Analyzing Ourselves? 3rd party secret shoppers.

by | Aug 31, 2014 | Blog, Uncategorized

Last October during the government shut down, I hired a firm to secretly shop my company Washmydeck.com as well as our chief competitors: Bryant’s Pressure Washing, B and A Pressure Washing, Power Wash Plus. We chose those companies over others because of the visibility of their advertising, time in business and pressure washing being their main business.

My goal was simple, see what we are doing well, see what our competitors are doing well. Maximize our strengths and improve upon our weaknesses.

I found it difficult to compare our deck restoration services to pressure washing companies because we are focused on stripping, washing, sanding, staining, board replacements, while our competitors have a more limited service offering. Never the less, it was important to survey like industries to improve our customer service.

I asked the shopper to ask the following question, I felt these are the questions that our customers care most about, so they were asked of each company:

  1. Do they have live phone answerers and are they courteous?
  2. Do they do an in-person assessment?
  3. How prompt are they to go out to do an assessment?
  4. How is their presentation?
  5. Do they offer you choices/ give you recommendations?
  6. Do they have a follow up process?
  7. How would you grade them on professionalism?
  8. What is their pricing?

[Note: Shoppers deck was an average size of 14×16]

Here’s who was called, and the order they were called in:

  • Bryant’s Power Wash
  • B&A Power Wash
  • Power Wash Plus
  • Wash my deck

Phone answerer’s enthusiasm and initiative to obtain my business

  • Bryant’s- 2nd
  • B&A Power Wash- 4th
  • Power Wash Plus- 1st
  • Wash my deck- 3rd

Courtesy

  • Bryant’s- Tie-2nd
  • B&A Power Wash-3rd
  • Power Wash Plus-1st
  • Wash my deck- Tie-2nd

Layout and readability of estimate

  • Bryant’s- N/A
  • B&A Power Wash-N/A
  • Power Wash Plus-2nd
  • Wash my deck- 1st

Assessment Promptness

  • Bryant’s- N/A, since they only do over the phone assessments.
  • B&A Power Wash-N/A, since they only do over the phone assessments.
  • Power Wash Plus-2nd
  • Wash my deck- 1st

Stain choices

  • Bryant’s- 3rd
  • B&A Power Wash-N/A
  • Power Wash Plus-2nd
  • Wash my deck- 1st

Follow-up process

  • Bryant’s- Tie-3rd
  • B&A Power Wash- Tie-3rd
  • Power Wash Plus-2nd
  • Wash my deck- 1st

Website

  • Bryant’s- 3rd
  • B&A Power Wash- 4th
  • Power Wash Plus-2nd
  • Wash my deck- 1st

Pricing

  • Bryant’s- 3rd
  • B&A Power Wash- 2nd
  • Power Wash Plus-Tie-1st
  • Wash my deck- Tie-1st

What is overall impression? Which one would you likely use?

Bryant’s- Voting Tally

  • First Place- 0
  • Second Place- 2
  • Third Place- 4
  • Fourth Place-0

B&A- Voting Tally

  • First Place- 0
  • Second Place- 1
  • Third Place- 2
  • Fourth Place-2

Power Wash Plus- Voting Tally

  • First Place- 3
  • Second Place- 5
  • Third Place- 0
  • Fourth Place-0

Wash My Deck- Voting Tally

  • First Place- 6
  • Second Place- 1
  • Third Place- 1
  • Fourth Place- 0