Speaking as someone who was secret shopped on several occasions for two
different retail stores, perhaps my experiences will help assuage fears of
those who reacted negatively.

All secret shoppers were from professional organizations hired by the
management to evaluate customer experience. Employee conduct was one aspect;
store cleanliness and appearance, and overall customer experience were
others. Criteria were simple, easy to follow, and (most importantly)
explained to each employee in the training session. When you were shopped
you were given a certain amount of points for each criteria, i.e. 3 points
for saying hello as the customer walked in, 3-5 for product knowledge, 3 for
saying thank you after the purchase, etc. The overall score judged your
performance, and one bad shop could not make you lose your job. Two or three
could, and I believe, with good reason. Even if you missed out on one of the
criteria (e.g. if I didn't say hello as the customer entered) it was an
opportunity for management to reinforce training - not fire you. Our
management was evaluated as well for the overall quality of the store - was
it clean and organized, was there enough stock, etc.

I certainly would not suggest using "strangers," however, from my personal
experience a trained and professional evaluator who knows the criteria you
have set for your employee/program can be a useful tool toward evaluating
overall visitor satisfaction with your institution. Nobody I know lost a job
from one bad shopper - it was a series of bad reports coupled with
management's observations and other customer complaints that detect a broad
and balanced pattern of poor behavior.

Cheers,
George


National Speedskating Museum and Hall of Fame
George Garner, Director and Curator
P.O. Box 3120, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518) 587-2609


|-----Original Message-----
|From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
|Behalf Of sebagc
|Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 11:06 PM
|To: [log in to unmask]
|Subject: Re: "secret shoppers" to evaluate tours
|
|
|Greetings,
|
|Secret shopper seems sinister,
|
|The commercial world has for years used shadow shopping as a tool not
|for measurement of internal operation but as  a comparison in
|respect of
|the overall customer experience.
|
|If the shadow shopper is being used to measure, assess or otherwise
|counter staff, the feedback will not be held in high esteem by the
|employees.
|
|The use of shadow shopping, especially if you do it to competitors- and
|yes of course there are competitors in the market- is the most
|appropriate use here.  Especially if the staff from your organisation
|are involved in the shadow shop programme.  This could result
|in greater
|buy in and maybe even solve some of the problems that you started the
|secret shop  in your museum.
|
|My apologies for the flow of conscious text
|andrew
|
|

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).