Mystery Shopper's Manual

  • Blog
  • About
    • Privacy/Disclosures
  • The Mystery Shopper’s Manual
  • Mystery Shopping Companies
You are here: Home / Employees and Mystery Shopping / Bad Mystery Shopper Reports – What Is an Employer to Do?

Bad Mystery Shopper Reports – What Is an Employer to Do?

September 6, 2010 by Cathy Stucker Leave a Comment

There are appropriate and inappropriate ways to handle a poor rating on a mystery shop report. Unfortunately, the manager of a Cape Coral, Florida post office chose an inappropriate way.

Mystery shop reports are supposed to give companies information they can use to identify where they are performing well, and where problems exist. Appropriate ways of responding to the problems identified in a mystery shop might include providing additional training to employees or changing staffing levels to avoid under- or overstaffing.

An inappropriate reaction? Presenting employees with a cake that looks like a pile of poop, in “honor” of their poopy report.

The postal service has, like many businesses, specific service standards that are measured through secret shopper visits. Even when they are busy or understaffed, postal employees are expected to meet time standards as well as ask each customer a series of (in my opinion, mostly annoying) questions.

When the Cape Coral post office scored 48 out of 100 possible points on a recent mystery shop, the manager had a cake made to commemorate the occasion. This was not a particularly attractive or appetizing cake, as it was made to look like a pile of excrement. (If you want to see the cake, you can go to this mystery shopper story.)

The reaction of the postal workers? It was as you might expect: they were angry and insulted.

What could the manager have done to handle this situation better? Well, almost anything, actually. But for starters:

One major problem was that there was a long line when the mystery shopper arrived. Could the manager take steps to reduce the wait time by changing staffing levels, or bringing other employees to the counter when there is a line? There are limits (someone may not be authorized to work a cash register, for example) but at my post office they often bring someone out to ask if anyone is there just to pick up a package, certified letter or other item that does not involve handling cash. That usually removes several people from the line, as that employee can get all of the needed items for customers.

Are employees taking longer to handle each customer because they do not have everything they need at their stations? The manager could assign someone to make sure each work station is properly stocked before the post office opens and throughout the day.

Are there employees who continually have to ask other employees for assistance because they do not know how to handle situations that come up? Make sure those employees get the training they need to do their jobs without interfering with other employees and slowing everyone down.

Many employees resent mystery shoppers because management uses the results of mystery shop reports as a club with which they beat employees over the head. Berating or insulting employees because of a poor showing on a mystery shop report is absolutely the wrong tack to take. Using the results to find a way to improve service will not only make customers happier, it can make employees happier, too. And it works better to inspire them than a poop cake.

Filed Under: Employees and Mystery Shopping, Mystery Shopping Clients Tagged With: Customer Service, USPS

« Words That Should Never Be in Your Mystery Shop Reports
How Mystery Shoppers Can Improve Writing Skills with College Courses »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mystery Shopping Companies

Updated 4/20/18! Access my free curated list of more than 150 legitimate mystery shopping companies.

Scam Warning

If you received a check or money order with instructions to cash it and wire money to someone, DON'T DO IT! This is a scam.
Click here to learn more about
mystery shopper scams.

Get ‘The Mystery Shopper’s Manual’

NEW 7TH EDITION!

Get your personally autographed copy of The Mystery Shopper's Manual here.
mystery-shoppers-manual-3d

Connect with Cathy

Follow Me on FacebookFollow Me on Google+Follow Me on TwitterFollow Me on LinkedInFollow Me on YouTubeFollow Me on PinterestFollow Me on RSS

Recent Articles

  • Do Millionaires Mystery Shop?
  • Mystery Shopper Resolutions
  • Mystery Shopping for Mystery Shopper Pros
  • Keep the “Secret” in “Secret Shopper”
  • The McDonald’s Receipt Hack

Categories

Applying to Mystery Shopping Companies Customer Service Dealing with Mystery Shopping Companies Dealing with Shopping Emergencies Employees and Mystery Shopping Grammar and Spelling Green Mystery Shopping Hazards of Mystery Shopping Holiday Mystery Shopping How to Become a Mystery Shopper Identity Theft Independent Contractor Issues Industry News Make Money Online Memory Improvement Money and Mystery Shopping Mystery Shopper Certification Mystery Shopper Ethics Mystery Shopper Fun Mystery Shopper Jobs Mystery Shopper Scam Mystery Shopper Scheduling Companies Mystery Shopper Secrecy Mystery Shopper Taxes Mystery Shopper Tools Mystery Shopping Clients Mystery Shopping Company Mystery Shopping Pay Mystery Shopping Providers Association Mystery Shopping Recordkeeping Mystery Shopping Resources Online Security Opportunities for Mystery Shoppers Preparing for the Mystery Shop Profitable Mystery Shopping Secret Shopper How-To Secret Shopper Quick Tips Secret Shopping and the Law Secret Shopping Confidentiality Sticky Secret Shopper Situations Technology and Secret Shopping Types of Mystery Shops Video Mystery Shopping Working Online Writing Mystery Shopper Reports

Copyright © 2004 - 2022 · Cathy Stucker

Copyright © 2022 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in