Wednesday 27 August 2008

Mystery Shopping and Automotive Audits at Car Dealerships

One way automotive manufacturers measure the performance standards of dealerships is by using Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit companies to conduct visits to check against defined criteria.

There are a few Mystery Shopping companies that specialise in this type of service and one of the best is Retail Active based in Oxfordshire.

Retail Active is the leading automotive audit provider throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, they deliver monthly and quarterly audits for both manufacturers and dealerships. They provide a wide range of automotive Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit services including:

Face to face mystery shopping exercises
Facility Standards Audits
Car Showroom Audits
Dealership Compliance visits
New Dealership Applicants
Service Centre Applicants
Demonstrator Audits

The purpose of their automotive audits is to help the manufacturers raise and maintain the operational delivery of their car dealership brand and showrooms.

Each of the programmes is specifically developed to help increase dealership performance, standards and sales. Retail Active claim their service is the most advanced and proactive automotive check system available, which is certainly backed up by an impressive range of premium clients.

To sum it up this is an ideal opportunity to compare the visual, financial and physical performance of your car dealership. It also allows you the opportunity to generate performance accountability at every level within your business.

Think about it, full visibility of your car dealership and brand portfolio, hmmn that really could work!

Retail Active can be contacted on 01235 438413 or at www.retailactive.com

Friday 22 August 2008

Does Mystery Shopping really improve customer service?

It’s vital that we remain close to what our customers want, but how do we know what they want if we don’t listen to what they say? Is it also true that listening to what customers say and responding positively to their comments will ensure we stay ahead of our competitors?

One company that asserts this is absolutely the case is Retail Active the leading mystery Shopping and Brand Audit Company. According to Retail Active we need to assess the level of service we are delivering to identify where we are performing well and not so well on our customer service delivery. Only when you assess the attributes of the experience your customers see as important, can see how to improve your service delivery of these attributes.
The leisure, hospitality and retail sectors are facing tough trading conditions and the need to evaluate the service they offer is more important than ever. Whilst evaluating your own service delivery it is important to bench mark against your competitors so that you can understand what impresses your customers about the service they experience from them.
Each of the Retail Active mystery shopping programmes is unique and designed specifically for the client. This is absolutely essential so always ensure any mystery shopping company is able to offer this detailed level of service.


Retail Active Mystery Shopping Programmes have many distinct benefits such as:

  • Providing management information at your fingertips
  • Helps significantly raise standards and behaviours, permanently
  • Generate a common understanding of your brand standard within your business
  • The mystery shopping process is transparent throughout
  • Successful mystery shopping programmes save substantial management time and money, not to mention enhanced customer retention

There is one benefit that is often overlooked when considering if Mystery Shopping works and that is the positive impact it can have on embedding important processes and systems to eliminate inconsistency. So to answer the question, does Mystery Shopping really improve customer service? The answer is a very positive YES!

Retail Active, the Mystery Shopping Company can be contacted on 01235 438413 or at www.retailactive.com

Thursday 21 August 2008

Customer Service Training and Mystery Shopping

The new trend of using specific customer information to help design powerful and engaging training programmes is fast catching on in the UK.

Senior executives looking to make a real and lasting change in their organisation are turning to specialist Mystery Shopping Companies to provide consumer insight about real customers’ experiences. This information is used to create dynamic and participative training sessions to improve the customer experience, staff behaviours and profits.

Companies such as retail active are at the forefront, being one of the most reputable and fastest growing Mystery Shopping and Training providers who offer award winning customer service training.

If your objective is to deliver outstanding customer service and substantially grow sales then Retail Active can help your team gain a real understanding of the customer service challenges. Their objective is to show how world-class service can flourish within your business.

Each time the Mystery Shopping, Customer Service Training programme is used, it will take you on a journey of the customer service experience and pinch points in your organisation. This will help determine not only the customer service issues you may face, but critically it will enable you to determine a plan of action to affect a change in customer service culture.

The Retail Active Customer Service Training programme is totally unique and unavailable from any other source. Once experienced you will have a clear understanding of how effective this method of training is, as well as having the competence and skill to deliver world-class service, again and again.

By the way their Mystery Shopping service is pretty good also!

Wednesday 20 August 2008

Mystery Shopping Companies - Choosing the Right Provider

Things to look for when choosing a Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit Company

Choosing the right company to measure your service and performance levels is a HUGE decision. Get it right and there is opportunity to make a step change in profits and success, get it wrong and you could just waste a fortune and miss a golden opportunity.

When you are looking to engage a Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit partner, make sure you look for companies that offer:

Capability to provide thorough and substantive evaluations
Professional help in setting up your programme from a trained team of experts Detailed online reporting and trending available 24/7
Client portfolio of world class, household name companies
Credible and robust quality control processes
Understanding and empathy of your industry and needs
A proven success record
A risk free trial
A full service guarantee
Dedicated client support team
Specialist in your sector
A dedicated switching service designed to make your move “hassle free”
An award winning training process that trains every Mystery Shopper
An award winning and proven method that takes raw consumer insight and uses it to effecting a real and lasting change for the better in your business.

We believe that only the very best Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit companies will even get close to these criteria.

The more you look the more you will notice the superior differences that companies such as RetailActive.com offers. We strongly believe that you can get more service and results for the same budget you already spend.

RetailActive.com is the fastest growing mystery shopping and brand audit providers in the prestige business sector, offering sophisticated 24/7 web based reportage and business intelligence for discerning clients.