As mystery shoppers, we are often asked to present a specific scenario, and we may have to “act” the part of a customer much different from ourselves. However, the mystery shoppers described in a recent story in the Do Employees Know They Get Mystery Shopped?
Question from a secret shopper:
Do businesses that we shop tell their employees that they will be mystery shopped? I have heard that they do, but that doesn’t make sense to me. If we are supposed to be checking up on them, why tell them that they will get shopped? Do they tell them what we will evaluate them on? And doesn’t that mean that we are more likely to be spotted if the employees know to look for mystery shoppers?
Most businesses that use secret shoppers tell their employees about the program, and there are some very good reasons to do so. …continue reading Do Employees Know They Get Mystery Shopped?
Suggestive selling, or upselling, involves suggesting additional items when a customer makes a purchase, or encouraging a customer to upgrade to a more expensive option. Perhaps the best-known example of an upsell is when the order taker at a fast food restaurant asks, “Do you want fries with that?” However, upselling is used in almost every kind of business.
Some of the most interesting mystery shopping stories come out of the U.K. We have seen news reports about 
One of the things many people believe about mystery shopping is that reports are often used to fire employees. In fact, employees may believe that secret shoppers have it as their goal to find bad things to put in their reports, and they arbitrarily add negative comments to mystery shop reports in order to “get” employees.
Most people think of stores and restaurants when they think of mystery shopping clients. You know, “get paid to shop and eat.” There are many retail and restaurant chains that use mystery shopping, but it certainly does not stop there.
