Facility Manager, August/September 2008. David Lipton

In a recent issue of Facility Manager, a member of the industry wrote about the importance of developing staff and management, through the use of various training programs. 

While truer words were never spoken, staff training is hardly the end of the line. Many companies make the mistake of spending hundreds, if not thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on training programs, but neglect to spend even a fraction of the initial expenditure on re-enforcement of the desired behaviors, or ongoing monitoring to ensure compliance of the key performance indicators. Since up to 70% of what is presented in a training seminar can be forgotten by the time the employee leaves the room, and an additional 20% will forgotten within a week, it is critical to reinforce desired actions and behaviors, immediately, or risk diminished returns on your investment.

Mystery Shopping has proven its ability in the retail and service market over the last 20 years. It has ensured that customers receive the best possible service that a company is capable of offering and that those representing the frontline of service always meet industry standards. The importance of the ability to maintain checks and balances in the workplace are evident too all businesses. However, the measurement of success of business begins with the frontline workers. And what better way to gauge the quality of your businesses' service than by actually experiencing it through a fair unbiased, encounter form the perspective of a customer, fan, or guest?

research-live.com, June 2008. Robert Bain

CANADA-- Mystery shopping specialist Sensors Quality Management (SQM) has launched a new service aimed at opening up a mystery shopping capability to the owners of small and medium-sized businesses. 

The MyShop service, available to clients across North America, allows businesses to build their own mystery shopping programme online – cutting out much of the set-up costs.

Clients can put together their own evaluation form, drawing from a library of pre-written questions, and set the parameters of the programme themselves.

David Lipton of SQM told Research the new solution gets around problems of scale, which make it impractical to dedicate sales and operations resources to small clients with only a few outlets.

“I think most businesses, large and small, nowadays understand the benefits of mystery shopping, it’s just a case of showing them a cost-effective way to do it,” he said.