In today's fiercely competitive times it's more important than ever to ensure that your sales are maximized, guest satisfaction is 100%, and profits are not seeping out the back door. Since 1954, Mercantile Systems and Surveys has used trained agents to observe the activity of your employees from the perspective of your customers. A "mystery-shopping" program is an excellent tool that offers constructive, unbiased critique of your day-to-day operations. It's also a great way to evaluate your staff and identify those who exceed expectations.

Customer Research Surveys
Speech through the feet is the way customers verbalize their complaints about a service. Customer complaints about the dining experience often go unknown. Our Customer Research Surveys, or mystery shops, are a proactive approach to uncover unseen problems and fix them before your customers leave and don't return.

Our database of over 17,000 mystery shoppers visit restaurants around the country and give in-depth details about their dining and/or bar experiences, including host/hostess interactions, food service, food quality, environment, cleanliness, hospitality and salesmanship, safety and security. Our Customer Research Surveys help ensure:

• Better employee conduct
• Smoother transactions and procedures
• Proper product presentation and upselling
• Employee recognition, and customer satisfaction

If you could generate an additional $200,000 in revenues at each store each year and if your employees could earn an extra $1500 in tips a year, is that something you would be interested in finding out about?

Integrity Shopping
Daily exposure teaches your employees the in's and out's of your bar's operational systems. Loopholes and gaps in these systems provide dishonest or greedy employees opportunities to commit fraud and theft. Integrity Surveys are professional investigations that identify and isolate individuals who are taking a bite out of your bottom line or your customers' value. Our specially selected and trained evaluators audit:

• Transaction systems
• Quality, service and cleanliness
• Drink preparations
• ABC law violations
• Employee disposition

Reports
Complete with easy to understand graphs and charts, Mercantile Systems & Surveys' thorough reports provide you with a qualitative and unbiased perspective of your business through the eyes & ears of your customer base. Our reports are:

• Backed by our California Private Investigative License PI13688
• Supported as evidence in a legal forum
• Detailed narrative of the shopping event
• Confidential
• Observational and unbiased
• Quantifiable quality perceptions
• Measurements and benchmarks for improvement
• Responsive and timely
• Comparable by store, division, area and region

How Do I Get Started?

For more information on how to put Mercantile Systems & Surveys to work for you, contact them today! And be sure to download a special gift certificate for Trade Secrets members and guests.