Mystery Shopping Business Booms

Carol Cherry may make her living from shopping, but you won'tcatch her at the local mall browsing for a gift.

"I hate shopping. I can't remember the last time I've been to amall," said Cherry, owner and president of Atlanta-based Shop'n ChekInc., one of the nation's largest mystery shopping companies.Businesses hire her firm to see if employees are providing goodcustomer service.

"Mystery shopping lets you see yourself as your customers seeyour business," she said. Cherry founded the company in 1974 andtoday has about 50,000 freelance shoppers in the United States andabroad. They visit restaurants, department stores, gas stations,bowling alleys and anywhere else people shop, eat or play."This industry can really help a small business, especially onewith two locations when the owner can't be in two places at once,"said Cherry, whose client list reads like a Who's Who of Americanbusiness, discounters, oil companies, recreational sites and hotelchains. (Client confidentiality precludes her from naming any names.)Cherry said the industry began years ago as a way for bigretailers to learn why certain appliances weren't selling. Thenemployers started hiring outsiders to make sure employees weren'tstealing from them. But so-called honesty shopping, Cherry said, hasbeen outlawed in most states unless it's performed by licensedprivate investigators.Mystery shoppers, however, are regular folks who are observantand like to deal with people. They are paid per assignment, whichinvolves filling out a detailed questionnaire immediately after avisit. They note how they were greeted by salespeople. They examinethe way merchandise is displayed and how salespeople handle theirquestions, complaints and returns. At a resort, a mystery shopperwill also often check on whether employees offer information aboutspecial promotions or explain company services properly.A good mystery shopping service will spend time learning aboutyour business and how you expect your employees to behave. And itwill be objective."A lot of people try to use their friends and relatives to dothis," Cherry said. "You'll collect some information, but there isusually some bias involved."Mystery shoppers set their own hours and do the work more forfun than money. A shopper might earn $10 to $20 for a night at alocal bowling alley, Cherry said."We also rotate shoppers because you can only eat so manyhamburgers," she said.Cherry suggested that small businesses rely on local mysteryshopping services. In most cities, they are listed in the YellowPages under "shopping services."Many services specialize. For example, Melinda Brody &Associates in Orlando, Fla., focuses on tourism, travel and homebuilding.Brody, who worked as an apartment leasing agent and salestrainer, knows the real estate business and so focuses on that. Herpartner, Marilyn Whelan, works on the hotel accounts.One of their company's specialties is checking on real estatesalespeople. Home builders get permission to tape their salespeoplewhile they are speaking with customers. The salesperson never knowswhether those nice people looking to buy a condo are real customersor one of Brody's mystery shopping teams.In its work with hotel chains and resorts around Florida, thegroup relies on a statewide network of 500 freelance shoppers. Lastyear was the best for the 10-year-old company - its sales approached$1 million."We are the Rolls-Royce when it comes to pricing, but we prideourselves in the caliber of our shoppers," Brody said.Jane Applegate's column appears Thursday. Her radio reports canbe heard on WNIB-FM 97.1 and WNIZ-FM 96.9 weekdays at 6:15 a.m. and 3p.m. She can be reached at P.O. Box 637, Sun Valley, Calif.91353-0637.