Have you stood in a queue that never seems to move? Perhaps desperately looked around a department store for an assistant, or rolled your eyes and muttered about poor service in a restaurant? If so there may be the perfect job for you. Why not apply for a position as a mystery shopper?

Like many good business ideas the shopaholic’s dream job started off in America. The chairman of a household name car manufacturer was losing customers to rivals. He couldn’t figure out the reason why. He ruled out superior car quality for his own company’s cars were as good as his competitors’. There had to be another reason. Could it be poor service?

Wasting no time in putting his theory to the test and quickly pulled together a team of what we now know as mystery shoppers. The only skill required was to pretend to be genuine buyers and report back on the service received.

Salesmen and Starving Children.
His intuition proved right. Mystery shoppers, pretending to be genuine buyers, visited the company’s showrooms where they were often met by sales staff totally lacking in people skills let alone selling skills. No wonder customers were going to the outlets of other manufacturers where the staff did cartwheels to ensure the customer was king.

As a mystery shopper I visited four main dealer car showrooms. If I was expecting the hard sell I was soon proved wrong. The first was near perfect. He knew his job and listened to my needs. Taking his time he pointed out features of the car that fitted my requirements perfectly.

The second and third could not have sold sweets to a starving child. Indifferent? They invented the word. By the time a ‘salesmen’ condescended to approach and ask if he could be of assistance, without showing much enthusiasm, I had already decided not to buy. The feeling was mutual as he clearly didn’t want to sell. One informed me they didn’t have the model I required in stock and turned on his heel. Hey! We are talking a deal the size of many a worker’s annual salary.

Salesman of the Year
Visiting the fourth dealership I at last found the world’s best salesman. I did the talking, he did the listening. I knew just what I wanted; so it seemed did he. He had the perfect model to show me; my preferred colour no problem. He would even introduce me to a client who had already bought the same model.

He introduced me to his personal secretary who would always be there whether I phoned or called in. I was courteously shown the service bays and introduced to the team manager who would be responsible for maintaining my car. In the meantime a cup of tea was offered, on a saucer and with the biscuits too. I just didn’t want to leave this showroom. A hotel could have learned from it. There wasn’t a girlie calendar in sight. By the time we went for our test drive we were all friends, and yes, it was genuine.

What followed was the most delightful drive through the surrounding countryside imaginable as we talked through the car’s qualities. By the time we returned I was delighted with the car not to mention the superb service. In a lifetime of sales I had never been so impressed by a guy who was undoubtedly a contender for ‘Salesman of the Year.’

Were looking for mystery shoppers uk to visit car showroom and other service led businesses. Join us now via the shopper recruitment link.

Mystery customer evaluation team.