If you are a Retail Compliance Auditor choosing one of these retail locations, ensuring that you completely understand the situation you are being asked to play out is very important. You must be sure that the scenario you have in your head is one that can measure business intelligence while getting an accurate read on their customer service. While the instruction may be simple, the situation most often requires a back story that the shopper needs to be prepared to have, based on the circumstance. 

Retail Compliance Auditor at Bridal Stores

If you are conducting a shop that requires you to try on a bridal gown, you need to be prepared to talk about things such as where and when you are getting married, why you may not be wearing a ring, and what type of style and aesthetic you are going for. Bridal store employees may ask you a variety of questions about your upcoming wedding, so making sure you have your story straight is a must.

Improving Employee Interactions at Hardware Stores

If you are conducting a shop that requires you to go into a hardware store and inquire about paint for your home, you may be asked about your preferred color scheme, what areas of your home you are painting, and how much you are going to need based on the size of the project. Even if you are asking about products for other projects, you should have a general idea of what your “project” would require.

Measuring Customer Experiences at Pet Stores

For a shop that requires you to go into a pet store and inquire about products or services for a pet, it’s important that if you don’t actually have a pet, that you are well versed in what you should be asking about. Make sure you have done the necessary research to answer questions about your animal and have a general understanding of what the store has to offer to allow for more genuine interactions. 

One of the most common pieces of advice we give our retail auditors is “be prepared.” While this covers a lot of ground and is applicable for just about any situation, it’s especially important with these scenario Retail Compliance Auditor. If you aren’t prepared with your background story, you may put the entire shop in jeopardy. If the employee feels that the conversation is disingenuous, it could flag you as a Retail Compliance Auditor and delegitimize the efforts of the Retail Compliance Auditor services you are providing for the company.

Our best guidance for these shops is to really think about the position, and put yourself in the situation of the shop; pretend that this is a real thing you need to do and think about what you may be asked to supply for information. As always, if you aren’t sure, Retail Audit Pro’s Shopper Help Desk team is here to help you with any questions you may have about scenario shops or any other type of shop you choose to conduct. 

The post Retail Scenario Spotlight: Are You Prepared For These Retail Compliance Auditor Situations? appeared first on Retail Audit Pro.

Most people aren’t familiar with the extent to which we can customize our shops. The value and uniqueness of Retail Compliance Auditor centers around the ability to hand tailor every aspect of the scenario as well as how the information is organized and reported back. We often suggest to clients: “Put yourself in the shopper’s shoes – What exactly would you be looking for?”

Here are some examples of criteria that we can specify:

• Scheduling parameters
• Order requirements
• Shopper demographics
• Things the shopper should (or shouldn’t) do and ask about
• Picture requirements
• Audio recording
• And many others…

For your next LTO, ask us about setting up a project to have our shoppers evaluate the item in great detail, as well as how your team is describing and selling it. This information will empower you to make better decisions and hold your organization accountable, which will ultimately help boost sales.

You may even consider partnering with your supplier and sharing the cost…

Contact us here

The post Another Way to Evaluate Your LTO’s appeared first on Retail Audit Pro.

So we sat down with General Manager of Spencers TV & Appliance, Roy Hannah, to hear how he as used his Retail Compliance Auditor program to drive the kind of customer experience that aligns with Spencers’ brand promise.

Can you provide an overview of your business? How long have you been in business and how many employees? What is your role and how long have you been there?

We have been a family owned and operated business in Arizona for 44 years now. We have 10 locations and a central warehouse.  2 years ago we became an Employee owned (ESOP) company.   We have just over 200 employees currently. As General manager I have many roles; I am one of the buyers, manage a store location, manage some of our advertising, etc.

Where are you headed as a business? What kind of growth or management goals do you have?

If you aren’t growing you are dying.  We strive to be the best solution to the Phoenix market in the appliance category (low price leader, best customer service, most knowledgeable sales team in the industry).  Our goal is to have the largest market share of retail appliances in the Phoenix market.

What challenges were you facing, and what motivated you to solve them?

The biggest limitation to our growth has and always will be the number of great people we can add to our team.  People make or break the business, we constantly look for the right people to join the family.  Our motivation is and always will be serving our customers, employees, and their families to the best of our abilities.   We need to constantly train and evaluate our services in order to keep our level of service up to the standards our customers expect.

Why did you choose our Retail Compliance Auditor Program to help solve this problem?

It gives us a behind the scenes look at the way we’re serving our customers and allows us to use it as coaching to keep our staff sharp.

What kind of shops are you conducting? How have you found the process?

We send in shoppers to 10 locations, and each location is shopped monthly. We focus the shoppers on asking product questions to test staff’s product knowledge as well as the service level. They also review the location for attractiveness, merchandising/product placement, etc.  We are a part of BrandSource, and since other brands in their umbrella mystery shop, we are able to benchmark each location’s performance against other brands in the BrandSource family.

The whole process has been easily customizable by your team and communication has been great from your staff.

How have you and your company benefited from your Retail Compliance Auditor program?

People seem to make better decisions knowing shoppers will come in to ask questions they should know. With each location able to be benchmarked against others, there’s a friendly competition and pride when good scores come in. Acknowledging the top performers sets the right standards for the rest of the brand locations.

What would you say to other businesses facing similar challenges as you did?

Don’t rely on your past accomplishments to carry you forward.  It’s what you do today that counts.  You need to earn your customers business each and every day which requires constant upkeep and growth.

Would you provide us a quote that sums up your feelings about your Retail Compliance Auditor program?

You don’t know what you don’t know. Take the opportunity to shed some light on your people from a different angle and you’ll be surprised at what you can learn.  On one hand you’ll end up with confirmation that some of your team are doing exactly what they should and you can recognize/praise them for it.  On the other hand you’ll undoubtedly find some areas where you can and should improve.

The post Spencers TV & Appliance Drives Customer Service with Retail Compliance Auditor appeared first on Retail Audit Pro.