Lets go undercover!

The thought came to me, that I have actually participated in a mystery shopping exercise before.

Last semester, I did THE MOST AMAZING course, called Quality Service Management. For our final project, we had to select an organization, carry out mystery shopping exercises and fill out a template given to us by our lecturer.

I found this very exciting as I got a first hand look at how unsuspecting workers in organizations can be and how obviously they expose their flaws when communicating.

My group chose Jamaica National Building Society. I vividly remember the day I walked into the Mortgage Centre in New Kingston, prancing around stating that I would like to acquire a loan to purchase an apartment in the Phase II Country Club Complex in Portmore.

I remember the agent looking at me with confusion, because to some, I do not look a day older than 18 years old (I'm actually 22 this year :D ). She asked what was my income, and of course I had to make it even more difficult for her, so I stated that it was JA$40,000 monthly.

Now, it is impossible for me to acquire a loan for a $9 million apartment with an income of only $40,000. I remember during the interview, she blatantly answered her phone in front of me and prolonged a conversation with no apology.
At that time, it made me wonder if I were a different person, would she be doing that? The attitude I was getting from her for the entire consultation was that I shouldn't waste her time or my time, because I cannot afford it. She was hypocritically helpful however, as she tried to maintain some form of professionalism.

Personally, I think that mystery shopping should be carried out more frequently in Jamaican organizations as there is a tendency for workers to slack off, and stray from accepted behaviour. You will sometimes see workers arguing with customers, and you may also hear 300 different instructions for one query.
Especially in the banks, there are countless times I see tellers on their BlackBerrys sometimes even peeking at it during transactions with customers.

They need to be held accountable, and they need a constant reminder that a customer pays attention to how one communicates with them and spreads their experience to four-folds of people. This can be both beneficial and detrimental to an organization.

By utilizing mystery shopping, it is a first step to correcting the myriad of communication deficiences within our Jamaican organizations.