Customer service is about selling: selling the right product to the right customer in the right place at the right time. Many factors will determine customer service and, therefore, many factors have an impact on sales. In today’s challenging economic environment, many companies have fewer customers so they must sell more to the customers they do have.

Customer service is a people issue. Mystery shopping reports help companies manage the people component of customer service. Keeping customers consistently happy with your company so that they continue to do business with you is a difficult challenge. Here are five (5) key benefits of an ongoing customer service mystery shopping program:

1. Shops provide an objective basis for ongoing rewards and coaching in customer service.Ongoing mystery shops allow you to reward high performers while working with lower performers to raise their customer service skills.

2. Measure employee customer service skills over time. Mystery shop reports show you at a glance how an employee performs over a given time frame. You can also compare results among employees of similar experience levels to assess training needs.

3. Identify trends among employee groups. Are employees in some geographic areas or within certain job types more likely to provide excellent service? If so, you can take a look at what factors positively impact those situations and work to recreate that success in other lower performing parts of your business.

4. Address challenges of high turnover or morale. As management and other staff move in and out of your company, constant measurement allows for continuous monitoring of customer service levels, both with new and experienced staff members.

5. Sell more products and services to your customers. Serving customers well requires being fully engaged with them. When employees pay attention to customers by serving them well, they also learn of opportunities to suggestively sell additional products and services.

Most customers won’t tell you about a customer service issue. They will simply decide not to do business with you any longer. Mystery shop programs help you take a proactive approach to customer service.