Secret shopping is a great strategy to learn about the competition. One of my job responsibilities as a district manager for a wireless retail chain was to check out our competition by secret shopping them. Not only did this strategy generate sales approaches to counter our competition’s punches, it allowed us to adopt new innovative ideas and discredit others used by the competition.

Secret shopping also was used to train new employees. Like self storage, the wireless phone industry is highly competitive and the sales process is very intimidating to new hires. It takes time for new hires to find their niche and to feel comfortable on the sales floor or on a sales call. Secret shopping the competition allows them to understand the sales process from the customer’s viewpoint. Secret shopping a few competitors was encouraged to compare different sales approaches. Not all sales people and companies have the same standards and style, so it was important for the new hire to define what works and what doesn’t work.

After secret shopping, the new employee would report back to me and give a report about the experience. Together we would review his opinions of likes and dislikes compared to our expectations. Most likely I had already secret shopped the company before; therefore, I had a good idea of the secret shopping experience that the new hire practiced. As the saying goes, two minds are better than one, but more than two is even better. From the manager’s point of view, there is a lot that I learned from the experience too. Witnessing many different sales scripts allows you to pick out what you like and implement them in your own sales script.

Secrete shopping also was used as a weapon to counter customer’s gripes about our company compared to our competition. We were never involved in getting caught in a price war. If we did, we would have failed. As a smaller chain most of our competition was large retailers who bought in huge quantities for a cheaper price. On the contrary, we could only afford to buy enough inventories to stock one storage room shelf. So we had to sell value over price. Since our stores were specialized in wireless products, so was our sales team. Just like in the self storage industry, our company specializes in storage, so should our employees. In the wireless phone industry, we were not just a sales force, rather a place to get professional help on all wireless communication products. The same goes with self storage; self storage property managers should not take just reservations, but be a total storage consultant. This is why secret shopping is important whether you are checking out the competition or using it for sales training. By identifying competitive sales strategies you can act on them when they are dealt to you.

Most likely your competition is selling the same exact storage space as you. Sometimes there are differences, but not always. So to avoid getting into a price war, know how your competition is selling a self storage unit and counter on that.  

For more information about secret shopping, mystery shopping, or if you want to learn how to secret shop visit one of PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blogs or mystery shopping blogs .

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