Don’t be so warm. Sell.

Here are the real mystery shop results from a chain of fitness centres. If you asked the prospective customer what they thought of the service, they’d say. Awesome. 100% of people received warm service. BUT 62.5% of people were NOT invited to take up a paid membership. They are not closing. What’s the good of […]

Shuddup and take my money

Shuddup and take my money

Business acumen and customer service are not incompatible. Here are 5 ways a small business can take money from their customers, and their customers will be thankful.

Don’t throw away half your sale leads

Imagine throwing away half of your leads? Oh, I know you’d never do that. Maybe you’re a small business that intimately knows everything that’s going on. Perhaps you’re a big business with big processes. I’ve heard it all. And yet, this is the reality I see way too often. Behind the curtain of a Mystery […]

How to avoid mystery shopping scams

If you are looking to be a mystery shopper, please beware of some of the scams. Here’s how to protect yourself. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. We hope this helps.

How Uber Eats almost destroyed a small business

We have to be careful of the shiny new toy. My local cafe has started doing Uber Eats deliveries. Good for them! Well….. not so fast. The wait times jumped to 20 minutes and then 40 minutes. My big cycling group worth $600-$700 per month has slowly moved to another cafe (despite many second chances). […]

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 […]