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MSPA

Proud Member of
Mystery Shopping
Providers Association


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National Speakers Association



woamtec
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WOAMTEC
"Women on A Mission 
to Earn Commission"
 

  How Builders Use Shopping As a Training Tool

What is Mystery Shopping | Types of Mystery Shopping | STAR Performance Summary

Shopping Testimonials | Coaching

Shopping as a Training Tool

What you do after a shop is just as important as taking the time to order your shops. Many clients call to order shops, but when asked what their objectives are and what their game plan is for the results, they are a little vague. The answer to the first question is, "Of course, not to fire them but check their weaknesses and work on those."  The problem is that they don't have a process in place. If there is no plan, they will be disappointed when the second shops also come in with low scores.


To get the "best bang for your buck," a training plan must be mapped out in advance with video shopping being one component.  Our suggestion when speaking to clients is the following:

Get Your Team Ready

  • Make sure your team has signed releases. This includes hostesses and assistants. Sales representatives must sign a release allowing taping. This should be part of their employment agreement upon hiring. Give them a copy of the shopping report and explain the criteria. If you have a specific training process, have the report match up to those training objectives to see if the training is being implemented in the field.
  • Discuss the positives of video shopping. Get "buy in." Video shopping is in the SR's best interest because the shopper is on tape, as well. There are no inaccuracies or misinterpretations. It is what it is. The top producers welcome a video shop so they can see where improvements need to be made.
  • Rather than announcing that the shoppers will be coming in the next 30 days, tell SRs that the shops will occur throughout the year. This will keep them constantly on their toes. They should be treating every customer as a shopper!
  • Give out shop evaluation criteria, and discuss what is expected.
  • Announce any company incentive for high scores.

Get Yourself Ready

  • Have your objective in mind: to train and coach your team.
  • Conduct an initial benchmark shop of all SRs. Study the scores and trends so you can focus your training specifically on weak areas. Try to find something positive on every shop and announce it at your sales meeting.
  • Create a timeframe for conducting the shops and sharing results.

After the Shop

  • Have each SR watch their shop and self score. Schedule a private meeting with each SR to watch the tape together and analyze good and bad selling skills. Develop an action plan for improvements.
  • Study the trend report of all the scores, and base your training on the weak areas for the next 30-60 days. Training should be ongoing in the weekly sales meeting in addition to working with SRs in the field. Training in the sales meeting should consist of guest trainers, training DVDs, role plays, case studies, etc.
  • Use our STAR Performance Summary to measure your team's performance against other builders across the country.
  • Re-shop your team and go through the above steps again.

It's a proven fact that builders who have a training game plan in place that includes video shopping are taking their agents from ineffective order takers to pro active top closers.

Some of our clients admit that they never watched the SRs videos at all. No surprise that they are doing poorly.

What's YOUR game plan?

 

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