Business Action August / September 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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
Thursday 24 October 2019 is North Devon Enterprise Day when all businesses can join together to celebrate our vibrant local business community, support each other and promote the vast range of products and services provided in the area. Take part Are you an enterprising business? Take part now by registering to join the Enterprise Wave at ndevonent.uk Businesses are already registering for what we aim to be the largest independent enterprise community in the area – a collection of forwardlooking entrepreneurs committed to helping every business to succeed. On the day, we’ll celebrate at BBxpo with a panel session of North Devon entrepreneurs Develop your business now Have you been thinking about developing your business or starting a new venture, but don’t know where to start? STOP! Don’t delay any further – take action now! There are many opportunities, so what have you got to wait for? If you have a vision of what you want to do, the drive to make it happen and the commitment to follow it through, start taking advantage of the support available to you. Business Action will support you too. SELECT GEAR! Within this magazine you can find many sources of help. See page 1 for a selection of current support programmes and initiatives. See page 13 for free advice and guidance provided by The Heart of the South West Growth Hub and page 15 for construction industry training grants from CITB. On the same page, Petroc is offering Digital Solutions training and see page 13 for details of free digital workshops the Google Digital Garage will be presenting at BBxpo. And don’t forget the benefits of talking to other business owners, who are very often willing to share expert hints and tips on all aspects of commerce with you. GO! When you are ready to launch, promote your business. One way is to attend networking and other business events. Some events are listed on page 1 or see pages 12 and 13 for details of BBxpo on Thursday 24 October at Bideford – the biggest business-to-business exhibition in North Devon with a free networking buffet. Attend for free as a visitor or consider exhibiting. Consider also our new Business Action Plan, which includes all-year business promotion in this magazine and online. and the North Devon Enterprise Free Networking Buffet – open to all businesses. Let’s all share our experience and advice to help other businesses so all thrive. And share on social media – hashtag #ndevonent – to encourage everyone to join in. North Devon ENTERPRISE Day #ndevonent Follow and connect Connect with @northdevon, @businessactionm and @needitfinditnow on Twitter and other platforms. ■■Visit ndevonent.uk or email ndevonent@business-action.co.uk for full details. £50 Business Action Plan all-year business promotion business ACTION The £50 annual Business Action Plan promotes your business throughout the year in this magazine – see listings right – and online in our needitfindit.uk directory. ➤➤Magazine listing, including name, business type, phone number, web site and address, printed in 6 issues. ➤➤Online listing including name, business type, phone number, web site and address, description and logo for one year. ➤➤6 issues of magazine mailed direct to your UK address. Or choose the £150 annual Business Action Plan to add a business card advert in 6 issues. PROMOTE YOURSELF NOW business-action.co.uk/plans HYPNOTHERAPY Paul Holder New Life Hypnotherapy South Molton t: 01769 574711 w: newlifehypnotherapy.org Landscaping CW Landscaping Bideford & North Devon t: 01237 474335 m: 07960 930974 Locksmith MJS Locksmiths Covering North Devon t: 07532 139388 w: northdevonlocksmith.co.uk OFFICE PRINT EQUIPMENT Clarity Copiers North Devon North, Mid & West Devon t: 01271 374061 w: claritynorthdevon.co.uk Removals HLH Removals Covering North Devon & UK t: 07593 234194 e: hlhremovals@yahoo.com fb page: HLH Removals - Horshams Light Haulage First Thursday of every month is Steak Night! 01237 473399 49 Torrington Street, East the Water, EX39 4DP www.theriverbankbistro.co.uk email@theriverbankbistro.co.uk @businessactionm | August / September 2019 | business action 11
Page 1 and 2: usiness ACTION north enterprise dev
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS business ACTION Web site |
Page 5 and 6: West Heanton’s fleet of electric
Page 7 and 8: Investing in Devon: (from left) Stu
Page 9 and 10: Lucy and Stuart Cook of No 28 The C
Page 11: Cooper Golding’s Queen Street, Ba
Page 15 and 16: xpo.uk All the support you need As
Page 17 and 18: CONSTRUCTION Tap into funding for c
Page 19 and 20: My name is Rosie, I’m 20 years ol
Page 21 and 22: NEWS EXTRA your link to success cov
Page 23 and 24: I was contacted by Paula in early 2

Business Action August / September 2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?