Tag: confero

CARY, N.C. – Confero, Inc. (https://www.conferoinc.com), a national customer experience measurement firm, has announced that president and CEO Elaine Buxton was a preliminary judge for the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Buxton was one of 93 business professionals worldwide selected as a judge for the world's premier customer service awards, contact center awards and sales awards. The 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were presented on Monday, Feb. 27 in a ceremony at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

“Our entire team was so proud to receive the Stevie Award for Customer Service Consulting Practice of the Year last year,” said Buxton. “This year, I thoroughly enjoyed serving as a judge. There are so many firms executing on well-planned customer service strategies. The nominees were indeed

Steady customer traffic is what every retail company wants in its stores, but do companies perform as well during the unexpected busy times as they do for the expected high-volume periods?

Companies benefit from an increased number of customer visits only if associates meet customer demands during the rush.  To do this, companies need to prepare an approach and strategy to adapt for larger crowds.  Companies anticipate busy times, such as the holidays, by stocking up with the right items, carrying items within the appropriate price ranges and learning from past holiday trends about which items to carry and how many.   As Inc.com points out, some companies prepare well for the fast-paced holiday selling time by instructing employees to be honest about possible wait times.

Companies can realize unanticipated rewards when they change their approach to how shoppers gather the information or add mystery shop sections. As the examples below illustrate, the rewards may include improved safety measures and even the discovery of website pitfalls, to name two.

For an automotive client, adding non customer service questions to the mystery shopper survey resulted in valuable data and potential savings in safety-related areas for the company.  The company consulted with other departments to gain ideas on areas that mystery shoppers should assess at their locations. In response, Confero added several safety-related questions to the survey.  Following the visits with the added survey questions, management was able to quickly view mystery shop results through a secure web-based reporting system, including the information about safety procedures. The results: fast data on safety deficiencies at certain locations as well as decreased number of accidents, due to the increased accountability that the mystery shop program created. You can view other stories on our Automotive Mystery Shopping and Customer Experience Research Case Studies page.

It was my pleasure to appear in a television commercial for TrustAtlantic Bank, a client and Confero's business banking partner. TrustAtlantic Bank focuses on assisting mid-market businesses, business owners and individuals with their financial needs. Two video spots were produced. In the 90-second version, I had an opporutnity to explain why TrustAtlantic Bank has been a reliable partner in building Confero’s business. A shorter 30-second version has been used in television advertising.  Jim Beck, president and CEO of TrustAtlantic Bank.

Confero, Inc. would like to send a big thank you out to all of the mystery shoppers who helped us complete thousands of on-the-spot rewards shops this summer!  Mystery shoppers conducted these shops at amusement parks, movie theaters, casual dining restaurants, fast-food restaurants, and airports.

We got a lot of great feedback from our mystery shoppers about conducting this type of mystery shop.  If you have had reservations about trying a prize reveal shop, see what other mystery shoppers have said:

“It felt great to be able to award the successful cashier with the gift card.  The cashier told me that he had been working for this company for sixteen years and it was nice to know he is appreciated.” – Kelly M., California