While telephone mystery shop reports obviously do not capture the visual aspect of a customer interaction, they can be a cost-effective way to discover how your employees conduct themselves with customers. Better yet, recorded telephone mystery shops provide managers with the detailed information needed to coach employees, since the recording allows you to review both sides of the conversation with the employee. There are many ways that companies improve operations through the use of telephone shops. Here are ten:

1. Turn Calls into Sales: Ensure that a Prospect’s Initial Point of Contact is Positive: For many businesses, an employee who answers the phone is a new prospect’s first point of contact with the business. It is critical to evaluate how employees sound and what wording they are using when making a first impression.
2. Train New and Existing Employees: Whether you operate bank branches, restaurants or retail units, an effective way to provide guidance to employees on phone expectations is to allow them to listen to a phone interaction between an actual employee and customer. With recorded phone shops, you have that opportunity.
3. Evaluate Customer Service Skills: A mystery shopper posing as a disgruntled customer can call your locations to see how employees respond. Does your company have a specific process for problem resolution? Are you concerned that employees are not all following the process consistently? Recorded phone shops can shed some light.
4. Provide Positive Feedback: Managers listening to an employee’s phone discussion with a customer have a concrete example of what the employee sounds like on the phone. This is easier than trying to listen to an employee on the phone as you are passing by. When listening in passing, you may not remember exactly what was said and you also do not have the luxury of hearing what the customer was saying. With recorded telephone shops, when an employee uses effective wording, sounds enthusiastic, and exceeds expectations, you have another way to provide them with positive feedback.
5. Provide Constructive Feedback: Sometimes employees do not capitalize on the opportunities that a phone conversation with a prospect may present. For example, the employee may not invite the prospect to visit the location to learn more or purchase the service/product. In this case, there is an opportunity to listen to the call together and discuss what the employee might say next time to make the interaction more effective.
6. Size up your Competition: Mystery shoppers can pose as potential customers for your competitors, and you can hear exactly what your competitors are saying to these potential customers. This is a great way to see what you are up against, and adjust your sales and service strategy accordingly.
7. Measure Specific Sales Initiatives: If your company recently placed an ad for a certain product, mystery shoppers can call to inquire about the featured service. This is an opportunity to measure employees’ product knowledge of current promotions and to see if employees are doing everything they can to turn a prospect’s interest into a sale.
8. Evaluate How Employees Handle the Same Call-in Scenario: Even companies that operate call centers find this valuable, as it measures consistency of messaging with customers. If you want to know what employees say when a prospect inquires about a service, calls into your call center or asks for a reservation, recorded telephone shops can accomplish this and provide you with specific feedback. In any industry, a recorded phone shop of an employee who does a great job of closing the sale can be used as an example for other employees.
9. Keep Tabs on Employee Attitudes: Especially in today’s economy, managers are stretched in many directions with less time on their hands to measure employee attitudes and performance. With recorded telephone shops , managers have an “extra set of ears” to keep them aware of how their employees sound on the phone.
10. Ensure Legal Compliance: If your employees must say specific information in order to meet the letter of the law, recorded phone shops can solve the problem. Telephone Mystery Shops conducted regularly can help ensure your company stays in compliance and proves your company’s initiative to maintain compliance.