Synopsis: Mystery Shops are one of the 'black holes' into which companies throw money. A restaurant's success at delivering a memorable dining experience is judged by strangers. Further, many of the attributes and details that are rated have little to do with what is important to the guest. They are used simply because they can be measured. Solution: Use your own guests culled from you e-mail club as your shoppers. Pick them randomly and do it four to six times a month for each restaurant. Let the guest grade the experience and tell you how they felt. Celebrate the wins like crazy. Use the money you have saved from paying an outside company to reward your associates/actors. |
| Issue #47 | July 16, 2003 |
Re-invent
the Mystery Shop System!
"There are some things which can be measured that are not important and some things that are important which cannot be measured."
-Albert Einstein
Many restaurants have mystery shop programs. On average, they spend somewhere between $25 and $35, plus the cost of the food, per visit. Done once a month, that means $300- 420++ a year, per unit. It produces a lousy ROI.
Why?
You have allowed 12 strangers, who may or may not reflect your guest demographic profile, determine if your operation is complying with a series of tangible actions that may or may not have a thing to do with what makes your dining experience work. Does that make sense to you? It doesn't to me.
Now, there is precedent at work supporting the current system, since most restaurants avoid research as being too costly. Mystery Shops are treated as an important measurement of operations' performance. Operaters want to be judged on the items that can be measured. They hate being judged on 'subjective' feelings that cannot. I don't blame them, but it does not make it right.
There is value
to getting an anonymous report on the quality of the dining experience.
But it is time to rethink the paradigm. Conduct mystery shops, but do
them 4-6 times a month, and use your own guests, picked randomly, as
the shoppers. If you want an accurate picture of how your show is holding
up, why not have the people who are your regular audience, judge.
Where do you find a database source? Use your e-mail VIP Club members.
On a random basis, invite guests to come and shop a specific meal period,
fill out a report on line and receive a $25 gift certificate, or whatever
figure represents a generous token of appreciation.
Compose the report so that a guest can compare how their visit measured up to the ideal branded visit that you designed. Understand that some of it will be 'feelings and thoughts'. Allow the guest to grade the experience as a whole and ask them if it measured up to previous visits.
Now you have a win-win-win:
-
An opportunity for a conversation based on the visit, because they aren't strangers. They are your guest.
-
A larger pool of reports with which you can recognize excellence and reward performance.
-
A means to recognize and reward staff more frequently.
-
A method to reinvigorate your staff's passion for your concept's soul and to remind them of the important mechanics needed to tell your story right.
-
A way to save money.
-
A way to both reward guests and further build a feeling that they are a real VIP.
Have any questions about this issue? Please feel free to email me at rick@rickhendrie.com, or call me at 617-547-5123 or 617-335-1011. I'll do my best to help you out.
Lamars
"Simply
a better Donut"
Just so that I am not accused of being Boston-centric, let me rave about a strange little donut shop called Lamars. Now, this is a chain that started in Kansas City, I think, and has grown modestly throughout Kansas and Oklahoma. It states that it is "Simply a better Donut."
I saw one in Pueblo, Colorado. If it hadn't been 5:30 in the morning and me in the midst of a serious episode of carb-craving, I might have mistaken the mud brown, pre-fab trailer style building as a recruiting station for the Pony Express and turned around. I persevered and made out the word 'donuts' on one of the worst logos I have ever seen.
The physical plant embodies "the anti- experience." There was no attention paid to amenities at all, but then, oh brother, those donuts. I had a blueberry filled, icing-laced monster that nearly squirted 5 ounces of filling on my fellow donut connoisseur. I still have not recovered from the depth of flavor nor the size of the portion.
Its one nod to
marketing was a poster that told its modest story of origin. It offered
testimonials from the great and near great about how this was the best
donut they had ever eaten. They were right. To find one near you, look
behind the Laundromat, for a building that could be the temporary headquarters
for the infant immunization or something... oh yes, and a sign that says,
"Lamars".
We combine theater technique, classic marketing skill and operations know-how to create a profitable, "WOW" guest experience.
[click here for more information]
Spread the Word! If you enjoy reading this newsletter and have a friend or colleague you think might enjoy it as well, please forward it on. Anyone can sign up for a free, privacy-protected subscription by emailing subscribe@LinkincMethodMarketing.com and say, "Sign me up!"
Seminars: Now, for a little shameless self promotion. Looking for a high-energy speaker, capable of personalizing a presentation to meet your needs?
Click graphic to read more about how we can be of service to your organization.
| ! |
|
"It's Showtime Baby, & And You're The Show!," gets published
every three weeks and concentrates on concrete ways you can take
advantage of the emerging "Experience Era".
|
| | Home | Newsletter | Clients | Seminars | Bio | Contact Us | Copyright
© 2003 Richard K. Hendrie , LINK Inc. Method Marketing® |
