Tag Archive for: Customer Satisfaction

„Employees first, customers second” – said so many

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Wow, isn’t that a radical thought coming from an employee of a market research company that is fully dedicated to help raise customer satisfaction? Or maybe not.

Thinking of it, this should be the basic idea of how a company works. Just like Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group said in an interview with Inc.: „Virgin does not put the customer first. In fact, Virgin employees are the company’s top priority.” 

That sounds nice, but what does this have to do with customer service?

To put it simply, a lot. “It should go without saying, if the person who works at your company is 100 percent proud of the brand and you give them the tools to do a good job and they are treated well, they’re going to be happy,” and also “if the person who works at your company is not appreciated, they are not going to do things with a smile,” Branson says to Inc.. If I continue this way of thinking then I would add that if an employee is not treated well, then the company can end up losing valuable people who could have contributed to its growth.

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Have you ever asked what will happen if a Mystery Evaluator gives a bad feedback? Will the owner of the company think employees first in this case too?

Good question. We don’t have an exact answer for this, but we heard some very promising things from our clients. Usually what we see is an ‘employees first’-attitude. Our clients are trying to help with trainings to those who are not performing very well. And on the other hand if somebody is made redundant it is not because of the mystery visits’ results.

In some cases the whole purpose of the mystery visit is to determine what topics to put in a training program, so the employees will get all the support from the company to do their job as best as they can.

As a result our Mystery Evaluators are helping a lot not just for the brands to provide a better customer service experience, but for the employees as well to find more satisfaction in their work.

What does your company do for you to feel valued?

 

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Author: Anita @AnitaKocsis910facebook_profile picture

Anita is an employee of Bare International. Besides her work
at the Social Media and Recruitment team, she loves doing yoga,
travelling and reading. Her love for the automotive industry came
from the passion for innovations and technology. She has a master’s
degree in International Economics and Business.

Interested in becoming an Evaluator with BARE International?

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Want to be a guest blogger for BARE’s Mystery Evaluator’s Community?

Apply to: akocsis@bareinternational.com

How I became a Mystery Evaluator

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A few years ago I was surfing on the internet when I saw the ad: „Get paid for shopping.”
Hahaha! Could it sound more like a scam? I am not falling for this. Or am I?

It somehow still made me thinking… Well, I heard about this guy who does mystery shopping and he never complained. Checking out the company’s website won’t hurt. I started exploring the page…
I saw logos of prestigious clients, I even discovered some brands I liked. I remembered, last time I went to that shop, the salesperson was really rude and I had the feeling I was ruining her life by asking for a smaller size of that shirt. How funny it would be to go to that very same shop and leave feedback about her. I will register.


What? Why on earth do they have to know how tall I am?
Later a friend told me that her boyfriend had registered for a mystery shopping company. They called him to offer him a mystery visit including a test drive with one of the world’s smallest car. They asked him how tall he was. After he said he was 1.92, the agent kindly apologized for having called him. He would not even fit in the tiny car.

 

And also my bank account number?
OK, they have to pay me somehow. I guess if it is only the account number, not the credit card number and my PIN, it is pretty safe. After I registered, I was checking my job-board regularly, but there were mostly visits which required owning a car, so I didn’t apply for any of them. As a funny twist in life, I came across another mystery shopping company when I was looking for a job. BARE International hired me as a recruiter. My job is to look for people in several countries, who are interested in doing mystery visits. I thought it would be beneficial to try mystery shopping, so that I can answer the people’s question and I know exactly what I am offering them

 

Mystery shopping, here I come! But how is it all done?
How could I learn it? I am so confused…oh, there is an online training! Sounds good. I went through the slides and the test, I have to admit it took a lot of time and I wanted to give up at some point. But I remembered, every time we start something new, we have to invest time and energy into learning it.

 

I visited my job-board and found some mystery calls.
Before the visit I had to read the long guidelines but at least I was confident on what to do while on the phone. When I finally dialed the call center, my knees were shaking like jelly and I thought they knew instantly that I was a mystery shopper. I was shivering and stuttering. It took at least 5 minutes to feel normal again. I will never forget that rush of adrenalin in my body. Fortunately, the customer service representative on a the other end of the line was doing a very decent job and I was happy to leave a feedback about him in the online questionnaire. I hope his boss will read it and he will get promoted! Since then I have done several mystery calls. Sometimes it was a pleasant experience.

 

Yet, other times I received terrible customer service.
First I felt very bad reporting about it in the questionnaire. I felt like I betrayed the customer service representative. But I developed this theory, that if they do not have the necessary communication skills and inner motivation to behave recpectfully with the customers, they should change jobs and do something they really like.

 

I can say that including the good and bad aspects, I became a fan of mystery shopping.
I like the adrenaline rush, when I start an assignment. I appreciate working in such a „green industry”. There is no production, no printing, everything goes online. Last but not least I like the moment when I receive the notification that my shop fee was transferred to my account. Some say the payment is low, but usually it’s enough to cover a good dinner in a restaurant. Money best spent.

 

Author: Szintia 1601260_10203075703433404_7153695029350124384_n

Szintia is an employee of Bare International.
Besides her work in the Social Media and Recruitment team, she loves sports, travelling, and she is learning her 6th language. She is a Couchsurfer. She has a master’s degree in Strategic HR Management and she is a professional pastry chef.

 

Interested in becoming an Evaluator with BARE International?

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Want to be a guest blogger for BARE’s Mystery Evaluator’s Community?

Apply to: akocsis@bareinternational.com

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How can Mystery Shopping change the way you look at life?

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I started working in the mystery shopping industry for BARE International in 2015.
BARE International is one of the market-leading companies providing mystery customer research and auditing services at a national and global level. A mystery evaluator is a freelancer who goes to specific shops pretending to be a regular customer whilst keeping an eye on all details, because after the store visit they have to answer questions about the customer service.

As a newcomer at the company I wanted to learn as much as possible.
I was curiously asking my colleagues about their positions and responsibilities. One key account manager told me that she was the main point of contact for the clients: she mapped their needs; she helped them set up the group of questions that mystery customers would have to answer, and reported the results to the clients.

Some clients need help in setting up the questions?
It fully surprised me. I have to admit I have full respect for our clients: they realized the importance of customer satisfaction, they are ready to get feedback and they are even paying for it.
But how can one ask for feedback if one is not even sure what he or she wants to know? It made me think…

There can be a parallel drawn between customer satisfaction and life satisfaction.
I work in an industry where we sell feedback to clients who ask for it. These companies have a healthy level of self-criticism to hear an honest opinion about the customer service they provide. They are ready to hear it. They are keen on improving.

Are we ready to receive a detailed feedback about our lives?
We don’t necessarily have to ask others to provide it in the first place. Mystery evaluation made me realize that the most important thing is to be able to set up our questionnaire and to be aware of what the most crucial things are for us to be satisfied. I think my questions would be: Do I spend enough time with the ones I love? Do I keep travelling? Is there enough music and sport in my life? Am I in a good mood on Monday mornings? Can I be proud of my professional and private life achievements when I look back to past years? The list is much longer of course, and will be changing constantly during the course of my life.

What questions would you ask yourself?
Have you thought about them yet?
Are you ready to give yourself feedback?

 

Author: Szintia 1601260_10203075703433404_7153695029350124384_n

Szintia is an employee of Bare International.
Besides her work in the Social Media and Recruitment team, she loves sports, travelling, and she is learning her 6th language. She is a Couchsurfer. She has a master’s degree in Strategic HR Management and she is a professional pastry chef.

 

Interested in becoming an Evaluator with BARE International?

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Want to be a guest blogger for BARE’s Mystery Evaluator’s Community?

Apply to: akocsis@bareinternational.com

Getting Customer Satisfaction Right

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I was recently reading a blog post on LinkedIn by Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance on the way that electric vehicles are now becoming mainstream. While the main focus was on the technical achievement and the sales, there were two things that particularly drew my attention.

The first was that customer satisfaction for owners of the electric vehicles is among the highest of all their vehicles. This is noteworthy because the industry has always had a concern that electric vehicles would not meet customer’s expectations, and consequently leave the customer dissatisfied. I believe that Nissan have consistently been honest and forthcoming about their electric cars, truthfully stating the expected range, and working hard to improve the infrastructure. As a consequence, they have been able to meet the realistic expectations the customer has developed.

That being said, the government incentives and the efforts of municipal governments to put charging stations in place haven’t hurt, but kudos to the manufacturer for believing that would happen in parallel with their sales drive.

Secondly, was the fact that the blog post focussed on one individual customer, Yves Nivelle, who had bought the 250000th vehicle, and made the story about him. In fact, not only the story, but also an accompanying video. A company who isn’t afraid to talk about their customers and even talk to their customers in public is a company that is serious about their commitment to customer satisfaction.

It looks to me that Nissan understand the relationship between customer service and customer satisfaction and are committed to ensure that both grow together.

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Guest author: Colin Hensley @colingoeu

Colin has wide experience in managing and building brand and organisational reputations including more than 15 years in the automotive industry. He has had responsibility for communications and public affairs spanning public and private institutions across three continents.

 

 

Design versus Power

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What do customers want?

A super car on the inside or a shiny, impressive one? Once you have chosen your car, are you fully satisfied with it? And does it really matter if it’s a Porsche or a Hyundai?
J.D. Power recently performed their annual Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study, to measure owner satisfaction with the performance and design of their new vehicles. What do they like or dislike about their new car after 90 days?

84,000 owners were surveyed between February and May 2015. On a scale of 1000 points, 77 attributes, divided in 8 categories of vehicle and design, were evaluated. Engine/transmission; ride, handling and braking; comfort/convenience; seats; cockpit/instrument panel; heating, ventilation and cooling; sound system; and styling/exterior.

Some interesting facts come out of this year’s edition. The gap between luxury and non luxury cars has decreased to its lowest point since 2006. Even though premium brands consistently have the best design and ride with 841 points registered this year, non premium brands are getting closer to the upper scale scoring up to 790 points this year. This is definitely related to the incorporation of more safety features and technology in the vehicles.

“Over the past several years, we have seen non-premium brands increasingly offer the types of in-vehicle technologies that used to be available only to premium buyers,” said Renee Stephens, Vice President of U.S. automotive Quality at J.D. Power.

Who was the overall winner?

For 11 years in a row, Porsche ranks highest with 874 points. Followed by Jaguar with 855,  BMW with 854 points, Mercedes-Benz with 853 points and Audi with 852 points.

The automotive market of today is nothing if not impressive and diverse. Having owner insights is vital for car manufacturers to meet the demands of the market. The knowledge of how owners actually experience the car. What is their level of satisfaction? This is the key question every car manufacturer should ask themselves. Just design or just technical capabilities are not enough, it has to be the perfect combination.

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Author: Vicky Lima  

Vicky Lima is a multifaceted professional with a Master Degree in Advertising. She is passionate about customer experience and the Automotive world. Besides her work in social media, she shares her passion and knowledge about cars as a writer. An avid traveler around the world investigating the relationship between customers and brands. 

Interested in becoming an Automotive Evaluator with BARE International?

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