Testing positive

Editor’s note: Marianne Hynd is general manager of Ann Michaels & Associates, a Naperville, Ill., mystery shopping firm.

Mystery shopping is commonplace in the business-to-consumer realm, with shoppers evaluating and monitoring customer service across all types of industries. On the business-to-business side, mystery shopping has only been adopted recently but its use is increasing. After all, customer service levels play just as vital a role in the success of a B2B company as they do for a B2C firm - even more so in many cases. Rather than the hundreds of dollars that a customer might spend in a large B2C transaction, a B2B customer’s outlay might be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thus the loss of a dissatisfied customer in the B2B realm can result in a major drop in revenue.

One business-to-business firm that has been using mystery shopping is Stork Materials Technology, which has over 30 materials- and product-testing laboratories in the U.S. and Europe, providing testing, inspection and product quality certification for industries from aerospace and military components to commercial products such as mattresses.

The laboratories were acquired over the last decade, says Ari McKee-Sexton, the firm’s marketing communications manager, and it was difficult for Stork to determine each laboratory’s culture, how it strengthened the company and what areas could be improved.

Stork Materials Technology and its parent company, Stork B.V. in the Netherlands, have embarked on an initiative of continuous improvement, combining Six Sigma, lean and other business methodologies to examine all processes and strive to perform them more effectively and productively. The company adheres to three standards for customer service: timely and accurate test certificates and reports; service-oriented communication and behaviors; professional appearance.

Special considerations

Mystery shopping in the B2B sector is quite similar to traditional mystery shopping, though there are some special considerations to ensure a successful program. First, companies have to determine if shoppers will be posing as potential or current customers. In the latter case, the company will need to provide the mystery shopping supplier with company information, including names, addresses, key contact names and a brief history and overview. Quite often, fictitious accounts are created within the system for this purpose. For potential customers, the company will need to provide the core services and assist the mystery shopping provider in creating a realistic scenario that will result in a typical transaction.

Training for mystery shoppers is also more detailed, typically with training sessions being held in online venues to allow shoppers the opportunity to ask questions, learn more about the company they will be evaluating and absorb other details to ensure success.

Shoppers are carefully screened prior to being selected for any work, as they will need to fit the appropriate role. Because shoppers come from all walks of life, it is not difficult to find shoppers who run their own business, for example, or those who have a history in the industry in which a company operates.

Annual service surveys

Prior to creating its mystery shopping program, Stork Materials Technology conducted annual customer service surveys to obtain customer feedback and measure satisfaction levels across laboratories. Additionally, the individual laboratories conducted their own internal customer surveys via e-mail, phone and mail to continually assess satisfaction. While the satisfaction surveys were useful and demonstrated a solid customer satisfaction base, Stork wanted to know more.

It worried that changes in personnel or other unknown potential issues would damage or derail the customer communication process. Another concern was ensuring that individual labs’ automated phone systems were operating properly and that callers were not being lost or misdirected. Because customer feedback and satisfaction surveys wouldn’t reveal this information, Stork sought out other methods to uncover and eventually rectify any problems.

While mystery shopping was initially considered as an option, key personnel were not certain that this methodology was used in the B2B segment. But after some investigation, the company learned that it could indeed use mystery shopping and it designed and executed a two-pronged program that launched in March 2008.

First, the company was interested in knowing more about each laboratory’s service culture as it relates to potential customers. Second, the company wanted to determine any breakdowns in the communication chain that would lead to loss of new customers as well as a decrease in customer satisfaction.

The program focused on evaluating e-mail inquiries and telephone calls, as these are the main venues for communication. Four waves of evaluation were conducted to allow time to share results and implement additional training/procedures between waves. Stork was able to further assess the effect of this training and of sharing the shopping program results.

To achieve a true baseline performance review, staff were not informed of the mystery shopping program until the first wave was complete. After that time, they were brought up to speed and told that it would be an ongoing process which would be carried out quarterly.

In both modes of communication, mystery shoppers posed as potential customers who were inquiring about a specific testing capability as it related to their fictitious company. Shoppers were trained to evaluate the following aspects of the interaction:

•  the length of time to receive a response via e-mail;

•  how many telephone calls were placed before an inquiry response was received;

•  staff knowledge of testing capabilities at each laboratory;

•  what follow-up information was collected, including the shopper’s name, company name, telephone number, etc.;

•  the shopper’s overall satisfaction based on the interaction.

Each laboratory was contacted by mystery shoppers a total of four times within each evaluation period. Three telephone calls and one e-mail inquiry were initiated, varying the days and times for each communication. This achieved a solid overall snapshot of service levels, as various staff members were evaluated across days and times, allowing Stork to pinpoint individual performance and find communication breakdowns that were specific to a time of day or day of the week.

Further, to delve deeper into potential communication issues, mystery shoppers were instructed to wait for 24 hours to receive a response via e-mail or a response to a voicemail message. In the event that a response was not received, they were told to call back a second time and track the course of interaction. Shoppers waited up to 48 hours from the time of the second contact to determine if a response was received. If responses were not received after a second attempt, the evaluation ended.

Clear progress

Stork employees showed clear progress in telephone and e-mail performance, demonstrating quicker response times, a significant decrease in dropped inquiries and improved staff knowledge. Results specific to e-mail and telephone inquiries are discussed below.

E-mail evaluations

The first wave of e-mail contacts resulted in a strong e-mail response within 24 hours of mystery shoppers sending an inquiry. Each evaluation period showed steady improvement, resulting in a same-day response to the majority of e-mail inquiries received from mystery shoppers at the end of the study.

When e-mail responses were received, Stork was able to view the entire e-mail correspondence to learn more about where e-mails were forwarded, who ultimately responded and if the response fully addressed the shopper’s inquiry. This helped the company learn more about the chain of communication with regard to customer inquiries and improve its processes, where necessary.

Telephone evaluations

Telephone evaluations were scored based on professionalism/promptness of the staff member, staff knowledge and follow-up, when needed. Mystery shoppers also indicated their overall satisfaction with the interaction.

Performance scores increased in all areas across the length of this study, with a total increase of six percentage points in overall performance. Similarly, the portion of the evaluation focused on employee knowledge and ability to answer inquiries without the need to transfer the call improved by five percentage points over the course of the study. Because of the progress made, the mystery shoppers’ overall satisfaction with the interactions rose more than five percentage points.

More specific findings related to this area of evaluation include how many calls were placed to each facility before an inquiry was resolved. Similar to the e-mail evaluation, the majority of the inquiries were resolved within the first call, or within 24 hours of placing the call in the event a voicemail was left with the facility. The instances in which the inquiries were resolved during the first call rose seven percentage points across the four waves.

Finally, staff knowledge was evaluated based on the responses provided to each shopper’s inquiry. Shoppers were asked, “Was the employee able to answer your specific questions knowledgeably and with confidence?” To assess this question, shoppers were provided with the correct response to their inquiry and were instructed to assess confidence in the response using criteria such as the employee not expressing hesitation with the response, offering information but suggesting that the shopper speak to another representative to confirm the information provided and whether the call was transferred in an attempt to resolve the inquiry. Questions ranged from information specific to testing capabilities (i.e., size of samples needed, what testing specifications are adhered to) to inquiries about which facilities were capable of specific testing procedures.

From the onset of the study through the end of the fourth wave, the company improved by 22 percent, indicating that the staff responsible for fielding calls demonstrated increased knowledge of the facility’s testing capabilities and other specifications. Because staff were able to handle inquiries themselves without needing to transfer the call to a second person and could provide information as callers contacted each facility, customer confidence and satisfaction in their experiences with Stork subsequently increased.

Ask better questions

Stork has used the information gathered from the mystery shopping program in many ways, says the firm’s Ari McKee-Sexton. First, the results and individual reports have been presented to location and regional managers at quarterly meetings. The customer service director also studies the reports. Location managers were asked to use the information to install improved communications procedures - for example, better phone scripts and e-mail protocols. Further, the information has been used to tweak the customer service training curriculum and ask better questions in customer service surveys.

Second, on a more location-specific level, the results were used to strengthen procedures and standards. Some location managers discussed the calls with the staff involved, especially if there was miscommunication that needed immediate correction. Additionally, the call transcriptions are often used anonymously in Stork’s quarterly customer service training. Finally, when Stork CEO Charles Noall visits facilities that have demonstrated excellence in customer service during the mystery shopping program, he spends time talking with the customer service representatives to congratulate them on their success.

Gauge progress

To build on the success of the current mystery shopping program, Stork plans further improvements in the coming year to gauge progress and troubleshoot problems. The staff response has been positive and McKee-Sexton says that even the employees who are the very best service providers have learned valuable lessons about how Stork customers interact with the company.

“Simply put, our callers and customers are experiencing better service,” McKee-Sexton says. “We have developed phone and e-mail protocols and we are employing them more consistently in contact after contact. And because Stork service excellence emphasizes good service to our internal customers - between staff and between Stork laboratories - we are experiencing better, more-responsive internal communications as well. Like the rest of our improvement programs, it’s had a viral effect and is spreading through the company, making Stork a better place to work and a stronger competitor in the market.”

Additionally, as new laboratories are acquired, the program will allow Stork Materials to monitor their compliance with Stork’s standards and to also learn from the laboratory’s existing best practices.

More recognized

As the use of mystery shopping in the B2B segment increases, the benefits will be quickly realized. This methodology has proven successful in the B2C segment for many years and it is now becoming a more recognized approach to evaluating service and performance levels across the B2B segment. Additional planning and training are required to successfully execute such a program but the benefits clearly outweigh the effort required.