5 Must-Have Features for a Mystery Shop Program - Grace Hill
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5 Must-Have Features for a Mystery Shop Program

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Grace Hill

Hand holding checklist clipboard and hand holding magnifying glass. Clipboard with check marks, tick icons. Analysis, review, examination, checkup, inspection concepts.

Mystery shopping can be a great way to measure and improve employee performance at your property. But if your mystery shopping program doesn’t offer you all the transparency and customization features available now, you’re not getting your money’s worth. To get the most out of the mystery shop experience, make sure you choose a program that offers all of these features:

  1. Guaranteed Shop Timeframe
    Mystery shop programs can be slow to perform the shop–and worse, they can keep you in the dark about when you can expect it. Choose a mystery shop program that clearly states and guarantees the timeframe in which the shop will occur.
  2. Status Transparency
    At any point in the mystery shop process, you should be able to quickly and easily view the status of your requested shop (“ordered,” “scheduled,” “report being compiled,” “report delivered,” etc.). A good mystery shop program allows you to order shops, track their progress, view the completed shop and see any auto-assigned courses based on the employee score—all in one centralized location.
  3. Custom Testing Capability
    Not all properties have the same expectations and priorities for employee performance. Your mystery shop should test for the specific experience you want your guests to have. You should be able to customize testing points and questions to reflect that experience. This capability has the further benefit of making it harder for employees to anticipate and “perform to” the test, leading to more accurate scoring.
  4. Score Adjustment Flexibility
    Again, because expectations and priorities for employee performance differ among properties, scoring should adjust with those differences. Choose a mystery shop program that is open to adjusting scores when an evaluation point does not align with your priorities, for instance when an employee loses points for following a guideline you specifically require.
  5. Training Integration
    For any mystery shop program to improve employee performance, it must be integrated into a training program designed to remedy the specific weaknesses identified during testing. When a mystery shop has been completed, employees should be automatically enrolled in the appropriate training and development courses, with no effort required on your part.

Grace Hill’s integrated mystery shopping program offers an honest, in-depth look at how your people and teams are performing and provides the exact training needed to improve performance – from essential compliance to enhanced professional skills. To see the program in action, contact us today.

 

Grace Hill’s marketing content team aims to create informative resources that help multifamily and commercial industry professionals elevate their performance. From blog posts and ebooks to infographics, checklists and webinars, the Grace Hill team has a singular focus: creating meaningful and engaging content that resonates with real estate professionals across the industry.  However, what makes Grace Hill so unique is the range of collective experience and collaborative spirit of its marketing content team. A group of talented writers with expertise in the real estate industry, overall management effectiveness, marketing strategy, and operational efficiency, the team provides new ideas to take performance to the next level. As a thought leader, Grace Hill's content team constantly pushes the envelope, experimenting with new resources and tools to keep industry professionals ahead of the curve.  Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out in the real estate industry, the content team at Grace Hill is creating resources to help you succeed. Learn more about Grace Hill on LinkedIn.

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