Preferred Feedback Blog

One thing is certain… Preferred Feedback WILL drive transactions! However, this is only one facet of this multi-faceted program.

I think we can all agree that one of the keys to being successful in business is introducing people to our products and services AND keeping them coming back again and again. Sure, you can grow your business by using Preferred Feedback for the marketing benefits only but you would be missing out on some HUGE opportunities. Please click on the link below to learn more about Preferred Feedback. Ensure that new customers return and current customers come back more often! Keep your employees happy and engaged in guest satisfaction!

Why Preferred Feedback?

It is understandable to feel a bit overwhelmed when we have a low guest satisfaction score and several items in the “red zone”. But don’t panic too soon! Have you been working with your team on providing a level of service that promotes great customer satisfaction yet you still have a low guest satisfaction score? It may be that you have been successful at effectively coaching most of your team but there are one or two individuals that are negatively impacting a large number of guests! Check into that first.

Preferred Feedback was not only designed to identify operational opportunities, the system provides you a way to get to the root of any problem area. So before you start coaching a whole bunch of people who don’t necessarily need additional coaching, narrow down results and pin point the area that needs work.

PREFERRED POINTER

Once you have identified a problem area, run a query to determine if you can narrow the problem down to a specific day(s), time of day, specific department of your business, etc.. Ask yourself some of the obvious questions…

• Can the problem be narrowed down to the day shift or night shift? Select times that deal with Open to 5:00 PM and compare the guest satisfaction score to 5:00 PM to Close. You can also narrow those results to lunch vs. dinner vs. other times of the day.
• Is the problem occurring during the week or the weekends? Select Monday – Friday and compare to Saturday and Sunday.
• If your survey asks questions based on a specific area of your business, query the results for each area and see if the problem can be narrowed to a specific area whether it’s drive-thru vs. dine-in, bar section vs. main dining, meat department vs. bakery, etc..

You are only limited by your imagination. If you have a question about your operation, check it out by running a query. And once you’ve identified the problem area, you can probably narrow that down further too! You have a powerful system at your fingertips. Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed when you can use Preferred Feedback to help you get to the root of the problem.

Have you ever caught yourself coming to a conclusion based on an assumption? Okay, I’m guilty too. Fortunately, having used the Preferred Feedback system for some time I’ve learned to look at the facts instead of making assumptions. Here is an example of a wrong assumption I once made…

I was an absentee owner in a restaurant that was consistently running below our minimum “Guest Satisfaction Score” goal. I also knew that this restaurant was managed by an individual that worked primarily Monday-Friday, worked very few nights or weekends, liked to leave their shift early, etc.. I was under the assumption that the restaurant was probably running well Monday-Friday during the day hours when the manager was on duty but probably didn’t run as well when the manager wasn’t there. I needed to find out if my hunch was correct and, if so, use my findings as a way to coach the manager into doing the right thing.

The first thing I did was generate a report for the quarter. Like I thought, we had a low Guest Satisfaction Score. Then I clicked the edit button and selected Monday-Friday, open until 5:00 PM. A report was quickly generated for that timeline. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the Guest Satisfaction Score, for the days the manager was working, and it was even lower during the manager’s shifts. The results when the manager wasn’t working actually helped to bring the score up! Preferred Feedback helped me realize that our manager, and lack of leadership, WAS the problem.

PREFERRED POINTER: You may have hunches about different aspects of your business. However, try to avoid coming to conclusions until you check into those hunches. If you think you’re having a problem in the drive-thru, run a report using only drive thru surveys. If you think it’s a problem at night, do a query looking at surveys of mystery shoppers that visited at night. If you think it’s your drive-thru at night, you can easily run that query too. If you have a question about your business, go to Preferred Feedback to see what your customers are telling you.

With every mystery shopper invitation that is opened, you are letting people know that you are committed to guest satisfaction, excellent operations, and you care about what your guests think. You are making a positive impression on every household in your community or trade area. This is not only true for the large number of people that participate in our program but for every person that opens and reads the invitation. It’s the right message… a very positive message about your business. You are also letting folks in your community know that you feel so confident that people will be happy with their experience that you are willing to invite them to take a closer look. Plus you are willing to reward them handsomely for visiting your business, checking things out and reporting back.

And then we bring folks back a second time! How many marketing programs are you aware of that net such a high, measurable rate of return AND THEN brings those people back a second time! The Preferred Feedback program is anonymous. You don’t necessarily know when someone is a mystery shopper and you don’t know whether a specific individual gave you a positive or negative review. However, you do know that they were a mystery shopper when they bring in the gift voucher they received for being a mystery shopper. Regardless of their experience on their first visit, you are in a position to recognize them as a mystery shopper on the second visit, giving you the opportunity to go out of your way to take care of them on this second visit and ensure they continue to come back again and again.

The right message… high rate of return… brings people into your business at least twice giving you multiple opportunities to make mystery shoppers customers for life!

PREFERRED POINTER

“Hey THANKS for being a mystery shopper for us!” Be sure to thank people for being a mystery shopper. They are doing you a great service and they will appreciate the recognition. And then go out of your way to ensure that this second visit is phenomenal. You may even want to take it a step further and offer your mystery shoppers a little thank you card with a special offer. This could be a great opportunity to introduce your mystery shopper to a new item, they will appreciate the gesture and you will very likely get them in a third time.

The Preferred Feedback team can help design the perfect thank you card. Give us a call toll free at 1-877-838-3996.

Thank you for entrusting us to provide you with customer feedback and help you build your business. You made a great choice! The Preferred Feedback team takes great pride in delivering on the promises we’ve made.

We promise to…

• drive people to your business by inviting every household in your community, or trade area, to be a mystery shopper for you
• provide you with timely feedback about mystery shopper visits and give you a system to easily monitor your customer’s experience, identify operational opportunities, and help you get to the root of any problem area
• provide you with a great employee incentive opportunity that is tied to guest satisfaction

Preferred Feedback is a excellent choice because…

• we talk to people “outside of your business” and invite them to visit you as a mystery shopper (and we get a very high rate of participation). We will increase sales and transactions! Mystery Shoppers visit you as a regular paying customer and give you feedback on that visit. We reward mystery shoppers with a gift voucher (similar to a gift certificate) that can be used on their next visit.
• we get people in a second time when they come in to use their gift voucher AND you know who they are… they have a Preferred Feedback gift voucher! You don’t know whether their mystery shopper visit was a positive or negative experience but you now have the ability to go out of your way to ensure that this second visit is a wonderful experience and you keep them coming back again and again!
• you have the opportunity to get mystery shoppers in a third time with a “Thank You Card”. Preferred Feedback will help you design a thank you card that you hand to mystery shoppers that come in on the their second visit. This gives you and your team the opportunity to thank your mystery shoppers with a free or discounted item on their next visit. You can introduce mystery shoppers to a new product or service.
• we limit the number of times a household can participate. Each household gets one invitation to participate per year, greatly minimizing the opportunity for abuse.
• you can feel confident in the feedback results as there is little to no opportunity to manipulate the results with an employee inviting only happy customers to participate. You can feel comfortable tying bonuses and other incentive programs to positive results knowing that you are getting accurate information
• you have the ability to increase sales by improving your operations. By listening to and reacting to mystery shopper feedback, you improve the experience of each and every customer!

Thank you for choosing Preferred Feedback!