Spy Chief Sizes Up Staff Service

UNDERCOVER consumer spies are accepting missions to target UK companies and assess the customer service they offer.

Rising expectations are placing an ever-greater pressure on businesses to supply first-class service but the curse of an unfriendly, unhelpful or rude staff member can tarnish the memory of a customer to the extent that they will not return.

So companies across the varied sectors of business have taken to hiring covert agents in the form of mystery shoppers. These shop-floor spies are becoming the main means by which a firm measures its staff strengths and weaknesses. The results can also be used to assess existing training techniques and develop new ideas.

Mark Logan, Director of Edinburgh based Mystery Customer Evaluations, offers business owners the opportunity to control their companies without having to be on site every day of the week. Mr Logan, thinks the presence of objective monitors working from a customer's point of view is something UK companies sorely need. And he says the idea is gradually catching on.

"In the UK, the standard of service in hotels, restaurants and public houses is quite lax," he says. "Come summer, the tourists over here are complaining that the service they are receiving is shoddy and poor. Yet anybody who has ever gone to America will have experienced good service, where there is a friendly, 'how-can-I-help-you' attitude.

"I think only now have people who own service-based businesses in the UK Scotland cottoned on to the fact that in order to receive repeat business, you are going to have to deliver a consistently high standard of service across the board."

And he adds: "These guys are now saying: 'Right, we need to monitor and maintain service', but they don't know how to go about this. This is where Mystery Shopping Companies can help."

MCE was set up in spring 1998 by Mr Logan after he graduated from Jewel and Esk Valley College in Edinburgh. Although he still has only one office in Edinbugrh, his business has expanded to include over 2 thousand mystery shoppers throughout the UK.

The company had to find ways of building a client-base in a crowded market and initial contracts were created by Mr Logan approaching companies and selling his services. But after establishing MCE as a leader in the Scottish customer service analysis sector, he is now able to rely on testimonials and word-of-mouth for new customers all over the UK.

"Businesses in the UK now know about my work. I am very keen to help Scottish companies as previously they would have to employ companies from England. It is very handy that we are on the Capital's doorstep and can provide personal advice face-to-face," he says.

Mr Logan's clients include nationwide supermarket chains, Scottish pub and hotel chains, leisure and retail companies, heritage bodies, restaurants and cinemas.

The pool of mystery shoppers act on MCE's behalf to carry out ongoing and consistent monitoring of client companies, which is relayed back to them in the form of percentage-scored reports. Such an approach, Mr Logan says, gives clients a fresh perspective on what is happening on a day-to-day basis.

"The benefits are that they get clear actionable results and performance-monitored service improvements, which is valuable information straight from the horse’s mouth," he says. "What we are delivering to them is a snapshot of their business or practice from the customer’s viewpoint.

"It's like acting as the company’s eyes and ears when they are not there. Quite often, we get asked to go in when they know the manager is not going to be there. What people do when the manager is there, and when they are not there, can be a totally different kettle of fish."

Mr Logan is adamant that ongoing monitoring is designed for staff improvement, rather than anything more sinister.

"Staff are made aware that we will be monitoring performance, and some will complain they are being spied on, or that the process isn’t fair," he says. "But what we say is that it's just to maintain standards. If anything, we are there to catch them doing the job right, rather than otherwise," he explains.

Mr Logan admits that initial visits by his staff tend to reflect problems rather than positives: "The majority of times, when we start with a new client, we tend to catch staff doing their jobs incorrectly. Then we bring them up to the set standard and we just have to go about that task consistently and methodically."

Depending on the company's requirements, the regularity of visits can vary between weekly and quarterly. It costs around £49 for a single visit and different contracts are created depending on the size of the company. Mr Logan says he deals with clients who own from as little as 2 premises up to 2 hundred.

MCE sells itself to businesses by offering additional service like web cam sound bites, satisfaction calls and video mystery shopping. The company also provides staff workshops and training, as well as personal development coaching.

Mr Logan says: "What we say to [companies] is: 'We cannot guarantee you are going to increase profit by 100 per cent, but if you are losing customers through poor staff customer skills, we will try to show you how to retain or improve this situation'. It is about protecting the customer base."

The natural progression for any company working with MCE is to create the solutions to problems they discover, something Mr Logan says is a concern for them.

"We are now beginning to move into staff training, coaching and mentoring," he says. "It works on a one-to-one basis with a client, where we will come and tell the company what the staff are not doing and then what they should be doing. We help them to brush up by delivering a course that brings them up to the right standard." Having expanded operations in MCE's offices in Musselburgh Business Park, the company is increasing its profit by 25 per cent on average year on year.

Mr Logan says the company has come a long way from when he first developed it in his mind while at college. "Things have certainly moved at a fast pace and we are continuing to expand. It has turned out to be a very profitable business.”

Can be viewed online:
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/retail/Spy-chief-sizes-up-staff.2547990.jp