Motivated Employees Generate Excitement
We’ve all had the experience. You walk into a store and can’t find what you need. Searching for an employee, you wonder if you’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone and you’re the last person on the planet. Then you spot an employee…. shuffling slowly down the aisle. You call out, “Excuse me. Where are your widgets?” But he keeps on walking. You catch up to him and say again, “Excuse me. Can you tell me where the widgets are?” He looks at you, shrugs his shoulders, points to the left and mumbles, “cmwlbgxxylkh.” You have no idea what he said but it sounded like Aisle 4, so you thank him, but he’s already walking away.
You just met an unmotivated employee. He doesn’t care about his job himself or you. Did he make you feel happy to be shopping in this store? Or have you forgotten about what you came in to purchase and find yourself focused on dashing off an angry letter to the owner?
Companies are taking notice of the correlation between customers and employees and are using IVR technology to measure it. Studies prove that how much a customer spends and how much the customer frequent a certain store is directly related to how store employees engage the customer. This measurement also allows store owners to determine which locations are struggling and need additional attention and highlights the point that employees who don’t care don’t go out of their way to engage customers. So it is critical that employees feel motivated and excited about their jobs, and mystery shopping is a very positive way to measure employee performance with the end goal of rewarding those employees whose performance shows they understand about the customer experience.
Now let’s step back into the store. As you enter, a smiling employee greets you. Shortly, another employee walks up to you and says, “Can I help you find something?” You mention you’re looking for widgets and the employee says, “Come with me. I’ll show you exactly where they are.” The employee walks you over to aisle 4, points out the widgets, and then asks, “Is there anything else I can do for you today?” As you pick your chin up off the ground, you thank him and carry on to checkout, where more friendly, knowledgeable employees are waiting to help you.
These employees are obviously motivated! Chances are the owner has implemented a mystery shopping program– not as a means of spying and ‘catching the bad ones’, but as a way to improve employee morale by catching employees doing something right and then rewarding that behavior. This is the kind of customer experience where everyone wins.
Tags: customer satisfaction, customer service, employee motivation