Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Is Your Hotel Hurting, or Are You Hurting Your Hotel? – Small Tourist Area Sampling Returns Big Results
(Archive - advancedfeedback.com - San Diego, California, May 11th 2009) – Advanced Feedback, Inc. a nationwide customer survey and mystery shopping company, phoned ten hotels, over half the hotels in seaside Coronado CA, a popular tourist island just west of downtown San Diego. Part of a wider study on business and the economy, the mystery shoppers, posing as potential customers, simply called the front desk and asked “How far are you from Sea World?”
“I wanted to see if agents would make an attempt at a sale … with someone calling their hotel from out-of-town.” explained Geoff Gladu, Account Manager for Advanced Feedback. Perhaps not shocking to this group of seasoned mystery shoppers, but alarming to any business manager, the team did not find one hotel agent who attempted to continue the conversation beyond answering their initial question. “I was hoping to hear something along the lines of ‘would you like for me to check rates and availability?’ or “Is there anything else I could help you with?’ anything, really. Also, no one even thanked us for calling”, he added. Considering these businesses spend a good share of their marketing budget on getting travelers to call their hotel, Advanced Feedback’s survey uncovered pervasive missed sales and branding opportunities.
Perhaps the hotel agents ignored the sales opportunity because the scenario implied the caller wanted to stay closer to Sea World, 6 miles from Coronado? To test this possibility, the team conducted a second survey to the same properties with the question “what is there to do for fun in the area?” This time, all hotel agents did fine to sell the area but only two agents built value for their hotel and only two others thanked the customer for calling. Again, not one hotel representative attempted to continue the conversation or make a sale.
Deciding to make it as simple as possible for the front desk agent to recognize a sales opportunity, without saying “I want to make a reservation”, the mystery shoppers called the same hotels a third time asking, “How much are your rooms?”
Only one out of the ten properties that were called received a passing grade; the agent qualified the caller, built value for both rates and property and even offered to make a reservation. All others failed. One property attempted to qualify the caller, another spoke well of their property, but all of them were quick to provide the rate and let the potential customer off the phone – never once asking if the caller wanted to stay there!
“With beach weather soon approaching, there’s no better time for these seaside hotels to learn how to recognize and pursue the sales opportunities given – this usually starts with phone skills via a mystery phone shopping program”, said Geoff.
In a challenging economy like the current one, Advanced Feedback’s research is a wake-up call to companies not to overlook the training and monitoring of front-line employees.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Advanced Feedback extends mystery shopping to canine pals too!
(Archive- advancedfeedback.com Feb 05, 2009) Advanced Feedback, Inc. has extended their mystery shopping services to their local neighborhood Humane Society, who was originally concerned that the mystery shopping company was too big for the single location.
As stated by Nicole Campos, Customer Relations Manager, “I appreciate all of your help while we develop a program that best suits us and within what your company can do. I realize that it is a little different than what you normally do considering the nature of our business and that we only have one location.” After working closely with her dedicated Account Manager, the two companies were able to tailor a program to fit Nicole’s exact needs.
The San Diego based company now conducts both weekly phone shops and a monthly onsite mystery shop offering valuable feedback in a timely manner. Phone shops are placed to help make sure that each incoming call is forwarded to the correct department is important. Phone shops help get pet related questions answered correctly while capturing the quality and level of the customer service by targeting each of the Humane Societies eight departments. These calls range in a number of different scenarios and are valuable to Nicole due to the frequency of the calls, which are delivered to her by email including the recording and a detailed survey within 24 hours.
These phone shops help keep the employees on their toes and provide the required level of customer service to all guests, both two legged and four. The onsite mystery shop conducted each month not only targets a specific department but also the main facilities. With a full summary of the details, along with an easy to understand scorecard, the information allows Nicole to visualize from the customer’s point of view. When asked about the program after six months of use, Nicole stated, “We are very happy with the shop results and are finally able to really use a lot of the data we have collected for training and new hires.”
At http://www.advancedfeedback.com you can learn how this mystery shopping firm is able to customize and tailor their services to fit your needs.
As stated by Nicole Campos, Customer Relations Manager, “I appreciate all of your help while we develop a program that best suits us and within what your company can do. I realize that it is a little different than what you normally do considering the nature of our business and that we only have one location.” After working closely with her dedicated Account Manager, the two companies were able to tailor a program to fit Nicole’s exact needs.
The San Diego based company now conducts both weekly phone shops and a monthly onsite mystery shop offering valuable feedback in a timely manner. Phone shops are placed to help make sure that each incoming call is forwarded to the correct department is important. Phone shops help get pet related questions answered correctly while capturing the quality and level of the customer service by targeting each of the Humane Societies eight departments. These calls range in a number of different scenarios and are valuable to Nicole due to the frequency of the calls, which are delivered to her by email including the recording and a detailed survey within 24 hours.
These phone shops help keep the employees on their toes and provide the required level of customer service to all guests, both two legged and four. The onsite mystery shop conducted each month not only targets a specific department but also the main facilities. With a full summary of the details, along with an easy to understand scorecard, the information allows Nicole to visualize from the customer’s point of view. When asked about the program after six months of use, Nicole stated, “We are very happy with the shop results and are finally able to really use a lot of the data we have collected for training and new hires.”
At http://www.advancedfeedback.com you can learn how this mystery shopping firm is able to customize and tailor their services to fit your needs.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Mystery Shoppers Knock on Healthcare's Door!
It discusses increasing use of research initiatives such as mystery shopping by Healthcare industry and various ways in which it is being utilized as a customer service tool by different segments of the healthcare sector.
(Archive Advancedfeedback.com SAN DIEGO, CA, Aug 22, 2006) – Mystery shopping has been used to enhance customer engagement initiatives in most service industries, such as Hospitality, Retail, Automotive, and Financial Services for a very long time now. Is the Healthcare community finally embracing the benefits of this vital service and sales improvement tool as well? The answer appears to be yes.
Healthcare has traditionally limited itself to long-term approaches such as customer surveys or physician surveys. However, due to the competitive nature of today's technologically savvy and demanding "shopper", it seems the industry as a whole has woken to more aggressive techniques for fast acting monitoring and feedback such as mystery shopping.
Zachary Hooker, President of San Diego based Advanced Feedback, a leader in mystery shopping says, "Though we have been servicing almost all areas of the service industry for more than a decade now, this is the first time we have seen some activity on the Healthcare front. It looks to be pretty promising and long term."
"Mystery shoppers" posing as patients evaluate the facility by placing appointment calls, information calls for pricing, visiting the facility, faking symptoms, making special requests and sometimes staying in the facility overnight. The medical centers and facilities who have undertaken the services lately, believe that a number of changes have been made as a result of the practice including improvement in employee behavior, change in ambiance of waiting room and reception areas, more concern towards patient privacy and lesser wait times.
While like most other research techniques, mystery shopping gives insights into ways to improve patient interaction, identifies problems in service, and increases customer loyalty, one of its most effective uses is the aid it provides in explanation of customer survey results, that is, its ability to explain the customer feedback or response.
The "Mystery Shopping" approach seems to be particularly popular amongst mid size and small size segment of the industry. This is possibly due to the stiff competition and evaluation the smaller clinics and nursing homes face. Larger organizations also benefit from the service by using mystery shoppers from within their patient database, as well as those out-of-plan. Certainly, the fast turn around time, immediate results and comparatively lower cost of service makes it an attractive feedback and training tool.
"The foray of Healthcare into the Mystery Shopping arena is a welcome move and we look forward to the customer service initiatives it will promote in the sector." Comments Zachary Hooker from Advanced Feedback.
Advanced Feedback has over 15 years of experience in doing mystery shopping and customer engagement surveys. For more information, please visit www.advancedfeedback.com or write to Zhooker@advancedfeedback.com.
(Archive Advancedfeedback.com SAN DIEGO, CA, Aug 22, 2006) – Mystery shopping has been used to enhance customer engagement initiatives in most service industries, such as Hospitality, Retail, Automotive, and Financial Services for a very long time now. Is the Healthcare community finally embracing the benefits of this vital service and sales improvement tool as well? The answer appears to be yes.
Healthcare has traditionally limited itself to long-term approaches such as customer surveys or physician surveys. However, due to the competitive nature of today's technologically savvy and demanding "shopper", it seems the industry as a whole has woken to more aggressive techniques for fast acting monitoring and feedback such as mystery shopping.
Zachary Hooker, President of San Diego based Advanced Feedback, a leader in mystery shopping says, "Though we have been servicing almost all areas of the service industry for more than a decade now, this is the first time we have seen some activity on the Healthcare front. It looks to be pretty promising and long term."
"Mystery shoppers" posing as patients evaluate the facility by placing appointment calls, information calls for pricing, visiting the facility, faking symptoms, making special requests and sometimes staying in the facility overnight. The medical centers and facilities who have undertaken the services lately, believe that a number of changes have been made as a result of the practice including improvement in employee behavior, change in ambiance of waiting room and reception areas, more concern towards patient privacy and lesser wait times.
While like most other research techniques, mystery shopping gives insights into ways to improve patient interaction, identifies problems in service, and increases customer loyalty, one of its most effective uses is the aid it provides in explanation of customer survey results, that is, its ability to explain the customer feedback or response.
The "Mystery Shopping" approach seems to be particularly popular amongst mid size and small size segment of the industry. This is possibly due to the stiff competition and evaluation the smaller clinics and nursing homes face. Larger organizations also benefit from the service by using mystery shoppers from within their patient database, as well as those out-of-plan. Certainly, the fast turn around time, immediate results and comparatively lower cost of service makes it an attractive feedback and training tool.
"The foray of Healthcare into the Mystery Shopping arena is a welcome move and we look forward to the customer service initiatives it will promote in the sector." Comments Zachary Hooker from Advanced Feedback.
Advanced Feedback has over 15 years of experience in doing mystery shopping and customer engagement surveys. For more information, please visit www.advancedfeedback.com or write to Zhooker@advancedfeedback.com.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Secret Shopping Enters Brave New World
Legislation Prompts Increased Use of Mystery Shopping Into Healthcare and Government Realms
(Archive - advancedfeedback.com - SAN DIEGO, CA, Apr 15, 2009) – Traditionally, mystery shopping has been thought of in terms of the private sector, but increasingly public entities have turned to this service for monitoring compliance with regulations or measuring customer service levels (though the latter is primarily found in the UK.) As a result of legislation passed last year (HR 6331) that might be changing, says Kurt Adams, Senior Accounts Director of Advanced Feedback, a leading provider of telephone monitoring services. "It may the dream come true for many Americans" who wish for greater accountability and higher customer service levels from their government, commented Mr. Adams.
While the law passed last year deals with Medicare Advantage and how it is marketed to the public, it may be a portent of things to come, he speculated. (Specific concerns were allegations of 'bait and switch', 'misrepresentation' and 'misconduct' on the part of agents and brokers.) "It could well be that this model could be a harbinger of things to come. In this case, both the government and private agencies have seen the wisdom of using secret shopping as a means for ensuring compliance, but our hope is it will be used to increase customer service awareness as well", he concluded.
(Archive - advancedfeedback.com - SAN DIEGO, CA, Apr 15, 2009) – Traditionally, mystery shopping has been thought of in terms of the private sector, but increasingly public entities have turned to this service for monitoring compliance with regulations or measuring customer service levels (though the latter is primarily found in the UK.) As a result of legislation passed last year (HR 6331) that might be changing, says Kurt Adams, Senior Accounts Director of Advanced Feedback, a leading provider of telephone monitoring services. "It may the dream come true for many Americans" who wish for greater accountability and higher customer service levels from their government, commented Mr. Adams.
While the law passed last year deals with Medicare Advantage and how it is marketed to the public, it may be a portent of things to come, he speculated. (Specific concerns were allegations of 'bait and switch', 'misrepresentation' and 'misconduct' on the part of agents and brokers.) "It could well be that this model could be a harbinger of things to come. In this case, both the government and private agencies have seen the wisdom of using secret shopping as a means for ensuring compliance, but our hope is it will be used to increase customer service awareness as well", he concluded.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Telephone Mystery Shoppers Find Hard Times Drive Hard Tactics
Good phone skills should be obtained by building a level of rapport with a prospective client before asking for their business.
(Archive - advancedfeedback.com - San Diego, CA, Feb 19, 2009) – With the country now officially recognized as being in a recession since December of last year, businesses are scrambling to adapt. Many are simply trying to hang on, abandoning, at least for now, visions of increased market share. Thus it perhaps should come as no surprise employees who deal with the public over the phone have become more aggressive, says Kurt Adams, Senior Accounts Director of Advanced Feedback, a leading provider of telephone monitoring services. "It used to be we were asked to measure items that tended to make the customer feel warm and fuzzy, such as using their name. Now it seems the sole focus is how many times we get asked for our business", commented Mr. Adams.
While employee interest in getting or retaining a customer's business is undeniably an aspect of good service, how and when this is manifested can be of equal importance. Specifically, Adams' cites asking the customer for the business in the first 10 seconds of the call. "I know it's a bit of an exaggeration, but isn't that like asking someone for a date before knowing their name?" he asked. Good phone skills suggest building at least some level of rapport with a prospective client before getting to the proverbial bottom line. Showing interest in a customer is more than asking repeatedly for an appointment or reservation; other elements include using the customer's name or asking how they happened to be in the market for the company's services. Moderation, as Ben Franklin reminds us, is a good thing.
(Archive - advancedfeedback.com - San Diego, CA, Feb 19, 2009) – With the country now officially recognized as being in a recession since December of last year, businesses are scrambling to adapt. Many are simply trying to hang on, abandoning, at least for now, visions of increased market share. Thus it perhaps should come as no surprise employees who deal with the public over the phone have become more aggressive, says Kurt Adams, Senior Accounts Director of Advanced Feedback, a leading provider of telephone monitoring services. "It used to be we were asked to measure items that tended to make the customer feel warm and fuzzy, such as using their name. Now it seems the sole focus is how many times we get asked for our business", commented Mr. Adams.
While employee interest in getting or retaining a customer's business is undeniably an aspect of good service, how and when this is manifested can be of equal importance. Specifically, Adams' cites asking the customer for the business in the first 10 seconds of the call. "I know it's a bit of an exaggeration, but isn't that like asking someone for a date before knowing their name?" he asked. Good phone skills suggest building at least some level of rapport with a prospective client before getting to the proverbial bottom line. Showing interest in a customer is more than asking repeatedly for an appointment or reservation; other elements include using the customer's name or asking how they happened to be in the market for the company's services. Moderation, as Ben Franklin reminds us, is a good thing.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Twenty Percent of Hotel Guests Report Problems with Their Stay
Negative
word of mouth spreads faster than positive word of mouth. With 43% of
guests who will not likely return to a hotel in the future, this is an
eye opener.
According to Hotel and Motel Management more than 20% of guests who have spent more than $250 a night said that they had experienced some sort of problem during their visit. Furthermore, guests who experience a problem are 43% less likely to return in the future.
With this relationship between problems reported and decreased guest loyalty, it is pertinent to keep service up to par to avoid losing market share. Unhappy guests tend to tell others about their experience even more than guests who have had a positive experience. This means that negative word of mouth spreads faster than positive word mouth and has the potential to significantly hurt occupancy rates.
The solution: Keep as many guests satisfied as possible. As a hotel manager you should be sure to know about your guests experiences. Make note of both the good experiences and the bad in order to pinpoint areas of improvement and reward employees for exceptional behavior.
“The solution to keeping on top of guest experiences lies in having a consistent system in place to monitor their satisfaction” commented Tori Stetson, Account Manager at Advanced Feedback, a San Diego based Customer Experience Management firm. “Mystery Shopping and Guest Surveys are a great place to start. Here at Advanced Feedback we even customize the program to suit not only the needs of your particular property, but also your budget, eliminating obstacles to getting started”.
-Archive advancedfeedback.com SAN DIEGO, CA, March 2nd 2007-
According to Hotel and Motel Management more than 20% of guests who have spent more than $250 a night said that they had experienced some sort of problem during their visit. Furthermore, guests who experience a problem are 43% less likely to return in the future.
With this relationship between problems reported and decreased guest loyalty, it is pertinent to keep service up to par to avoid losing market share. Unhappy guests tend to tell others about their experience even more than guests who have had a positive experience. This means that negative word of mouth spreads faster than positive word mouth and has the potential to significantly hurt occupancy rates.
The solution: Keep as many guests satisfied as possible. As a hotel manager you should be sure to know about your guests experiences. Make note of both the good experiences and the bad in order to pinpoint areas of improvement and reward employees for exceptional behavior.
“The solution to keeping on top of guest experiences lies in having a consistent system in place to monitor their satisfaction” commented Tori Stetson, Account Manager at Advanced Feedback, a San Diego based Customer Experience Management firm. “Mystery Shopping and Guest Surveys are a great place to start. Here at Advanced Feedback we even customize the program to suit not only the needs of your particular property, but also your budget, eliminating obstacles to getting started”.
-Archive advancedfeedback.com SAN DIEGO, CA, March 2nd 2007-
Monday, April 22, 2013
Onsite Polling Success!
Advanced Feedback is excited to add onsite polling to our list of services! We've just completed a round of brand image polls for one of our restaurant clients considering a major logo change. A big thank you to our Las Vegas and Orlando onsite polling teams for helping us execute this project!
- learn more at: http://www.advancedfeedback.com/services-phone-shop.html
- learn more at: http://www.advancedfeedback.com/services-phone-shop.html
Welcome New Clients!
Advanced Feedback, Inc. is proud to welcome the RM Champagne Salon in Chicago - bringing us to four "Element Collective" venues. We also welcome Aloft Hotels (WXYZ Bar) in Texas and Wisconsin.
- Learn more about our mystery shopping company and services at: http://www.advancedfeedback.com/services-phone-shop.html
Advanced Feedback, Inc. is proud to welcome the RM Champagne Salon in Chicago - bringing us to four "Element Collective" venues. We also welcome Aloft Hotels (WXYZ Bar) in Texas and Wisconsin.
- Learn more about our mystery shopping company and services at: http://www.advancedfeedback.com/services-phone-shop.html
Friday, April 19, 2013
Advanced Feedback Welcomes a New Customer
Advanced Feedback is proud to announce that TEG Property Management has
signed up for our latest On-Demand Phone Shops service for their various
San Diego properties. If you are interested in a low cost, contract
free service please visit
http://advancedfeedback.com/phone-shop-store-2.html for more information
and samples.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Phone Shops On Demand
Our on-demand phone shop service provides a no minimum, no contract, cost effective option for businesses of any size or budget. With on-demand phone shops, we call, report, and record all in the same day! This service has proven invaluable for all business managers needing to observe and analyze staff phone skills. Give it a risk-free try today!
Sample Surveys Posted
Calling all restaurants! We have recently posted some of our award winning surveys. Interested in how Advanced Feedback can help drive your goals? Click here to view them.
Video Mystery Shopping
We are very proud to report on the success of our video mystery shopping services. Discount Tire, one of our largest clients, continues to lead their industry in customer service excellence. Here at Advanced Feedback, we are excited to help our clients take control of their reputation and drive customer service goals. Stop by our new page to see the benefits of this ground-breaking technology!
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