by Michaelene S. Mikus, MSM Consulting Group, Inc.,Specialists in Enhancing Service & Growing Sales

May 19, 2007

Gathering valid data on how well your institution's staff is performing is vital.  Today's banks must foster a competitive advantage by delivering excellent service consistently while growing sales.  Frequently, customers' impressions of service and sales are formed first by what the employees do:  how they sound, act or behave. 

How do you collect this objective performance data?  One of the best ways is through mystery shopping.  You can then use this data to set a benchmark, assess your needs, and hold the entire staff accountable - from the manager to the receptionist to lenders. You will also uncover exactly how your present customers or prospects are being treated.  Then you can determine your sales and service needs, how effective your marketing is, how appealing your environment is.

An added benefit: mystery shopping as a continuous program helps monitor performance especially in key customer contact areas.  Quality service and sales are the keys - the differential - to staying in business, to retaining customers.  Quality is the key to staying ahead in this tightly competitive market.

Your mystery shopping program should yield a detailed evaluation of each and every location's strengths and weaknesses.  Mystery shopping programs track performance changes over a time period.  Mystery shopping is also useful for:

• Identifying opportunities for improvement

• Providing an objective view of what the customer experiences from the moment he or she steps out of the car to the moment the customer drives away

• A basis for employee incentive and recognition programs

• A coaching tool for mangers

• Baseline and follow-up data for increased accountability

• Feedback of current situation and continuous improvement of service and sales

• Reinforcement of your training program

Using an outside vendor assures your program objectivity.  Some factors to consider when selecting a mystery shopping company include:

1) Look for a mystery shop company that employs local residents who represent a variety of age groups and socio-economic backgrounds to help assure that the shoppers reflect your customer base. 

2) Find a company that gathers specific comments from the shoppers to insure that the shops were actually completed.  Also, if the comments are thorough, the staff will realize the report is an actual reflection of what they do and, therefore, they will not be defensive.  Instead, they will direct their efforts to improving service and sales.

3) The mystery shop company should be able to customize an assessment form or be able to offer you a variety of forms to ensure that the form measures what you want to focus on and compliments your goals and mission statement.  It should measure what you want to focus on.

This measurement should then be stated in observable behaviors so that you have objective - rather than subjective - data to assess performance. Oftentimes, behaviors can also be weighted.  This will help to drive the performance you want to get.

The form should provide you with information about a variety of areas.  It should measure but not be limited to these areas:  environment, customer service, sales and follow up.

How does a mystery shop program work? 

Mystery shops are conducted with a telephone inquiry of the bank's products and an on site visit to gather facts about how employees interact with customers and also how your bank looks to a prospective customer.  It should also assess curb appeal along with comments about the interior of the bank.  It should also track how well the designated employees or department work with the customer.  Furthermore, it should provide information about areas for improvement. A combination is recommended so that you get a complete and realistic picture of how your employees are performing in sales and service.  You want to see what your customers see. 

During each information gathering section of the report, the shopper should also be commenting on the customer service and sales skills and techniques, signage, condition of bank, grounds and follow up.  Shop companies can also judge the web site as far as ease of use, appeal and content.

A schedule is then planned by you and the mystery shop company of where, when and how often the mystery shops will take place.  To gather valid data and track trends, it is recommended that you have the employees shopped at least once a quarter.  The manager can then coach around the behaviors.  You can plan your training needs.  You can address problem areas before they become insurmountable or worse, a deterrent to a prospective customer.

Finally, the information should be clear, concise, and practical: easy to read format.  The monthly report should track performance by employee, location, region, behavior, etc.  Generally mystery shop companies will also provide you with a monthly or quarterly graph that tracks the data.  At a glance, you will be able to track performance, make comparisons in changes, examine trends, and plan for the future. The shop reports may also be customized to address particular problems and concerns.

An example of a typical problem area is poor telephone skills.  Personal Bankers often simply respond to customer questions rather than inquiring about a customer's particular needs.  They may not take the time to ask incisive open-ended questions to discover customer needs.  The personal banker may not pique the customer's interest to come in.

Another typical problem area occurs on-site.  The personal bankers generally do not get to know the customer, especially the customer's specific, individual needs.  Instead, they are quick to recommend a product and then as a typical order taker, merely open up that one account. This is such a hit-and-miss approach to sales. Think of the relationships - and money - you are losing!

Personal Bankers sometimes don't even close on the sale or on a next step.  Generally, they do not create a sense of urgency or ask the customer to commit to at least a next step.  Since there is a 94% chance of closing if the customer comes in, you can see how this poor performance affects your bottom line.

How do your employees act? Are you sure that they always taking the right steps?  By conducting mystery shops, you would have that information.

To increase closing ratios, improve service, increase cross sell ratios, increase referrals, retain customers, employing a professional mystery shop service is one way to ensure these goals are met.  If the bank president and managers do not know what is happening to customers and prospective customers, this can hurt that bottom line.

If you're spending time and money on service and sales training plus spending advertising and marketing dollars, a mystery shopping program will make certain the service and sales skills learned are being used.  And that your advertising is effective! Mystery shopping offers employees an incentive to use their skills and the accountability to perform to the highest standard.  It holds their feet to the fire even when you are not there to monitor performance.  Some banks even offer incentives to employees for meeting or improving mystery shop scores.

Do not waste a moment of time and hire a reputable mystery shop company based on the criteria listed in this article who will provide you with valid data.  This will take the mystery out of mystery shopping.

 
Michaelene S. Mikus, president of MSM Consulting Group, Inc., is a performance consultant and has been a training facilitator over nineteen years.  Her company professionals design and offer customized training and mystery shopping programs for the  financial industry.  The MSM Consulting Group provides the system approach to truly change behavior to enhance service and grow sales.  They hone managers' skills on how to coach effectively, train staff in customer service and sales, conduct mystery shops, assess management skills, design incentive programs.   Please contact the MSM Consulting Group for training, mystery shops and management assessments at (815) 444-9016 or e mail at msmikus@ameritech.net as soon as possible so you can improve that bottom line by training and then measuring performance.