Business Action August / September 2019

SERVICE
A mystery is uncovered
In 1991, Paul Grafton, a certified
management consultant
who has always been passionate
about customer service,
discovered that he was able to
provide his clients with insight
that would help improve their
customer experience just as well
using mystery shoppers, as if he
assessed the experience himself.
As long as he instructed the
mystery shoppers to take the
approach he would take, and
answer questions designed
to obtain the right feedback,
mystery shopping was a way to
increase his offering without
having to travel around the
country, staying in hotels, when
he had a wife and baby at home.
And so Mystery Shoppers Ltd
was born.
Paul moved the business
from Berkshire to North Devon
in 1998 and ran the company
from a mobile home turned
office. One mobile home grew
to two, and two homes grew to
three, and after the fourth one
arrived, it was decided the next
move would be to an office in
Holsworthy. In the 15 years
the company has been there, it
has grown from an office that
seated 16 to 70.
In addition to the Holsworthy
Office, MSL now has an
office in Bulgaria and franchises
in Myanmar, Botswana
and Kenya, and averages 65
members of staff worldwide.
What is mystery shopping?
Mystery shopping is a versatile
tool used by companies or
regulatory institutions to either
gain insight into customer
experience and / or staff
performance, for compliance
monitoring or even to obtain
competitor intelligence. As
well as being a diagnostic tool,
mystery shopping is often
also the solution – once staff
know mystery shopping is
taking place, an increase in
service levels is often noticed
straightaway as staff are ‘on
guard’ for potential mystery
shoppers. The feedback and
actionable data mystery shopping
provides can then be used
for staff training. Running
mystery shopping regularly
Next generation: (from left) Sophie Grafton takes on the role of managing
director from Paul Grafton
allows companies to track the
improvements in service as
well as ensure standards do
not slip – a periodic ongoing
programme can quickly
improve overall business
performance, increase sales
and customer service levels and
ensure ongoing compliance.
Once a programme has
been designed, MSL sends
its mystery shoppers out and
asks them to assess a range of
customer touchpoints. They
might contact a call centre to
see how quickly each call is
answered, access a web site
and try to find information or
make an enquiry on a social
media page. They might visit a
shop and purchase a product or
have a sales person visit them
at home.
After their assignment
they will report back on their
experience, providing the
company with honest, objective
results and video, audio or
photographic evidence.
Anyone can be a mystery
shopper and MSL’s database
of shoppers now stands at
260,000. Between them, they
complete 60k+ assignments
every year. The mystery shops
provide a valuable source of
extra pocket money for the
people that complete them and
are often done at well-known
high street banks and retailers,
shopping centres, transport
providers and charities.
Lola is head of stress relief
Shoppers use an app on their
phones to search for nearby
assignments and complete
them. The results are all online
for managers to access and
distribute as they see fit.
Next generation
In 2017, Paul handed over
the title of managing director
to his daughter, Sophie, and
is now chairman. Sophie has
previously been a multi-site
manager in the retail and
service industry and, like Paul,
also has a passion for training
and customer service. These
key themes are at the heart of
the company.
“Here at MSL, we carry out
regular on and offsite training
to ensure that the team are
equipped to offer our clients
the best service possible and,
in turn, help them to improve
their customer experience,”
says Sophie.
As well as the 50+ staff
members working in the Devon
office, another important
member of the team is Lola, the
office pup. Her responsibilities
include increasing staff morale
and encouraging an active
work day, and she is also head
of stress relief.
Being a family business, it’s
important to both Paul and
Sophie that the company is run
with the interests of its staff at
the forefront. All staff are able to
make use of the company’s flexitime
policy, which allows people
to work hours that suit their
home life, such as 8-4 or 10-6,
when business allows it, as well
as to take off a Friday afternoon
if it’s been a busy week. All staff
have free access to a local gym
and the company puts on quarterly
staff events to encourage
teams to get to know each other
better. In the past 12 months,
these have included a visit to
Newton Abbot Ladies Day
Races, bowling, beach BBQs,
pub quizzes and the Christmas
Party at a local restaurant in
Bude. The work environment
appears to go down well as 17
team members have been with
the company for 7+ years.
■■Details 01409 255025 or
mystery-shoppers.co.uk
10 business action | August / September 2019 | business-action.co.uk