A long time ago, when I was on the “other side” of the mystery shopper’s report, I had an employee who didn’t score so well. To be truthful, she failed miserably. Her reasoning? “I knew they were a mystery shopper, so I blew them off.” I sat there dumbfounded. The only thing I could say was, “So this was one chance to show senior managers, not to mention your boss, how good you are?” I recommended that she consider other opportunities that were in the job market if she didn’t want to adjust her attitude.
Personally, I strongly discouraged any employee from trying to determine who was or was not a mystery shopper. I took the tactic of treating each and every customer as though they were a shopper. Hit all the marks, every time.
The research proved it. Our customer satisfaction went through the roof. Our sales went through the roof! Least importantly our mystery shopper scores went up too!