As the new year approaches, I've decided to "help" out those of you who may need a little push on what resolutions you may want to adopt before 2010 arrives. First on my list is to review your secret shopper observation.

1. Is it relevant?
2. Does it measure the things that matter?
3. Is it up to date?
4. Is it specific to each location?
5. Does it measure too much?
6. Does it measure too little?
7. What else effects the customer experience?
8. Do you ask about lighting? (In the olden days, when I was in the financial services world, the first thing I looked for was burnt out light bulbs.  I never made a loan to a business whose sign wasn't lit or burnt out at night.  You may laugh, but if a business owner won't replace a light bulb in a sign, they sure won't work too hard to pay be back.)
9. Do you ask about the exterior?
10. Do you measure all points of contact?

Whew!  That's quite a list and a lot of questions.  What were your answers? For more ideas and information, stop by the ServiceQuality.US or The Service Quality Department's web sites.