The best word-of-mouth is?
We all know that word of mouth is critically important. Word-of-mouth can come from several sources including friends, acquaintances, or even a random comment on a social media post or review site. But one type of word of mouth is more powerful than the others. At Service Integrity, we do a lot of studies looking at […]
Why is everyone standing around?
I can’t understand the recruitment policies of department stores. You’ve probably experience this yourself. Sunday afternoon, hardly anyone around, and staff standing around behind the counter or just standing at attention in the middle of the floor. It is the staff member’s job to approach customers to welcome them and ask them what they are […]
The iconic brand doing a Blockbuster
An iconic Australian department store (DJ’s) is doing its best Blockbuster impersonation. They are reducing two Sydney flagship stores to 1, and eliminating 6 floors. Profits have been declining every year for 15 years (lightening reaction times). Online sales rose 46.8 per cent and now account for 7.7 per cent of total sales. But they […]
The forgotten aspect of customer service
What’s the forgotten aspect of customer service? One advantage of running a Mystery Shopping company is that I get to see great detail what works and what doesn’t work in customer service The following graph tracks client data for Satisfaction and Knowledge. We changed the enquiry every month. Satisfaction and the level of knowledge track […]
Surveys don’t tell the whole picture
I was just completing a report for a new banking client and noticed two measurements heading in opposite directions. Their mystery shopping scores were low, but their customer satisfaction from exit surveys was high. So what’s going on? This highlights the problem with reliance on one measurement. The customers are woo’d by the nice branch, […]
1 Star reviews are no reason to panic
Osteria Francescana was voted the best restaurant in the world for 2018. If you look at the Trip Advisor reviews, you will see 86 people thought it was terrible. That’s 3.8% of the reviewers. Emirates is considered one of the best airlines in the world, but 2,619 people thought it was terrible (5.2% of reviewers).2 more terrible […]
The purpose of surveys is not to measure service
What’s the purpose of customer surveys? If you think it’s to measure customer service you may want to re-consider. Surveys measure what the customer thinks they thought. Those thoughts can be wrong, and more importantly, they don’t measure what makes you money. Customers are so easily swayed by a nice employee and nice environment. They may […]
How to up-sell 800% – with purpose
Being in the Mystery Shopping business, I often get asked some good examples of great sales. Here’s one of my own where a cab driver up -sold me 800% Now available on youtube and podcast – subscribe here. Video
Unsure how I feel about this Chinese restaurant video
Back-of-house Staff can usually hide their habits. (This 7 second video is to be seen to be believed – for its ordinariness) To increase transparency, some restaurants put the kitchen staff out in the open. The kitchen is out with the diners. The motivation is obvious – to show they have nothing to hide. There’s something reassuring to watch […]
Why technology makes Service even more important
The future has arrived – in China. I’m fortunate enough to travel to my Shanghai Mystery Shopping office every 3-4 months. Since my last trip I noticed that cash just does not exist. Yes, cash does not exist. We are starting to feel this in the West thanks to Apple Pay and Google Pay, but […]
Marketing is service
Marketing is not often viewed as customer service centric. It’s seen as the funnel filler before Sales takes over. But marketing is more than that and your relationships are not so easily compartmentalised. “Prospects are potential customers and customers are potential sales.” Think of it this way. When someone walks into a shoe store we […]
Customer Service is like a party
It’s easy to know if you hit a sales goal, right? But you know it gets more nuanced and complicated than that. What if a large customer left because they went bankrupt but otherwise you were on track for a record. Is that a failure? If you prefer video, scroll down to the bottom My […]
