Mystery Shopping Tip: Is Eddie Haskell LURKING in Your Sales Office?
Have you ever watched Undercover Boss on Sunday nights on CBS? If you haven’t, you really should give it a try. It has quickly become a Sunday night ritual for Howard and me! We love the whole premise of the show, which is based on a senior executive of a company working undercover in their own firm to investigate how the company really works and identify how it can be improved, as well as rewarding the hard working staff.
It amazes me what the boss discovers about his employees and their work ethics (or lack thereof)! But most importantly the boss gets to see firsthand what is really going on behind the scenes!
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all play Undercover Boss for a day and really find out what is happening in our new home sales offices? But the truth of the matter is we simply can’t. When the sales team KNOWS that the division president, VP of sales or any other member of the management team is going to be “in the field” visiting new home communities, they will go out of their way to make sure the models are pristine, the sales materials are beautifully displayed, heck, even the topo table has been dusted and windexed in anticipation of the big visit! I call this the ‘Eddie Haskel tactic’ of new home sales.
Remember on the Leave it to Beaver Show how nice, sweet and polite Eddie was when Ward or June Cleaver was in the room? But, the moment they left he was rude, arrogant and obnoxious to the Beav.
Since you probably won’t be asked to be on the reality show Undercover Boss, the next best thing you can do is hire a Mystery Video Shopper! A Mystery Shopper will show up at each of your new home sales communities disguised as a potential buyer! The entire interlude is videotaped and scored based on years of proven new home sales techniques and then the results are delivered to you! You get to see what is really going on in your new home sales offices with your sales team. I call it Undercover Boss meets Modern Day Technology! Video shopping is an excellent way to get an honest view of the sales techniques used by your team. It is also a great way to reward those top sales performers and to discover if you have any Eddie Haskell’s lurking in your sales offices. Remember, what you DON’T know can hurt you.
