Welcome to the Secret shopping and mystery shopping blog, a diary from the inside of this crucial offering in self- storage services. This insight comes from the very top of our secret shop department Sarah Little and Natalie Thomas.
What’s next?
Here in the Secret Shopping Division of Phone Smart we make your calls and complete the evaluations each month. Once we send them to you, the ball is in your court. However, we still want you to know that we are here to coach you through the entire process. We realize that just making calls and sending evaluations alone won’t give you the outcome you’re looking for. Secret Shops are a tool, and like any too, they must be picked up and used in order to build your profitable business.
We understand that each of your employees may be a t a different level in their sales training. In order to level the playing field and get everyone on the same team, we have a few ideas that can make secret shopping a fun tool.
First determine the method you will use to implement your secret shops. Then identify what level your employee may be on and put some of these suggestions into play.
Methodologies:
• Will your shops be used as bonus?
• Will secret shopping scores be part of annual reviews, pay rates, etc?
• Will your shops be used to monitor and maintain company standards?
• Will you set goal for each employee or property?
If you are happy with the scores?
Congratulations!!! It takes a lot of hard work and determination to reach your goal. In order to maintain this high level of efficiency we recommend:
• Rewarding employees with consistently high scores
• Using your star employees to teach others
• Promoting or giving more responsibility to encourage company loyalty
If you see consistently middle scores?
It isn’t uncommon to get stuck in a rut. We often do things out of habit, repeating our action but expecting a different outcome. The key to advancing is to identify what techniques are working for you and which ones aren’t. Your facility may stay at a certain level of capacity just because of the location, it’s your goal to drive revenue and boost your bottom line. Here are a few suggestions that can help develop your selling skills:
• Try our Role Playing Helpline
• Focus on one aspect of your sales presentation at a time
• Refresh your employees with a training program
• Set a realistic goal and celebrate when you’ve achieved it
If you have consistently low scores?
Don’t fret: You’ve taken the first step in the right direction! Secret shopping a great way to increase sales knowledge and maintain a level of consistency. There are numerous ways to improve your scores, which in turn will directly affect your profit.
• Have you given your staff a sales training course?
• Repeat your training, or use the Phone Smart training packet
• Use our Role Playing Helpline
• Set goals and make sure your staff is aware of them
• Do your employees hear their shops and see their evaluations
Training Ideas:
• Us our Role Playing Helpline
• Try our Training Packet
• Make it fun
• Offer an incentive for scores that improve
• Have a pizza training night (Who doesn’t love pizza)
• Ask you best employees to share what they do that gets positive results
• Start small
• Work on one item at a time, then build on what works
• Keep staff refreshed with pop quizzes or surprise visits
Incentive and bonus ideas
• $$$$
• Have the owner/supervisor detail the winner’s car
• A day of paid vacation
• Tickets to the movies
• Dinner at a favorite restaurant
• Display awards
• Create a “Wall of Fame”
• Mention a great employee’s name in newsletters
• Display everyone’s scores
• Be creative Self Storage Search Engine Finding Storage Faster
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# 234
Posted By: Natalie Thomas, blog manager
Submitted: 4/21/2006 8:44:37 AM
Shop Till You Drop
I was on a mission, a mission of great importance. I will attend a luncheon on Saturday and alas I have nothing to wear. So, off to the mall I went, ready to purchase that perfect outfit. I went through about 4 different stores in an hour and nothing. At this point I thought about what I had at home and still couldn’t manage to come up with anything.
I left the mall discouraged, why is it when you want to spend money you can’t, and when you don’t want to spend money you do?
I decided to go to another shopping area. It’s one of those “new” concepts, outdoor shopping plazas. I went to Old Navy first. I can usually breeze through that store pretty quickly and efficiently. I looked and looked and then I finally found it, a cute summery blouse (to go with some pants I already owned). I tried it on and it fit! I picked up a couple more items and headed to the check out.
Here’s where the story gets interesting…..
There were two cashiers and no line, so I walked right up and placed my items on the counter. The cashier had one of those headsets on and was talking to someone about her last customer. She didn’t acknowledge me until after she was done with her conversation that lasted several minutes on the headset. Back and forth they talked, the cashier very wrapped up in the conversation. Finally, she addressed me and said a pathetic “sorry” about that. She rang up my items and then handed me a receipt with something stapled to it. She then told me that if I went online and filled out a survey I could get a discount next time I wanted to shop. HA.
My view on the situation is that 1. She could have waited to tell the story (they weren’t busy) 2. She absolutely should have acknowledged me when I walked up to the counter. 3. If you knew your company was asking it’s customers to take a survey, why would you treat your customers that way?
You know every shopping experience is probably not going to be great. But, if you are in the business of providing a product to the public in a store situation, you had better have some customer service standards. Are people going to buy even if they don’t get great customer service? Yes. Will those people be back to shop with you? Maybe. Will they share their story of a bad experience? Absolutely.
We all have a “little secret shopper” in all of us. Don’t forget to listen to it.
Submitted by Natalie Thomas, ultimate secret shopper.
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# 233
Posted By: Natalie Thomas, blog manager
Submitted: 4/20/2006 8:29:30 AM
What Goes Around Comes Around
Submitted by Tron Jordheim, director of PhoneSmart
Welcome to the secret shopping blog.
I gave out a bigger than usual tip today to the shuttle bus driver who picked me up tonight. I usually try to give a decent tip. What goes around, comes around. And I don’t want any service people spreading the word that I am a jerk and then having to suffer the retribution that could result. And I can appreciate that many people depend on tips to stretch until the next pay day.
This shuttle bus driver made a little small talk, but was genuinely interested in what I had to say. You can tell when someone is sincere. In turn I became interested in what she had to say and I got to find out a lot about her views on past and present employment and her experiences with providing customer service. I learned some interesting things.
She used to be a supervisor at one of the news stands in the airport at LAX. It was long hours but the benefits were not bad, she said. A new ownership group took over and eliminated all vacation and health insurance benefits for all employees. Then they made all the supervisors salary people and demanded a 50 hour work week one week and a 60 work week the next. I don’t know the details, but this sounds like it may have been a violation of wage and hour rules in a any case. Her shift started at 4:30 in the morning and she had to wait for the next supervisor to arrive before she could leave, which many times was 4:30 in the afternoon.
And the company expected her and her staff to put on a happy face for customers and try to up-sell.
Now I am certainly in favor of controlling costs and making the best use of your labor talent pool. But when you secret shop a store and get a less than wonderful experience, it may be the company has set up a system that could not possibly result in good customer service.
Anyway, I appreciated the insights and her perspective and thought that was worth a bigger tip than usual.
She likes working for the hotel chain. People are encouraged to try to advance, the benefits are reasonably good and she gets to do a variety of customer service duties that help her learn the hotel business.
It sounds like this hotel chain probably gets a lot of repeat business and if I were secret shopping the shuttle driver, they would have gotten a good report, because she was personable and friendly and that made all the difference.
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# 232
Posted By: Natalie Thomas, blog manager
Submitted: 4/19/2006 8:49:06 AM
Simple Sales Techniques
Authored by: Sarah Little, Secret Shopping Guru
Some of the simplest concepts can sometimes improve a sales script or presentation and prove to be your best sales techniques. Take for example tone of voice and rate of speech. Just saying “Hello” can imply countless moods or emotions. A quickly blurted, slightly exasperated “hello” could mean that some one is overwhelmed or busy. On the other hand, a moderate paced, chipper “hello” expresses cheer and promotes an upbeat mood.
The “hello” portion of a phone sale or in person sale is your first impression. It’s your chance to exemplify sincerity and professionalism. On the phone or in person, you could try saying, “Hello, how are you doing today?” and then identify with the customer. This will build immediate rapport. After that quick interaction you can go on with your greeting by saying, “My name is ____. How can I help you today?”
Try to spice up the greeting and make it stand out from the mundane “Hi, how can I help you?” The goal is to grab the caller’s attention and gain their trust.
Another great sales technique is one of the simplest, but perhaps most overlooked. ASK QUESTIONS that get the customers opinion about your product. Get them to agree with you concerning what features they do want and those they may not need. This will help down the road when it comes to closing the sale because the caller will have already made the choices about what product they need.
Whether you’re in the property management industry, self storage industry, apartment industry,or secret shopping, adapt and mold a few of these basic sales techniques and remind even your most seasoned sales agent how important these two areas can be.
Ta ta for now…
Sarah
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# 231
Posted By: Natalie Thomas, blog manager
Submitted: 4/18/2006 9:18:10 AM
Newbies
Some suggestions from Sarah Little, Secret Shopping Guru:
One of the easier ways to learn something new is to watch another person do it. In the secret shopping industry, we watch how other people do their job constantly. It’s our job to monitor and measure the quality and service others give.
We work right down the hall from our call center and with the busy season upon us there are a lot of new faces around. It would be beneficial for these “newbies”, as we label them, to make some mystery shops because they will get the chance to hear others doing their job. They will also understand how callers feel when they reach us.
It is helpful for the newbies to critique those they are shopping and in turn say to themselves, “How could I have done this?” or “What would I have done in this situation?” And making a secret shop can be a nice change of pace after a few days of monitoring the trainers in the call center.
Not only will the newbies benefit, but our secret shopping business will benefit. We’ll get some fresh voices on the phone and maybe find a new way to do some things around here as well.
Try having your new or patron employees shop some of their competitors. (Not just trying to pry the rates from them, but really listening to the selling skills they have.) Then get together and talk about what you do and don’t like about their presentations.
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# 230
Posted By: Sarah E. Little, Blog Executive
Submitted: 4/17/2006 10:14:55 AM
How to Ace our Secret Shop
Greeting
1. Answer with the store name in the greeting?
2. Include their name in the greeting?
3. Answer with a smile in their voice?
4. Ask how they could be of service to the caller? It’s important that you make a lasting first impression by introducing yourself and your store. Answering in a friendly tone of voice and offering assistance lets the caller know that you’re interested in helping them.
Qualifying the Customer
5. Determine when the unit is needed? This must always be done early in the call because availability depends on it.
6. Determine if the location is convenient for the caller? The caller must decide this, so it works best to simply ask if it’s a good or convenient location.
7. Determine or recommend an appropriate size for the caller? You should try to find the closest size to fit the caller’s belongings. It’s very effective to offer a choice of sizes and then describe them or help the caller visualize them.
8. Determine the caller’s needs before giving the price? The most important needs to determine before price are the date the space is needed and the appropriate size. Convenience of location is also important and should be done before price.
Selling the Store/ Building the Sale
9. Discuss features or amenities of the facility/unit? Selling the store shows the caller what they’re paying for. You can sell almost anything (access hours, wide aisles, on site management, etc.) as a feature – as long as you SELL IT!
10. Tie in benefits to those features? To tie in benefits means to show the caller how they’ll be affected by those features. Using “which means” or “so that” are good ways to transition from feature to benefit. Stay away from using benefits like, “so that it’s good” or “which means it’s nice.”
11. Sell their store before giving the price? Again this should always be done before price if you can help it. A high price might scare a person into thinking it’s too expensive unless they know what they’re getting for their money.
12. Attempt to cross-sell other products or services (locks, boxes, trucks, etc.) Here, mentioning other things for sale will get you the points but it’s another place where you should be SELLING those products and showing the caller that you’re a one-stop shop.
13. Discuss lock administration fee, insurance or deposit info? Make sure the caller doesn’t come to your store to find a bunch of extra charges on top of their quote. At least give them something.
Closing the Sale
14. Offer Choices (upstairs or down, 5x5 or 5x10, climate controlled or standard, etc)? Offering choices encourages more decisions from the caller. Give them options and then ask which ONE they want.
15. Ask for the caller’s name and phone number for follow up? You CAN’T follow up with only someone’s name. Even an address isn’t practical for giving important information in an urgent situation.
16. Create urgency or stress limited availability? Give the caller a reason to make a decision while on the phone. Even though you might have several units now, you may not later.
17. Ask or encourage the caller to reserve a space? Holding the unit is the best way to help a caller in need of storage. If you don’t help them understand that, you won’t get a reservation.
18. Ask for a credit card or discuss a pre-payment? You’ve got to get some kind of commitment from the caller; name and phone number doesn’t usually do that (unless you can’t take CC’s).
19. Invite the caller to come in for a visit? Invite them to see what you’ve been talking about; it can sometimes clinch the deal.
20. Attempt to schedule an appointment or ask for the date and time of the visit? Aside from a reservation, this is the next best thing. It gets that little bit of commitment without giving any specific personal information.
21. Attempt to overcome any concerns about reserving or otherwise?
If the caller declines a hold, there is a concern about something. Figure out what it is, and try to overcome it. You might have to dig for it.
Ending the Call
22. Confirm that the caller had no other questions before ending the call? Ask something like, “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
23. Close in a positive and professional way? Your welcome doesn’t do it. Give the caller that warm and fuzzy feeling and give them a reason to call back to talk to you.
24. Include the store name at the end of the call? This reminds the caller one last time of the store name. It is a great last impression.
General Performance
25. Assertiveness- Control the call in a positive manner? Can you control the call without being pushy or overbearing? Listen to the caller and control the conversation.
26. Sales Presentation- Determine needs, build value, and earn the right to ask for the sale? Have you done all of these things?
Customer Service
27. Use the caller’s name at least twice during the call? This helps build rapport with the call and helps put the caller at ease.
28. Attitude- Promote a warm and upbeat mood? Be helpful and thoughtful. Don’t get distracted with what’s going on in the store. Keep your attention focused on understanding and meeting the caller’s needs.
29. Professionalism- Represent himself/herself in a positive light? You are direct representation of your company. What the customer experiences with you will directly effect how they feel about your site.
Was the caller put on hold? It happens. But is should always happen professionally. Let the caller know that you need to put them on hold. If you don’t have a hold button, place your hand over the phone. Quickly, find or finish what you need to do and get back to the caller. Thank them for waiting.
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# 229
Posted By: Natalie Thomas, blog manager
Submitted: 4/14/2006 9:17:36 AM
We Don't Need No Stinking Customers
Tron Jordheim comments on customer service attitudes
This entry is a Mystery Shop/Secret Shopping dream. If this business was being shopped, they would have failed on customer service.
It is somewhat unbelievable how often it happens. You walk into a place of business and numerous staff people ignore you. They don’t say “Hi” They don’t ask to help. You might as well be a ghost.
I was in a motorcycle dealership the other day and spent 15 minutes looking at neat two wheel rides without a single staff person even batting an eyelash at me. And I saw lots of them. I finally gave up and walked out.
When people walk into your place of business, do they hear you saying, “I don’t need no stinking customers?”
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# 228
Posted By: Sarah E. Little, Blog Executive
Submitted: 4/14/2006 9:10:52 AM
"Role Play", anyone?
Sarah Little our Secret Shop and Evaluations specialist takes us down a different road
And now for something completely different
And where we stop no one knows . . .
Sometimes some of my best ideas end up being so far from where I started that it is impossible to retrace my steps and remember how I got there. I remember a few projects that took a turn for the worse, but, all in all, the end results have been unique and fun.
When I’m ready for a change, or am asked to make one, I like to start with what I’ve got. I take the ideas and “dream up’ a little something different. I like to think of ways I could change a process and make it an entirely new service or idea.
Gather a little information and research what you are aiming for. It’s always helpful to see what everyone else is doing, and what he or she isn’t doing. Sometimes what they aren’t doing can be the thing you do that gives you one up on them!
Anyone would jump at the chance to expand business and begin generating new clientele. One of the best ways to do that is to know your clients and ask them what they would like to see. This gives you a general direction to go in.
One of Phone Smart’s more recent services is our Role Playing Helpline. I’d like to say that I thought of it, but it was Tron who came up with the innovative method of training. It really is the perfect tool. An employee can call in and get help with anything they have trouble with in his or her sales presentation.
What makes it so great is that the Helpline can be used by anyone at any level of sales experience. They can use it on their free time. And the best part is that it pays for itself 100 times over.
If you could gain just one more renter a month because your employee knew how to present the service, how much would you be willing to invest? I say invest. You really are making an investment when you hire an employee. You put, to some extent, the success of your business in their hands. They make first impressions and maintain some kind of rapport with your customers. It’s up to you if they are given the tools necessary to increase your revenue.
If you’d like to get onboard with this creative and powerful new tool contact us at sarahlittle@phone-smart.net
Take some time to look at what you’ve got and dream up a little something that could liven up an old product or make a new product.
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# 227
Posted By: Sarah E. Little
Submitted: 4/13/2006 12:47:15 PM
Agent 86
Another posting on the light side
Kay Johnson blog editor and phone smart rep takes a swing at secret shopping:
I love intrigue! That is why our Secret Shop and Evaluations programs are so appealing. We get to have a really good time play-acting with store managers and staff. First, we invent a persona. I use the names of people that I remember from high school. (Pretty good considering that in my case high school is ancient history) We need to make up a list of things to store, a little story, and find mailing address and telephone numbers for cover.
We sneak up on them gently acting out the part of a storage”newbie” and with our innocent voices and slightly confused aspect find out just how the store employees "sell” the facility.
On the other side of the coin, we listen in on the mystery shop call that others have made and evaluate the call as our own calls are evaluated for quality control. We are gentle souls so our comments are designed to help without scolding. We are pleased to offer these additional training tools for our store managers. It is fun and a diversion from our regular duties in the call center. There is a definite plus for us as well, as we listen for what the store employees could have done, we also are mentally critiquing our own performance and when we go back to taking calls we are more aware of the importance of our training and what we may have been missing in our own customer contacts. They are terrific training tools for you and for us. If you would like to hear your employees working with potential clients and then a professional evaluation of their calls just get a secret shop message to Sarah or Natalie in our secret shopping business. They are in the building, through the secret tunnel and under the cone of silence.
Secret tunnel? Cone of Silence? Well, after all, it is Phone Smart!
86 over and out!
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# 226
Posted By: Sarah E. Little
Submitted: 4/13/2006 9:04:59 AM
Tick Tock
When our clients get their secret shopping recordings they may hear about 1-5 minutes of conversation for each shop we record. It seems like a quick process, but we actually spend about 60 minutes on each shop if everything goes like it's suppose to.
Let me explain the process from the beginning. First we compile a list of all the shops a particular client wants us to make. Then we post the list where it's available to our shoppers. Next, our shoppers go down the list and begin making the shops one by one. This is where things start to slow down. It may take a week or two to reach everyone on the list. Once everyone has been called we burn the calls onto a CD. Finally, we give the CD to one of our evaluators and they return the CD along with the completed reports. This can up to a week or more also. And then lastly, we email or mail the finished product along to our clients.
As you can see, we have to maintain a quick pace in order to get our shops out by the deadline each month. So if you are interested in shopping your employees, you can see how we can save you a lot of time and money by doing it for you. So give me a buzz and I'll get your shops started today.
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# 225
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/12/2006 8:58:37 AM
Treat me nice!
I recently took my vehicle to the dealership for a warranty repair. It was spring break so my 1 and 4 year olds tagged along as I dropped the car off at service, removed the car seats, lugged them to the rental shuttle and threw them in the back for our ride to the rental counter. Once there, we were given a replacement that was much smaller than what we were used to. It wasn’t an easy task to hang onto two little ones and strap the cars seats back in. Three women were behind the counter watching. After I’d been given my keys I was on my own with purse, diaper bag, two car seats and two kids who were antsy and ready for lunch. I wasn’t readily able to help my daughter off the chair she climbed into and she took a tumble to the floor, landing hard on her bottom. It scared her more than anything and she started to cry. The girls behind the counter were still watching, but now they were watching and giggling in that “oh aren’t kids cute” sort of way until they saw my icy glare.
At this point I thought they deserved a look that said, “Hey, I’m stressed out here, and I could use a little help. Since I’m your customer and all.” Then I walked out the door. I didn’t appreciate what I felt was a lack of concern for me, their client. The office was not busy. I was the only one there. They had been sitting around behind their desks chatting as I walked in. At the very least the person who put me in the car should have offered to lend a hand. The experience with them did not make feel comfortable or secure. It became a very stressful experience to do business with the. Hopefully your customer’s feel more comfortable doing business with you.
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# 223
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/11/2006 9:12:54 AM
A friendly smile goes a long way
Welcome to the secret shopping blog.
A friendly smile goes a long way in winning over a customer or in keeping a current customer. Don’t let your staff people greet people without a smile. People in general get so few opportunities for a friendly exchange or a pleasant gesture, that it brings them a deep sense of relief to see a friendly face. Of course you have to be careful to be genuine. A fake smile is worse than none at all.
When you are secret shopping people, you cannot give a good evaluation if you do not get a genuine and friendly smile form your subject. No matter how closely people follow the script or the protocol, it is all for noting, if you don’t have the smile.
Maybe the old song should go…”You ain’t got a thing if you ain’t got a smile”.
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# 222
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/10/2006 8:09:52 AM
A Peaceful Easy Feeling
After years of power lunches and power plays, dressing for success, watching my back and suffering in overpriced “professional dress” I just stood up one day and screamed “Enough!”
I had survived lay offs, downsizing, recessions, inflations, greedy, jealous, hardball back stabbers and the arrival of new technology that made me obsolete. I have worked for lunatics, jerks, fools, and bullies.
At 58 years old with nearly 35 years of customer service, tax, accounting, retail sales and supervisory experience I was ready to enjoy earning a living. I wanted to go home after work and enjoy my time off without stressing over what went wrong and who did what to whom and what ridiculous hoops I would be asked to jump through the next day. I wanted to sleep until I woke up naturally and have days off when I needed them. I was fed up, exhausted and ready to drop out and let my grown children support me.
I had self-employment income as a tax professional but that only takes care of the first quarter. I had worked in a large call center as a certified debt counselor but it the constant fear and grief that washed over the phone lines was often depressing and unpleasant. Many nights I lay awake grieving for the people who called for my help.
And then I found it! A small phone center with very flexible hours, a pay scale well above the usual minimum wage and a very nice package of “extra earnings” opportunities. The application said “Put down the hours you are available “ Does this mean I get to choose my time off? I can’t believe my eyes and ears! I won’t have to get up before sunrise! YEAH! Then I heard the magic words “Dress code is casual” Jeans, tee-shirts, comfortable shoes “as long as what needs to be covered is” Wow, this is getting better and better. But the best was yet to come.
Starting with the training program. A one on one program that is well constructed, simple to grasp and simple to put into practice. It is a plan that is geared not only for the success of Phone Smart and the stores that we serve but also with an emphasis on personal achievement. There are continuing information, pop quizzes, and updates to help us.
We talk with the folks who call in and answer their questions about the store. We guide them with questions about their needs and situation and work to help them get into a storage unit that accommodate their needs and fit within their budget. We answer questions about office hours, gate hours, and store amenities. We direct clients to manager voice mail when appropriate and even take trouble tickets for serious problems.
After the hectic Labor Day weekend, we get a real treat. We make our “Manager Buddy” calls. We get to speak directly with the store managers and get their feedback on our job performance. It is always encouraging, and heartening to hear from our managers about how happy they are with our service.
But this is the best part. We are treated with dignity and respect. We work for a gentleman. Tron is our boss but he knows how to do that and still be kind, generous and considerate.
I am off the high-pressure fast track. I am working with people I enjoy working with and working for people worthy of my respect and effort. When I think about work now I just get that peaceful easy feeling.
I did have one sleepless night. I had a call from Florida last year. While I was talking with the caller there was a terrible roaring in the background. It was the sound of Katrina coming ashore. While I rejoice in my employment situation I cannot forget, let us all not forget the many who suffered and are still suffering in her wake.
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# 221
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/7/2006 12:53:12 PM
...your subject doing one thing right.
Welcome to the secret shopping blog.
Sometimes what you want to do is to catch your subject doing one thing right. I have seen sings in hotels asking us guests to catch the staff doing something right and reporting it. Whether you are paid to go and shop a property or if you are the guest who cares to recognize some achievement or another, the employees must be aware that doing one thing right with any given customer could earn them a prize.
So as that employee, why don’t you try to do something right with each customer? After your transaction is done, tell yourself what you did right that you should have been recognized for. This is a fun game to play with yourself and who knows? Maybe someday someone will report you for doing something right and you will be recognized.
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# 220
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/6/2006 9:10:20 AM
When Self Service becomes a sales killer.
I contacted a local trade journal to see about placing some advertisements. The sales rep for the journal had an interesting response when I called on the telephone and asked for some information about pricing. He told me to look at their website and I would find everything I needed. Thank you very much and goodbye. As a fan of salespeople I was more or less expecting to be qualified, sold to and closed. Oh well. Yes it is true that the web site gave rates and sizes. But it did not tell me about the demographics of the readership. It did not tell me whether I could build a working relationship with the advertising staff. It did not tell me much about the editorial calendar or seasonal considerations. All it gave me was rates and sizes.
I wonder why the person I talked to on the phone is called a sales rep? If the receptionist told me I was being transferred to the web site referral guy, I could have been a little more accepting about the response I got. Since I assume that the publisher of the journal is looking to add advertisers and increase ad revenue, I must also assume that sending me to the website was some sort of strategic decision to capture my business without spending any payroll dollars to do it.
There are a lot of parallels between advertisers and storage customers. Advertisers buy space for a period of time. The incremental cost of adding a new customer is minimal; however, the cost of getting a new prospect is high. This trade journal probably does not get many new advertising inquiries in a day. It would have taken three to five minutes on the phone with me to get what I needed. I love to do research and shopping on the web. I am an ideal candidate for self-service. However like most people I need a salesperson to sell me on my first contact with a potential vendor. So be cautious with your self-service plans. Self-service is wonderful for established users who are in a comfortable buying routine. Self-service can be a deal killer for prospects who are not quite sure they want to do business with you yet.
If you have self-service options, you might want to show those options to a prospect personally. You should definitely use an alternate choice close such as, “I can show you the self-service option and walk you through it, or if you prefer I can handle the move-in for you myself.” This allows your prospect to make a comfortable choice and feel like you care enough to ask. You can also try one like this, “I am in the office from 9 to 5 and can handle everything you need to move in personally, or if you prefer, you can use our self-service option 24/7 and move yourself in. Would you like to use the self-service option, or can I make an appointment to help you personally tomorrow or the next day?” If you present your alternate choice in this manner, many people will say, “I’ll be glad to use to self-service option, but I just have a question or two I need answered now.”
Self-service is a two-edged sword. On the one side it offers convenience, ease of use and flexibility…all things that prospects and customers love. It is also impersonal. This can be a good thing for the established user who really don’t need to talk to anyone and are happy to do the transaction themselves. But it is a bad thing for someone who is not quite sure that they really want to do business with you. For the unsure prospect with concerns, the impersonal nature of self-service is a very bad thing. It drives prospects to your competitors.
Put yourself in your prospects’ and customers’ shoes. Would self-service be a pleasure for this person, or would it make that person feel as if you were blowing him off.? Is this person a candidate for self-service? With a little help, can this person become a happy self-service customer? Self-service is a wonderful tool. Like all tools, it has good uses, but it does not do every job.
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# 219
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/5/2006 8:42:31 AM
Open the account
We often talk about closing a sale. Some people think this sounds a little stern. Maybe we should talk about opening the account instead. You are getting started with a new customer and it is true that the close of the sale is just the beginning of a business relationship. So why not call it something a little more interesting.
I think I will start referring to the questions that lead you to a yes as questions that open the account, questions that start the service going or questions that help the customer decide how to use the product. Why not look at it this way. You might find that your prospects are more interested in being a new customer or being your account, then getting closed on.
What other terms do we use every day that are outdated or ineffective?
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# 218
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/4/2006 9:05:12 AM
You want me to do what?
Tron Jordheim comments on strange requests:
You want me to do what?
Sometimes you get some very oddball calls. The other day one of our reps had a call from one of our client stores and the caller said, “I don’t want to store at your store. I want to store at the store down the street but I do not have their telephone number. Could you give it to me?”
Now that takes some nerve. Was this a real caller? Was it our client seeing if we would take the bait?
Our rep Wendy was polite about it and tired to sell the amenities at our client’s store to see if the person might be a real caller and he finally said “okay, I’ll try you guys”
He had persisted in asking for the competitor’s phone number. She wanted to say, “What do you think this is 411? You can dial 411 too. Get off my phone!
She instead told him that he really could not expect her to give him the competitor’s number and that there was another call coming in that she needed to take. She then said goodbye and waited for the next call.
What would possess a person to make such a call? Do they think that the store staff has so little pride in its own facility that they would give out the competitor’s number like this?
People are something else, aren’t they?
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# 217
Posted By: Tron Jordheim
Submitted: 4/3/2006 9:32:27 AM
It can happen to you
Our Trainer and sales rep Laura Dawn Ryan relates a personal experience:
It can happen to you
It happened to me! With little to no warning I found myself without a home. No fault of my own of course, my landlord decided to let the bank foreclose on the house I was renting without giving me ample warning to move out. So with only a few days notice I need to find a home and there are three things against me.
First, I am in Columbia, Missouri and this time of the year it is cold and wet so there is an inconvenience I would rather not have. Second this is the home of three major colleges and all of the decent rentals are already taken until late spring. Third moving is usually and planned experience rather costly with rent, rent deposits and utility deposits as well as the cost of actually moving my belongings.
So, now I am back to where I started, homeless, and if I needed to give present, I would have to knit sweaters, as soon as I learned to knit. I am in that proverbial boat going up that proverbial creek without that proverbial paddle. What do I do? I call my best friend and after much crying from both of us she offers to put me up until I can find a place. Perfect solution except. . . where can I put my earthly belongings?
Why self-storage of course! After all I am an expert at the business. I sell storage space all the time and even train others to do so. Cut the red tape back and white, pink and green this will be a breeze. I thought. What I did not take into account was the emotional part of this. I never thought that this would happen to me, Laura Dawn.
I am always the one helping others through these rough spots in life. Granted things could be much worse: no loss of life, no hurricane no fire. I speak on a daily basis to at least one person who needs to store as a result of these misfortunes. I preach empathy to the people I train because someone going through these kinds of circumstances wants understanding not sympathy. I was praying that Karma in turn would bless me with understanding people who want to help me reach a solution to my predicament, I did. Thank you Karma! Arlene and Jason, the management team at the local Storage Mart our office is connected to, were more than willing and understanding to help me solve part of my problem. Thanks to both of them and their efforts I am now a proud owner of a 10 x 10 storage unit with a nice new lock on the door. I can spend time with my best friend and her family for a while until I can find a place. Once again life is good and all is well. Thanks Karma, gotta go. I think I will take that knitting lesson!
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