Going for the gold
One goal of many mystery shopping programs, in addition to monitoring employee interaction with customers, is to reward employees for their contribution to providing superior service.
Troy Evans discovered that fact first-hand. Evans, a 25-year-old worker at the Sonic Drive-in in New Iberia, La., won the Gold Medal Station Championship in the annual Dr Pepper Sonic Games for his work in the Swamp (a.k.a. the fry station where onion rings and French fries are prepared).
Garnering this honor was no easy feat and mystery shopping played a direct role in his achievement. Last year nearly 1,200 drive-ins from across the country competed for a place in the Games, an incentive sponsored by Sonic Industries, Dr Pepper and the drive-ins themselves.
Founded in 1958, Sonic operates more than 1,800 drive-in restaurants in 27 states. The company is the fifth largest hamburger chain in the U.S. and is known for its nostalgic eat-in-your-car burgers, coneys, fries and shakes. Food is delivered by carhops, some even on roller skates, or customers can walk up and place an order.
Internal competition
The first step toward winning is an internal competition where crew members compete to become station champions. Then, mystery shopping kicks in. Scores, which rate each drive-in on service, cleanliness, quality and concept integrity, are tabulated nationwide. Last year 12 drive-ins were selected and crew members flown in, all expenses paid, to Anaheim, Calif., where they competed for national recognition in the Games.
Evans and the other contestants were evaluated by a panel of 18 judges over a three-day period on service, quality, accuracy and speed. Evans received his gold medal on stage at Sonic’s national convention in San Diego from Clifford Hudson, Sonic president and CEO, along with Ken Keymer, Sonic’s executive vice president and COO. The annual meeting is attended by approximately 2,100 managers, franchisees and supervisors representing drive-ins across the country.
Win/win
The Sonic Games were the brainchild of Sonic’s advertising agency, and began in 1994 with 600 drive-ins participating. "This incentive program has been win/win from the beginning," says Celina Abernathy, service programs manager at Sonic. "Crew members win through motivation and operational development, and customers win through improved service.
"While the mystery shopping concept is successful at keeping employees on their toes, there is often a fear factor at the operational level. Sometimes the perception is that secret shoppers come into an establishment, blind-siding employees and management," says Abernathy. "Then days later the manager receives a report explaining what went wrong. Instead, we’re taking a positive approach. What is unique about the program is that it motivates front-line employees."
"It’s the difference between a carrot and a stick," says Greg Cole, national account manager at Maritz Marketing Research Inc., Virtual Customers Division, based in St. Louis. Sonic selected Maritz as one of the companies that will perform the mystery shopping used to select teams for the 1999 games.
Sonic contracted with Maritz last spring as part of a summer mystery shopping program co-sponsored with Coca-Cola. "Maintaining a force of skilled shoppers across the country is key to providing good data for our clients," says Al Goldsmith, vice president and division manager of Maritz’s Virtual Customer Research Division. Shopper certification, performance and demographic information are tracked through a nationwide database of more than 34,000 individuals in 500 cities. "We believe it’s best to use local shoppers whenever possible so that the shop is as realistic as we can make it," adds Goldsmith.
Sonic shops each store a minimum of once a month. Included in the more than 50 questions on their custom developed evaluation form are: Did the carhop check back with you and offer additional service after the food was delivered? Was the switchboard greeting warm and friendly? Was music audible from outside speakers?
Once the store is shopped, the evaluation form is sent overnight to Maritz operations in Kansas City. Responses and comments go through editing in the field office and then a final quality check at its St. Louis headquarters. As an extra quality measure, in addition to the written report, each shopper phones Kansas City for a debriefing.
"Technology is an important consideration in our mystery shopping program. Because turnaround is so critical, it is important to have a computer system that allows rapid compilation and reporting of shopping data," says Abernathy.
At the end of each month, Maritz transmits a data file, including all of the completed shops for the month, to Sonic’s ad agency. The agency then produces a variety of reports for Sonic. In addition, shop results are input into the database and delivered to Sonic headquarters via e-mail. Copies of the reports are sent to the drive-in, the supervising partners/principal partners and the directors within three business days. In the event of a shop question or concern, Maritz maintains a toll-free hot line exclusively for use by Sonic management.
Successful on many fronts
For Sonic, mystery shopping has been a success on a number of fronts. Participation in the Sonic Games has grown each year. Mystery shopping scores are now being used for regional incentives as well as the Sonic Games. Sonic’s recent research shows that mystery shop scores from drive-ins participating in the games are higher than non-participating drive-ins.
And for Troy Evans, who has been promoted to crew chief, coming home with a Gold Medal has reinforced his commitment to providing quality service.