What's Your Score?

by Danny Summers

What's Your Score?
From your customer's perspective... that is a very important question.

In a matter of days or weeks, your Center will see the normal surge of customers with that "Spring Fever" look in their eyes and this important question will begin to be answered by the only people that really matter... your customers. Many of you may already been seeing them. We all know it takes a lot of preparation and training to meet and exceed the customer's expectations and therefore receive their highest scores. High scores relate to repeat visits, and connected and loyal customers. If asked, how will they answer this question?

If we take a quick look at both historical and the 2020 Mystery Shopper combined scores, it gives us a good base for comparison and emphasis in the training. Below you can see The Group's historical scores (2002-2019) as compared to the single years of 2017-2020.

Comparing 2020: We have seen recent years' performances slide, but in some areas both 2019 and 2020 showed some improvements. For instance, in 2020 to have the Phone score improve when it was such a dramatic increase in the need for that area to both answer more questions and initiate purchases during limited store functions is pretty amazing. Maybe it was because of the level of importance of serving the customers by phone that it pushed everyone to focus on this area more. Several other areas also showed improvement over the previous year.

Looking Ahead to 2021: When most of our Centers expect to be better prepared for serving their customers this year than last, will your Center score higher in all areas? Here's a suggestion or two for you:

(1) Use Mystery Shop Report for Training: Whether you actually schedule a large number of Mystery Shops or not, simply using the sample Mystery Shop Report for training helps to get everyone focused in the same direction towards the very best customer service. Create a simple team achievement reward program surrounding the shops. It doesn't take much, and even a simple pizza party to celebrate improvements in scores can be very effective and a wonderful way to bring the team together.

(2) Any Customer Could Be the One: Schedule at least a minimum number of shops throughout the season(s) to reinforce in each team member's mind that any customer that walks through the door could be a Mystery Shopper. Then, as you receive each scheduled shop report, present the overall results to the team and post for comparing to future shops. Each shop report can be a learning experience for the team and part of a continual improvement process, makes it fun and productive for everyone.

See my "And finally this week" comments for how to locate the 2021 Mystery Shop Program order form and supporting samples for training. If you have questions or need help in creating the best program for your Center, please call, text or email me.

This is also a great segue into two new videos from John Kennedy below. His Refresh Series helps you with team building and customer service! With these two videos, there are now three on the Refresh page in our WebSystem. Be sure to click the "Watch Now" link. Each are quick and easy to use and implement this week!

What will be the answer to the question... What's Your Score?