What Are Your Thoughts on the Mystery Shop Program?
Anyone who works for cingular direct or an agent should be familiar with mystery shops.
I don't know if it's the same in all markets, but I was just curious if you think it's a fair program or if it needs work? I have had some cases where the msytery shopper remembers something totally different than what one of my fellow employees remembers. And sometimes there are employees that get 100% who dont deserve it!
I don't know if it's the same in all markets, but I was just curious if you think it's a fair program or if it needs work? I have had some cases where the msytery shopper remembers something totally different than what one of my fellow employees remembers. And sometimes there are employees that get 100% who dont deserve it!
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Our company recently started a checklist for us to write down the name of the person asking about service and a space to check off each of the requirements as we present them in case it ends up being a mystery shopper. At the end of the presentation, we're to ask the customer to initial saying that they feel we covered all the options Cingular has available for them. It's a little awkward, but it's definitely working. I kinda feel like it forces the shopper (if they are one) to give you a 100, because otherwise, they're going to look silly later. If you ever feel you were unjustly given a bad score, you can ask your supervisor to challenge the score, which will give you the name of who shopped you, and you can bring out that checklist to...
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it's just not cingular that has it, uscellular has that crap to. Granted sometimes people do get lazy, but the extra crap and points they take off for not shaking someones hand is dumb. They take 20 points off for that. Which I think is retarded but that's just my opinion. When I first started working and doing it to customers there like wtf you doing and they get all weirded out.
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bare-hand contact is the greatest agent of food-borne illness, just ask any restaurant inspector. it's not practical to wash your hands after every contact, as customers are waiting, phones are ringing, etc, etc. these people should be sued for endangering their employees welfare for require handshaking, among other possible reasons, i'm sure a crafty attorney could come up with a few more
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spectator said:...
Our company recently started a checklist for us to write down the name of the person asking about service and a space to check off each of the requirements as we present them in case it ends up being a mystery shopper. At the end of the presentation, we're to ask the customer to initial saying that they feel we covered all the options Cingular has available for them. It's a little awkward, but it's definitely working. I kinda feel like it forces the shopper (if they are one) to give you a 100, because otherwise, they're going to look silly later. If you ever feel you were unjustly given a bad score, you can ask your supervisor to challenge the score, which will give you the name of who shopped you, and
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Well I think the mystery shop program is a joke. People can say whatever they want and it's taken as the law. No one is perfect, but there isn't anything to keep them from lying.
We even had a guy(or girl) shop us 2 times in three months, and he actually got caught copying the results from the first one to turn in the second one... Exact same results, only the person who he shopped initially didn't work for us anymore..... Caught.
I like the thing they are doing now. They actually send the customer a message and ask them to do a survey. It's a little more honest and it gives the sales rep more incentive to keep "doing their job" even after the mystery shop has been reported.
We even had a guy(or girl) shop us 2 times in three months, and he actually got caught copying the results from the first one to turn in the second one... Exact same results, only the person who he shopped initially didn't work for us anymore..... Caught.
I like the thing they are doing now. They actually send the customer a message and ask them to do a survey. It's a little more honest and it gives the sales rep more incentive to keep "doing their job" even after the mystery shop has been reported.
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Airview Wireless in AZ was getting shopped EVERY DAY AT EVERY LOCATION for one month.
we all had scripts with the checklist, but nobody was using them.
we're down to about 3 a week now.
we all had scripts with the checklist, but nobody was using them.
we're down to about 3 a week now.
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I think the mystery shop program serves its purpose, but i dont think it should be weighed by upper managment as heavely as it is, as it is a gravely inaccurate way of scoring a sales person.
We have checklists that we have to turn in everynight with everyone we have helped, i just make them up at the end of the shift and throw them in the box.
Truth is, I do this job to make myself money, no other reason, so when I feel like I am getting shopped, I actually slack on the sales process so I can get to the next customer who is going to make me money. And my paychecks speak for themselves.
I dont begrudge the company for having the mystery shop program, but I dont take it very seriously. If you ask me a mystery shopper is keeping me ...
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We have checklists that we have to turn in everynight with everyone we have helped, i just make them up at the end of the shift and throw them in the box.
Truth is, I do this job to make myself money, no other reason, so when I feel like I am getting shopped, I actually slack on the sales process so I can get to the next customer who is going to make me money. And my paychecks speak for themselves.
I dont begrudge the company for having the mystery shop program, but I dont take it very seriously. If you ask me a mystery shopper is keeping me ...
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i find it a bit ridiculous. the higher ups may think every customer wants to hear what they have for us to say, but honestly i have had many negative comments, my favorite being "you know just because someone threw this up at you i dont like getting this recycled puke thrown at me, i want a phone not 15 minutes of listening to stuff i dont care to hear about".
its kind of like calling in to get the voice menus at cingular, i think most people wish they could just press a button and have us shut up.
its kind of like calling in to get the voice menus at cingular, i think most people wish they could just press a button and have us shut up.
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I hear where you're coming from, the mystery shoppers do keep us from making money. On the other hand, I can see the need for them. Some sales reps out there have absolutely no clue what they are talking about, and the only way for Cingular to catch them (the agents, anyway) is through mystery shops. I just feel like the system as it is needs a lot of revising. One good thing our company does is give a $100 bonus if you score 95% or higher, so it's not a complete waste of time for us. On the other hand, score below an 80%, and you lose your commission for the entire month. That's some serious incentive for us to take it seriously.
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thats cool you get $100 dollers for 95 or higher we get $100 if we get 100% and i once got a 99% on the old form because the shopper waited over 15 min and did not get the $100 😡
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I've been shopped 3 times scoring a 96, 60, 100 on them. So my opinion of the shops are that they are totally ridiculous. I did just as well on the 60% shop as I did on the 100% but the scorer apparently has no short term memory and screwed my score up. These shoppers have no training what so ever. They are just e-mailed what stores are open to shop that day, they print out a score sheet, then go shop. They have no training, or even any supervisors to make sure they are performing correctly. I manage a indirect location and honestly, I don't care what the scores are any longer for the shops. I know our employees are doing their jobs well. Now that Cingular has nothing to hang over us if we do bad on a shop what incentive do we have t...
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Cingular has nothing to hang over you? In my market, 35, if we get a bad score, my agent principle gets a phone call from the RAE's boss (I forget what the title is), and then I get my ass chewed too. Apparently, mystery shops are one of the criteria Cingular looks at for approving new stores for agents. They also have money they give to the agents to help with opening new stores, and if the mystery shop, among other things, is poor, no money to help.
I do agree with you about the general incompetence of the shoppers though. I've seen my most experienced reps get scores of 45% in one month and 90% the next month. I just feel like some of them are lazy, and being unsupervised, they can pretty much do whatever they want.
I do agree with you about the general incompetence of the shoppers though. I've seen my most experienced reps get scores of 45% in one month and 90% the next month. I just feel like some of them are lazy, and being unsupervised, they can pretty much do whatever they want.
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Our markets may be a little different but we have never been called by our RAE's boss about a mystery shop. Basically what I was referring to was they used to hang co-op over our heads now that they have taken away that program mystery shops don't mean quite as much to us as they once did. Opening new stores isn't a concern to us. I can see how it could be a burden to you though.
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👀 Its makes you a little nervous at the beginning of the month because you know a mystery shopper is coming for sure. I think its ok to have a program like that so you can tell who the crappy employers are in the company for example one of my co-workers just got fired after he got a 20 score on the secret shop. He had it coming to him because he was a lazy sh*t but it just shows how well mystery shops can expose weak team members. I don't like the hand shake part of it because when you work in a mall kiosk you really don't want to shake someone's hand that has probably touched who know what. You should not get points taken off for it either since most people really don't want to shake a stranger's hand.
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Ah, here is an issue that really burns me up. I have had experienced, highly skilled employees of mine receive sub-50% scores on their secret shopper, and then the next month receive 90+%. I personally witnessed one of those interactions, and knew it was a shopper, and I scored her myself as she went along, and the only thing she missed was feature demo, which is -10%. So she should've scored 90%, but actually got 45%. This score, due to company policy, cost the employee her entire commission for the month. Completely unfair. I fought with Cingular over this, to no avail. I think the whole secret shopper program, and the accompanying 6-step sales process, is a dog & pony show. Someone in the higher up ranks gets their job performance...
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Here's how it works at our store (Premiere Indirect, GLR). Our RAE faxes us the same sheet that the mystery shoppers use. We have copies on clipboards that we follow whenever it's shopping season. Once we get shopped, we stop using them until the next month.
In general, they're not taken seriously, but we tend to do pretty well on them. Good score or bad score, though, our boss rants to our RAE about how much she hates the whole program. If we do well, our corporate office sends us some sort of incentive. If we do badly, first one's a verbal warning, second and third ones are written warnings, and nobody's ever gotten four.
Our previous RAE gave out gift cards - $10 for >90%, $50 for 100%.
(Copies of the sheet available for those wh...
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In general, they're not taken seriously, but we tend to do pretty well on them. Good score or bad score, though, our boss rants to our RAE about how much she hates the whole program. If we do well, our corporate office sends us some sort of incentive. If we do badly, first one's a verbal warning, second and third ones are written warnings, and nobody's ever gotten four.
Our previous RAE gave out gift cards - $10 for >90%, $50 for 100%.
(Copies of the sheet available for those wh...
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When you say the scores aren't taken seriously, do you mean the agent you work for doesnt take them seriously, or do you mean your RAE doesnt?
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IT SUCKS!!!!! I have been mystery shopped where the shopper advised me they were shopping me, two that I have had copies of everything I went over with the customer and had proof on video showing everything I had done and recieved failing scores. I completely agree some people get 100's that should not and many people fail who should not. It is not accurate at all on how we sell Cingular service. If they want to make sure how were doing they should do internal shops.
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You just had to bring up the mystery shop huh? I think that it isnt a fair program.... just like you said some remember more than others and some get 100% that dont deserve it. I am yet to be mystery shopped and I am paranoid that each customer that comes in is grading me.
I think that some of the things we are suppose to be graded on really shouldn't matter. I mean who cares if they can see our name tag or not. No one else cares what my name is, as long as they get a phone. And most people that come in and buy phones in my store really aren't going to remember how to do MMS and Text. So why should i show them?
You just had to bring up the mystery shop huh? I think that it isnt a fair program.... just like you said some remember more than others and some get 100% that dont deserve it. I am yet to be mystery shopped and I am paranoid that each customer that comes in is grading me.
I think that some of the things we are suppose to be graded on really shouldn't matter. I mean who cares if they can see our name tag or not. No one else cares what my name is, as long as they get a phone. And most people that come in and buy phones in my store really aren't going to remember how to do MMS and Text. So why should i show them?
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