Bank Mystery Shopping

Hello,
I am fairly new to mystery shopping , but have being shopping in the retail market. Recently i have being looking to shop in the banking industry. Now i am about to get a shopping job with a big financial institution. They have asked me to provide them steps which we will take to carry out the mystery shopping for 10 of their branches. Especially to tell them/show them how we are going to validate the information given to us by the shoppers we send to the banks, in other words quality control and validation of the information. Finally they asked how we can guarantee the integrity of the shoppers we send to the banks, as there is a possibility they might be identified by the eployees and then approached to redoo or edit the report as they will bribe them with much higher returns compared to whatever we might be paying them.

So can anyone please advice on
1. How or what s the process of carrying out a bank mystery shopping exercise
2. How do we validate the information provided us by the mystery shoppers we send to the banks
3. finally how do we guarantee the integrity of the shoppers we send to the banks.

Would really appreciate any advice or responce.

Thanks

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So you are going to be running a mystery shopping program as a direct employee of the bank?

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

If you have done mystery shopping you must be aware of the Independent Contractor Agreements which shoppers must sign off on that indicates we will not disclose any information which the company feels are proprietary, so nobody can really answer your questions. You will also note from those Agreements (ICAs) that we agree not to be engaged as an employee of any Mystery Shopping Company for a period of usually two years after terminating our Agreement with them.

That being said, all banks do training and have expectations of their tellers and bankers. The majority of bank mystery shoppers are testing that bank employees are abiding by their training. So deciding what to test depends on what the bank most wants to check.

If you are talking about 10 banks, you are probably talking about a fairly small geographic area. You can possibly advertise locally for part time folks or even check with a temporary agency to find shoppers. As for verifying what they have reported, you need to discuss with shoppers what you need and how to do the observations and from your conversation decide whether you sense they are going to do what is needed or just produce a report they think is what you want to hear without actually performing the needed tasks.

I echo what Lisa says, seems you're going to be running a shopping program? Without ever having shopped a bank before? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I think Flash's advice is great, but still you need to put a few actual shops under your belt to figure out how are the banks evaluated. And more to his point - What do you want to evaluate? Depending on that the shop may get much more complex and expensive. I've seen bank shops paying anywhere from $15 to $250 per shop. I've done some of the most expensive ones and they're very detailed.

Get your feet wet first..... jumping in without a trial run is not easy.

Some banks you can talk the teller, but others want you to see a bank officer that can open accounts. When I do banks you have to get a name card to verify I was there.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2016 04:51AM by breestjon.

No am not an employee of the bank, I am an independent contractor. The job is going to be outsourced to me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2016 09:54AM by vdavid70.

this is a trial run, like i mentioned they are giving us 10 of their branches to try, its from our performance they will agree or not to give us jobs

@Flash wrote:

If you have done mystery shopping you must be aware of the Independent Contractor Agreements which shoppers must sign off on that indicates we will not disclose any information which the company feels are proprietary, so nobody can really answer your questions. You will also note from those Agreements (ICAs) that we agree not to be engaged as an employee of any Mystery Shopping Company for a period of usually two years after terminating our Agreement with them.

That being said, all banks do training and have expectations of their tellers and bankers. The majority of bank mystery shoppers are testing that bank employees are abiding by their training. So deciding what to test depends on what the bank most wants to check.

If you are talking about 10 banks, you are probably talking about a fairly small geographic area. You can possibly advertise locally for part time folks or even check with a temporary agency to find shoppers. As for verifying what they have reported, you need to discuss with shoppers what you need and how to do the observations and from your conversation decide whether you sense they are going to do what is needed or just produce a report they think is what you want to hear without actually performing the needed tasks.

Dont mean anyone should disclose information to me. All i need assistance with is the process for doing Mystery shopping for banks. As i mentioned earlier i have done retail mystery shopping, but this is the first bank shopping i am going to do so i need help. The banks will give us a document on what they are looking to test in their banks and employees , so thats pretty straight forward. But their concern is how do we verify/validate information submitted by our shoppers; for example if one branch has a rating of 45% and another according to another shopper rates another branch at 95%; how do we know this is a true representation of the state of the bank branch and how do we verify that information.
Finally, some shoppers might be identified by the employees of the bank as a mystery shopper and then approached and offered a lump sum to change their report (as a negative report on the bank or employee will affect their career in the bank), how do we guarantee that this never happens and how do we verify their integrity.

@LisaSTL wrote:

So you are going to be running a mystery shopping program as a direct employee of the bank?

No i am not a direct employee of the bank. I am an independent contractor, the bank will outsourse the mystery shopping exercise to us.

Sounds like he/she is acting as the MSC for this one, if there is no intermediary between the poster and the bank management team. Looks like we are being asked to help set up a trial MS program for the poster to manage.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

I'm confused by how the comments say I/me and then we/us.

IMO, you should get some experience mystery shopping banks before trying to set up the program. You have sold yourself as the expert to the bank. Trying a variety of shops for different clients through several MSCs will give you an idea of what is needed.

The original scenario posted by the OP just seems "off" to me. Anyone else getting that vibe?

Why would a financial institution offer such a project to someone who is new to mystery shopping and only has retail experience?

The mention of bribes in two different posts by the OP, one in which the bribe is "much higher returns" and in the other the bribe is a "lump sum" don't gel with banking shops in the US.

The odd grammar/syntax/style of the posts (sorry, couldn't think of the right word) makes me think this is someone outside the US or English is their second language.

IF, this a legitimate request then the OP is barking up the wrong tree. (S)He would need to talk to MSC's to find out how they structure their programs, verify our reports, etc.

I used to see a life coach pretty regularly.... back when they were called bartenders.

I can't imagine why a bank would outsource a mystery shopping program to someone who doesn't have experience with bank shops, or why someone with no experience in this area would take on something like this.

We are all here on earth to help others....What on earth the others are here for I don't know.

--W. H. Auden

If I was selling my services as a mystery shopping company I wouldn't present my lack of experience

Since we have visitors from all over the world, it is entirely possible the OP is from another country. It also doesn't mean the inquiry is anything other than what is stated. I do agree choosing a forum made up primarily of shoppers is not the way to go. Few of us have experience on the other side of the business. While performing some bank shops for several clients with different needs would supply the shopper perspective, he/she still needs to speak with someone else for the business perspective.

The idea of bribes is not so far fetched. Over the years I have heard of it happening. Most of the time it was the reverse of what the OP suggested where the shopper was offering a good report in exchange for money. Since we have visitors from all over the world, it is entirely possible the OP is from another country.

@KimRod wrote:

The original scenario posted by the OP just seems "off" to me. Anyone else getting that vibe?

Why would a financial institution offer such a project to someone who is new to mystery shopping and only has retail experience?

I was wondering that also. Makes no sense. If this is truly legit (and that's a somewhat big "if"

, I just scratch my head wondering what sales pitch they gave the financial institution to get this work! Submit a mystery shop bid for a financial institution without even knowing how you will conduct the shop, much less validate the data? I realize financial institutions have a higher degree of oversight than other industries...but it sounds like they don't even know how to validate ANY data, for ANY industry. They can't be that different, can they? For example, most shops I have seen posted have comments about clients validating your time there, etc.. If this OP has truly done "some shopping" in the retail market, then they would already have some idea. The fact that they are asking such basic questions like this make me think they have no clue what really goes on in a mystery shop.

After reading the first post again, it appears the OP is in the beginning stage of negotiations for the contract. The bank has shown interest in the concept of mystery shopping their locations and now wants the details. Most mystery shoppers know if the shop parameters allow for a natural interaction getting outed is rare as is a target attempting to bribe us. These sound more like questions a business unfamiliar with MS would ask. It also gives me the impression the program presentation was lacking. Ideally mystery shopping would be presented as a training opportunity rather than something negative which is designed to get employees in trouble. When a program is administered as a positive, the employee has no reason to consider bribing the shopper.

@LisaSTL wrote:

If I was selling my services as a mystery shopping company I wouldn't present my lack of experience Since we have visitors from all over the world, it is entirely possible the OP is from another country. It also doesn't mean the inquiry is anything other than what is stated. I do agree choosing a forum made up primarily of shoppers is not the way to go. Few of us have experience on the other side of the business. While performing some bank shops for several clients with different needs would supply the shopper perspective, he/she still needs to speak with someone else for the business perspective.

The idea of bribes is not so far fetched. Over the years I have heard of it happening. Most of the time it was the reverse of what the OP suggested where the shopper was offering a good report in exchange for money. Since we have visitors from all over the world, it is entirely possible the OP is from another country.

I should probably clarify my question regarding the OP being from another country, as I don't want to come across like a xenophobe. If the OP is from another country, then seeking out the information from those with US banking experience may be irrelevant to their needs.

And while I have read here about shoppers being offered bribes in various situations, I would think that it would be extremely unlikely in a financial institution shop. This could just be my naivete, though.

Regardless, the whole thing still seems "off" to me. Whether that is because it is a legitimate request coming from outside the US where things are done differently or because it is someone trying to get information for nefarious reasons, I cannot tell. ~shrug~ Maybe the OP will come back and give more details.

I used to see a life coach pretty regularly.... back when they were called bartenders.

@LisaSTL wrote:

After reading the first post again, it appears the OP is in the beginning stage of negotiations for the contract. The bank has shown interest in the concept of mystery shopping their locations and now wants the details. Most mystery shoppers know if the shop parameters allow for a natural interaction getting outed is rare as is a target attempting to bribe us. These sound more like questions a business unfamiliar with MS would ask. It also gives me the impression the program presentation was lacking. Ideally mystery shopping would be presented as a training opportunity rather than something negative which is designed to get employees in trouble. When a program is administered as a positive, the employee has no reason to consider bribing the shopper.

I think Lisa on target here. This sounds like someone who is trying to sell himself as a pro and win a contract that he isn't qualified to perform. He's hoping to get enough information on an internet shopper forum to be able to put together a program plan and bluff his way into a contact.

If you want to "validate" what happened and prove the integrity of the shopper, you record the interaction.

~
up, up, down, down, left, right,left,right, B,A, start.

KimRod, the idea was not to imply you are being a xenophobe so please don't take that way. Just the OP might not be thinking the vast majority of our shoppers are from the U.S. and Canada or the basic requirements of banking shops would be universal.

I find the post off! Something is wrong with how the whole banking questions are asked. First of all we sign contracts so that we don't give out information. I have shopped over 1000 banks to get the experience I have today. I can't imagine anyone with no experience having anything to do with a program like this. We don't validate ourselves the Mystery Shopping Companies do.

Ok, so I'm going to venture a theory, and apologize in advance if I offend vdavid70 in the process if he really is a legit shopper.

The whole thing also smells of to me - And knowing about the scams in the MS world, it sounds to me he/she is planning to approach the branches as a shopper, "revealing" himself as a shopper, showing some fake list of non-compliant items, and then saying it could be fixed in exchange of a fee. A little social engineering goes long ways.

So here we are, being tested on how to build the list and whether the banks will be willing to offer a bribe.

As I said above, if I'm wrong, I'm sorry. But then if I'm wrong I pity the bank you offered their services to claiming to be an MS expert.

If the OP is wanting to start his/her own mystery shopping company with a specialty in bank shops, I will be more than happy to help. But I charge for my services and I doubt the OP can afford me.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Personally I think the OP some how or another stumbled onto a MS contract with a bank and now he's trying to setup an MSC with no clue what he's doing.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Ask the bank to agree to video shopping. It is difficult for a bank shop to be misinterpreted when it is on video.

This is the feeling I get too, that someone is trying to start a MSC with a bank, with no banking shopping experience. "Now i am about to get a shopping job with a big financial institution. They have asked me to provide them steps which we will take to carry out the mystery shopping for 10 of their branches." I am sorry OP, but why would a MS customer, ask you to provide them steps, details, how to's and free information, on how to do a mystery shop? They hire shopping companies to do that, and usually the MSPA owner of the MSC is the one that meets with the CEO/Owners who make hire/fire decisions. That is what is the most puzzling about this to me. I worked as a bookkeeper for a MSC for a while, so I know everything that goes into setting up, billing, reporting, and tracking customers. It is a huge business, and not something they would consult an IC for. Sorry, again, I am just puzzled about this.

If I was an employee of a bank that had recently mystery shopped me, and gotten a bad report, I might come on here posing as an interested party, to gather information on how to fight it with my employer, or even on a legal basis.

@OCyou2 wrote:

If I was an employee of a bank that had recently mystery shopped me, and gotten a bad report, I might come on here posing as an interested party, to gather information on how to fight it with my employer, or even on a legal basis.

I think that's a good theory too! Maybe he bribed someone?

Hmmm, i take it all this forum is for is to insult, accuse, criticize etc, without necessarily offering any help. But its ok, i take all this on as i brought it on myself. I have been honest here and have stated the situation as it is. I already said i am new to bank shops, i live outside the US or Europe like someone suggested, am not an employee of any bank. I am aware of the way mystery shopping is carried out in retail and M-Shoppers are validated just thought might be different in the banking sector, hence my asking. All i am is someone looking for help with this new gig.

So if you have no advice or help to offer on the issue , i suggest we end it here instead of using this platform to trade words. Thanks again for all your insults, accusations etc.

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