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FAQ

Q. Is it legal to record the telephone conversations of my employees? 

A. Yes, the federal government and most all state governments (except California) allow the unannounced recording of employee conversations in the “normal course of business.” It is however illegal for an employer to record personal calls of employees. During the mystery shopping process no personal calls are ever recorded.

 Q. I’m concerned about how my sales team will react to being mystery shopped. How do other dealers prevent the mystery shopping program from having a negative effect on morale?

 A. Many dealers implement the mystery shopping program with a bonus for employees who do well when mystery shopped. In reality, the only sales reps who may have concerns about being mystery shopped are the less effective sales reps who need additional help. Outstanding sales reps welcome the opportunity to be mystery shopped as it allows them to show off their excellent selling skills. Many sales reps that have been mystery shopped comment on how beneficial the program is as it allows them to discover weaknesses in their own sales presentation that they were not aware of. Click here to view and save our sample employee announcement letter that many dealers are using to announce the mystery shopping program to their employees

There are basically three ways dealers implement the mystery shopping program.

1.      1. Many dealers will implement the program and not advise their sales team that they are being mystery shopped. After the program is completed they sit down privately with each sales rep and review the evaluations and recordings. A training plan is implemented to correct any weakness in the sales rep’s presentation. In 90 to 120 days the dealer mystery shops the sales rep again to see the effectiveness of the training program. 

2.     2. The dealer holds a sales meeting with the sales team and states that they are implementing a new sales training program. They explain the mystery shopping process and tell all sales team members that they will be mystery shopped. One advantage of this process is that it instantly increases customer service focus as it motivates all staff members to always provide outstanding customer service as they never know when they might be mystery shopped. After the mystery shopping is completed, a training program is implemented to correct any weaknesses in the sales team’s presentation. In 90 to 120 days the dealer mystery shops the sales rep again to see the effectiveness of the training program. 

3.    3. Some dealers will implement the program and never advise their sales team that they are being mystery shopped. Once the program is completed they review the evaluations and listen to the recordings and develop a training program to overcome any weaknesses discovered. In 90 to 120 days the dealer mystery shops the sales rep again to see the effectiveness of the training program. 

Q. I don’t want my equipment sales reps faxing quotes. I want them to visit the customer. So how will you be able to mystery shop my sales team? 

A. The most important thing to remember is that the main focus of the mystery shopping program is to hear and evaluate your sales team’s presentation, not get them to fax a quote. When we mystery shop your sales team, we state that we are interested in purchasing equipment and ask the sales rep for information. We get them to give us their sales presentation over the telephone. In addition we ask them several questions that allow us to evaluate their selling skills and allow you to see if they are following your sales procedures. Part of our evaluation process is to see if the sales rep will make a concerted effort to get an appointment to visit us. While we do attempt to get the sales rep to fax us a quote, this is not the main focus of the program. 

Q. Why do I need mystery shopping, I ride with my sales reps and I hear their presentations?

A. Almost every sales starts with a call to your dealership. Do you really know how the customer is handled by your receptionist or how long it takes for a customer to get to a sales rep? Do you know how your sales reps handle calls from customers? We all know the most important thing a sales rep must do when speaking to a potential customer on the telephone is GET AN APPOINTMENT to visit the customer! Do you know how skilled your sales people are at this critical stage of the sales process?

Q. How do you keep our employees from knowing you are not in our area when you call?

 A. We basically use two methods.

1. We block the caller ID on our phone line when we call your dealership.

2. We also have the ability through our phone system to send any caller ID number we want when we make a call.

 Q. I know you deal with a lot of our competitors. How confidential is the information you obtain from our dealership?

 A. We enter into the following confidentially agreement with your dealership.

Confidentiality.  CSS, and its employees, agents, or representatives will not at any time or in any manner, either directly or indirectly, use for the personal benefit of CSS , or divulge, disclose, or communicate in any manner, any evaluation, recording or information that is proprietary to Client.  CSS and its employees, agents, and representatives will protect such information and treat it as strictly confidential.  This provision will continue to be effective after the termination of this agreement. 

Q. What happens when one of my sales reps returns your call?

A. We have established numerous virtual companies. When your sales reps returns our call they will hear our automated attendant answer the phone with the following recording “Thank you for calling (name of virtual company). For order accuracy and quality assurance all calls are recorded and may be monitored. For sales press 1, for the warehouse press 2, if you know your party’s extension you may dial it at any time or press 0 for the operator.” The sales rep will enter in the extension we left when we initially called your dealership. They will then be connected to one of our mystery shoppers.

Have a question that is not answered here? Give us a call at 1-800-675-5186 and press 1 for the sales department. We will be happy to assist you.