parks have so far returned to protected areas of the wild Przewalski's horses, black rhino, Cape buffalo, pythons and gorillas.