5 key questions to ask your prospective suppliers

Q1 How well do they know their field force?

• Do they foster personal relationships with their Mystery Shoppers, ensuring professionalism and trust?
• Are open channels of communication fostered, helping to drive continuous improvement through 360-degree feedback?

Q2 How accessible is the Account Team with your frontline colleagues?

• What mechanisms are in place to support your organisation engage the end-users of your customer experience programme?
• Can frontline teams raise questions and seek further information directly from the supplier?

Q3 What checks and balances are set up to ensure quality?

• Are there standardised and bespoke quality checks put in place to ensure data credibility?
• What processes are set up to ensure quality underpins all areas of the programme, from Mystery Customer selection, briefing, trouble shooting, proofreading, analysis and results production?

Q4 How flexible and reactive to changing business circumstances are they?

• Are the customer experience reporting mechanisms fit for purpose or are there constraints in usability?
• Is there flexibility to adapt to changing business needs on an ad hoc and regular development basis?

Q5 Are they working in partnership with you, or working for you?

• Will they strive to be your ‘expert customer’ and really understand your business and core objectives?
• Will they challenge you and provide proactive insight and recommendation?