Studying standards of service quality is a process aiming at evolving and maintaining customer service quality at high level permanently.

This study is based on arranging a situation, in which a specially trained person (Mystery Customer) acts as a potential customer for a commercial or service outlet. A Mystery Customer during their presence at the studied office observes discretely behaviour of individual employees, examines tidiness of the office and then records the observation in a special form.

Studying service quality provides therefore answers to the following questions (among the others):

• Do employees (even when not supervised) observe service quality standards?
• Do employees maintain the office in permanent tidiness?
• What time did it take for the customer to be welcomed and serviced?
• What way do employees welcome and say goodbye to a customer?
• Can employees properly recognize the needs of a customer?
• What questions are asked to a customer to identify their needs?
• Can an employee provide advice to a customer?
• What products are recommended to a customer?
• What way does an employee accept an order from a customer?
• How does an employee react to a complaint filed by a customer?
• What way does an employee address a customer?
• Is an employee kind and polite?
• How fast does an employee realize the order?
• Are the purchased products handed in an appropriate manner?
• Is the quantity of purchased products appropriate?
• Is the quantity and type of purchased products compliant with the data on a slip?
• Was change issued properly after a purchase?

In comments on each examined issue, a Mystery Customer describes also their observations, irregular behaviours of the staff and any other subjective feelings.

Service quality studies comprise also telephone contact and reaction to a sent e-mail message.

Results of individual observations are presented in the form of individual reports from each visit and a cumulative report summarizing results from several last series of studies.

A Mystery Customer with a digital voice recorder:

In order to increase the capacity of such a method of study, we also suggest Mystery Customers use digital voice recorders during the study. Such recordings represent very good training material for managers of sale teams. It is much simpler to correct errors committed by employees by pointing them out in a recording of a conversation with a customer.

In a situation when a Mystery Customer negatively evaluated behaviour of a particular employee and such an employee does not agree with the issued opinion, the validity of such an evaluation can be always verified via the said recording material. Such a recording also represents a document, confirming proper realization of the tasks assigned to Mystery Customers. poland polish

In case of studies with the use of digital voice recorders, employees from the given office must express their consent for such studies one time only.