Letters

Nation's Restaurant News,  May 12, 2003  

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Exec says secret shopper credibility no mystery

Editor, NRN:

I am responding to a letter about mystery shopping in the March 17 issue, page 30. I am not surprised at your reader's response that the information they receive often is not accurate and, therefore, not credible. Clients often tell us they end up with our service for that very reason. As for gratuities, our shoppers are required to tip a minimum of 15 percent and not to exceed 20 percent, regardless of service provided.

There are ways to safeguard against less-than-credible information getting to a client. The service provider should give shoppers a detailed training document based on the client's input, review the information before sending it to the client, and make every effort to insure accuracy based on the training information and the shopper's responsibilities in performing the evaluation. Those steps would at least minimize "suspect" information, if not eliminate it completely.

Our policy is simple. If in the rare instance an evaluation is in any way suspect when the client reviews it, we simply toss it out and re-evaluate the location--no discussion required. That policy has served us well and has established credible relationships with clients that span over 14 years. Maybe other providers should consider our process. It would eliminate a staff person or manager from being penalized unfairly and would raise the level of credibility of our industry.

There are companies that provide high-quality, credible services. Such services are important to a significant number of organizations who rely on them to make sound business decisions in staff development as well as concept execution.

Mike Albert

founder

Satisfaction Services Inc.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

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