Anonymity is rule number one at Stealth Shopper!
All of our secret shoppers never reveal their identity, and we are all super discreet when it comes to reacting to bad service. Our main concern is to get into your business, observe what's going on while we are there, and then fill out a completely detailed report of our experience.

Each and every spy here at Stealth Shopper is so discreet and secretive, that none of your employees will ever know we were there. All they will remember about any of our spies is that they served a customer, and they will just assume that this customer was just that, and not a spy.

Therefore, the same secret shopper can return again and again into your business without ever being discovered. In fact, you won't even know which one of your customers was the spy, and you will never know. The only way you will ever even know that we were there is when you receive our detailed report! Now that's discreet and anonymous!

But there's so much more to what we do...

HOW DID IT START?
Well, a bunch of friends and I were sitting around one day and we noticed that a good part of some of our gatherings were plagued with conversations about how we were treated by visiting this or that store or business. Sadly, when it was all added up, we realized that we were just relaying one story after another, each in turn relating incidents of poor service, disrespect and sometimes downright rudeness from stores, restaurants, and service establishments.

We are generally a very positive group of people who really don't complain about much during our get togethers. But after spending so much time on this and that horror shopping story, we just knew that Los Angeles must be the rudest business city in the U.S. Finally, we reached some stark conclusions:

Face it, L.A. is a great place, but it is also inundated with a bunch of people who think that they are entitled to insult and otherwise disrespect their customers.

MORE STARK REALITIES

To really get to the nitty gritty of this matter, I feel that it is necessary to take off the kid gloves and speak frankly. Nothing I am going to say is meant to be rude or insulting. I am only going to do my best to shed light on things.

We L.A. customers regularly have to be exposed to extremely rude and unfriendly service, pretty much facing a front person or sales person giving off the vibe that we need their service or product, even though we are treated with disrespect and rudeness. Anyone with common sense knows that this bad service approach is a sure failure tactic. I mean, there's just too much competition in the Los Angeles area who do offer the same products and services and who also know how to treat a customer well.

THEY WILL GO SOMEWHERE ELSE... NEVER TO RETURN AGAIN!

Those customers who are treated badly will feel that they will not ever want to return to the bad business and that they should spend their money elsewhere. And they do!

It's really a strange phenomenon, because Los Angeles is not a small city, and there's no shortage of competition for any products or services here.

Nonetheless, a staggering amount of businesses did not seem to care about the customers who frequented their businesses. I purposesly used the word "did" in the last sentence because I want to illustrate that this is in the past sense. In other words, those are the businesses I saw, and will continue to see for that matter, go out of business. And rightfully so!

IT CAN'T BE THE BUSINESS OWNERS... IT JUST CAN'T BE!

But then, when I thought about it, I realized that surely the owners who set up their businesses to make money, did not hold a rudeness policy that it seemed many of their employees seemed to have.

I mean, who spends all kinds of money to get a business license, incorporation papers, finding rental space, and then, turns around and totally disrespect their customers? It became apparent that it was the employees who were the major problem.

When it was the actual owner of the business who had bad customer service policies, they fell to failure, thus opening up a space where a good business can set up shop and stay.

L.A. NEEDS TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE, NOW!

I am really embarrassed by bad businesses who give Los Angeles a bad name and really leave a bad impression to new comers and tourists. Embarrassed because I love Los Angeles but sometimes people think I am lying when I claim what a great place it is.

I love to brag about L.A., and I do it a lot. Then someone visits here and throws up in my face how rudely they have been treated by this or that business, not being impressed and otherwise not willing to return here ever again.

After seeing this for too long, I decided to do something about it. And that's exactly what I did. So I started Stealth Shopper in hopes of improving the quality of businesses around this area.

WHAT I'VE WITNESSED....AND DONE

I have lived in Los Angeles all of my life. And I have seen many business come and go. In fact, I have been responsible for lodging complaints to officials against very bad businesses, and I have been fortunate enough to see really bad businesses go out of business! And I did not shed a tear for them either!

If you are a concerned and professional business who respects their customers, pat yourself on the back, you should be proud of yourself. But... you must work hard to keep the customers you do have, as well as attract new ones. You will only do this if you have good employees representing your business. Employees who are going to make customers feel welcome and who make them feel like they want to return, with money to spend.

If you are one of those business owners who think that you can treat your customers badly and still stay in business, shame on you! I know what your future is, and it's not great, let me tell you. It would be hard to feel sorry for you when you go out of business, but I do feel sorry for all the customers who were insulted and belittled by your bad service.

POLITENESS PAYS!

Did you know that customers who have been treated politely spend more money then, and when they return again? It's just a fact.

If you are a business owner in the Los Angeles area who has made all the right moves so far, and so see the success of your business climbing steadily, it's most likely because you got in there and did all of the nuts and bolts work yourself. Now you are seeing your business fly, you are needing to hire more employees, or perhaps want to make sure that the employees you already have are on their mark in customer relations. Right?

You take quality control seriously and you truly believe that customer satisfaction is what's going to keep you in business, you should be working hard at keeping your customers happy, and limiting the amount of damage your employees do every day to your business with rude attitudes and outright disrespect to your customers.

Let our spy sneak into your business, get the info on how your employee is acting and send you a detailed report right to your email box (or post office box if you prefer).

Of course, you would also like to see that the choices you made in an employee were right, and we can find that out for you too :). Let me tell you, there's nothing better than getting back a great report on an employee you hired. It shows that you can make good decisions, and it's a great verifier of your gift of discernment.

Nothing pleases me more than being able to send businesses good reports about their employees. It means that L.A. service in businesses is improving. But, I am also pleased to be able to spot and report bad service.

WHY YOU NEED A SPY SHOPPER TO VISIT YOUR STORE...NO, YOUR FRIEND OR RELATIVE WON'T DO

You might not even know if an employee is rude or disrespectful to your customers. Why? Because whenever you are there they are so nice and polite to everyone. Right? It's called "covering their butt". And kiss ups to the boss are always great at covering their own butt. But when the boss is not around, that's a completely other story!

Even your friends that come into your store report back to you that so-and-so is such a great employee, are not reliable sources. Why? Because the employee knows your friends and knows how to behave in order to cover their own butt. But a casual observer can witness what happens before and after that friend comes into your business. In both cases, before in and after out, a bad employee's attitude does a complete 180.

In fact, an employee with bad customer relation tactics is going to be polite to any and every person they know you ever have even spoken to. Again I use the phrase "to cover their own butt". But by the same token, they are going to be rude and disrespectful to anyone you don't personally know, or who they feel would not likely complain to you.

True respect and politeness is hard to maintain if the person is a real jerk (and not truly concerned with your business, but only their own paycheck). But when no one is around and a customer enters your business establishment (someone who is not a friend, relative or neighbor of the boss), that is when true customer relations can be put to the test. Sure, your employee is going to treat your daughter, friend, and store neighbor great, they know that it's just a stone's throw to the complaint department (the owner's personal ear).

Customers to whom that rude employee has not established a rapport with are usually treated coldly, and as if the customer has to impress the employee. Some employees actually make bold statements in the vein of not liking this or that customer, as if their opinion about your customers is important at all!

I have seen such things happen quite often. An example is the employee who never says Thank You after a customer has made a purchase, but who will actually and with gall, expect a Thank You from the customer! This is just not acceptable to me. In fact, this "Thank You" issue is the one I hear most customers complain about, and it is the one that most clerks and service personnel never say, but expect the customers to say!

It is not up to your employee to have their ego needs met from your customers. Their utmost concern should be in attending to the customers that you spent all that money advertising to draw to your business. Those customers you paid to pull to your establishment should feel that they made the right decision coming there, and not like they regret ever going there!

A TYPICAL CUSTOMER ATTITUDE

"When I shop at a store, I don't have to say hello, how are you, or Thank You to any of your employees. But I damn well expect them to say such polite and accommodating things to me. Or I won't shop their anymore. Thankfully I have many other choices in the beautiful city in which I live, where I know that I will get polite greetings and excellent thank yous".

That's right. Most customers expect great service where they shop. And sure, some customers are extremely demanding and can themselves be quite rude. But remember that old adage "The customer is always right?", well, even if you don't believe this, the customer does. And they will gravitate towards businesses who treasure their patronage.

RISKY BUSINESS

Furthermore, it is not up to your employees to give your customers a lesson in manners by "putting them in their place". I have actually overheard some employees saying things like "I'm not taking that customer's crap!". Well, let them teach an etiquette class. Such employees do not belong in any business that plans to succeed.

Surely, no one has to put up with abuse from anyone. And this is where even we would draw the line when it comes to customer service. But even a downright verbally abusive customer may have been provoked by a rude and obnoxious clerk. So one should always examine the situation more closely when it comes to the way a customer is acting.

As I have already pointed out a few times, but feel that to repeat it is necessary to drive my point all the way home: Customers won't return to a store when another one offers better service!

Don't you want to be that other store with better service? Sure you do. I mean, if not, why did you even get your business in the first place? To make money, right? To get customers to like your place, right? To get them to come back, right?

The way to do it is that you need to make sure that the employees you leave in charge have their best face forward and act in a courteous, friendly and respectful way to your customers. Keeping an eye on them is the only way to insure that these needs will be met.

MORE ABOUT US

That's what we spy shoppers at Stealth Shopper do in Los Angeles. We visit businesses and shop and use services and then we send reports to the business who hired us. It gives them a secure feeling to know that while they are away, someone who is a third party interest is keeping a watch on things, when the employees don't know they are being watched!

We have many businesses who already use our service (we have been doing this service way before we put our business online), and let me tell you, they are very satisfied and use our services over and over again.

Face it, there are many shops that offer the same products and/or services as your business does, and if they have better customer service quality than your business does, guess who's going to get the customer's dollars and their repeat business?

I AM SO SURE!

I am sure that it is obvious to you that Los Angeles is filled with businesses who don't know how to treat their customers, or worse, don't even care about their customers. I am sure that if you have been here in L.A. for any length of time, that you have seen businesses come and go.

I am sure that it is because of bad business practices, one of which included bad customer service policies. Do you want to be just another business in L.A. who goes belly up? Or do you want that repeat business and customer recommendations?

SHOPPERS WHO NEVER COME BACK WILL ALWAYS BAD MOUTH A BAD BUSINESS

I know that just one incident from a rude clerk or front office person has made me never go back to a business, never, ever. I happen to know that there are many people like me who will not ever go back into a business just because of one bad incident where they were treated rude or outright abused by someone in that business. In fact, even after they have been apologized to, they will never step foot back in that business's door.

Do you want these kinds of incidents happening in your business? Do you really want people going around, telling their friends as well as anyone who will listen about some bad experience they had at your store? And let me tell you, if you took a business course, you know that word of mouth is very powerful.

The good news about word of mouth is that a customer who was treated with courtesy and politeness will say it loud and be your best advertisement! That's great, right? Rudeness costs. Politeness pays. It is really just that simple in business.

GOING OUT OF BUSINESS?

Don't make the mistake of thinking that there's such a big turnover in L.A. that you don't have to worry about dissatisfied customers. I have seen ex-business who feel this way. That's why they went out of business!

There are many businesses in this area who are polite, and who get the bucks I have that would have gone to another place had I not been insulted or ignored! I make it my policy to always talk about bad (and good) experiences in the businesses I frequent. How do you want to be remembered and talked about by your customers?

REPEAT BUSINESS IS WHAT KEEPS YOU IN BUSINESS

Surely you want to make happy customers and generate repeat business, if not, why did you start your business in the first place? To make money right? Well, happy customers come back again and again.

SPY SHOPPERS ARE VALUABLE

Spy shopping is a valuable service for people who are looking for a way to improve the quality control of their business. Keep tabs on your employee's actions even while you are not at your business. Send in one or more of our stealth shoppers to go in, do a normal business transaction or window shop, and then send a report directly to your email (or postal address). To read more about why you should hire a spy shopper (that is, if you are not already completely convinced) click here.

To check out our spies as well as to order our spy shopping service click here. If what you are looking for is to improve your service quality and to keep tabs on your employees, then ORDER A SPY NOW!

Thank you so much for considering us as your possible secret shopper service.

--- Sincerely, Kara - Stealth Shopper Admin

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