Know Your Targets

Mystery Shopping is a valuable source of human intelligence (HUMINT), gathering data and providing insights into the activities of various actors impacting your sales and profits.

This brief discussion will investigate various targets, some obvious, some not, that can provide your company with the guidance to avoid that most dreaded of situations: being blindsided by the unexpected.

Target One: Competitors

This is the most obvious target. Every client we have ever had has had that one (or more) competitor that is always there in bidding or sales wars, that wins contracts in direct competition against your company more often than you would care to admit.

The objective of this research is to find out what the competitors are doing right in terms of pricing, product offering, customer support, and customer relations – as well as other contributing factors. Another objective is to uncover any blind spots in their offerings that can be exploited.

Target Two: Your Own Company

The purpose of this research is to compare oneself against competitors and to uncover areas for improvement.

This can be challenging because of internal politics where individuals and departments refuse to recognize their actions as causes of customer dissatisfaction and loss of sales. This challenge, if anything, makes this type of research even more important because the changes it brings can make a big difference between a company being successful or a failure.

Target Three: Suppliers

Whether they are your suppliers or your competitors’ (or both), mystery shopping can provide insights

• on their selling practices,
• deals offered to their customers, and any business practices that your company adopt to enhance its products and services.

You can also look at your suppliers’ competition for any number of business and competitive reasons.

Target Four: Distributors/Resellers

One reason to mystery shop your distributors and resellers is to ensure that they are promoting your company’s products and services according to the sales contract. Distributors and resellers of your competitors can also be targeted to see how they promote and sell their products and services.

Target Five: Other Industries

Mystery shopping other industries can provide insights on how industries deal with quality control, customer service and satisfaction, sales, needs assessment, and customer support. The objective is to compare your company’s standards against those of companies considered to be the best of the best, regardless of business sector.

Conclusion

• B2B mystery shopping campaigns are usually targeted at competitors and sometimes towards the client itself.
• Important insights, however, can also be gained through other sources such as suppliers, distributors and other industries.