It’s Like Money in the Bank:

Figuring Out Financial Mystery Shops

(Banks, Brokers &Credit Unions)

There are certain distinctions between banking and investment shops, and of course, there are

differences between companies, clients, and projects. We’re going to focus on financial shops as they

relate to current projects managed by Integrity Consultants, but many of these concepts will translate

easily to other projects. Remember, though, to always follow shop guidelines and instructions for the

project, as what we’re discussing here may not apply.

Common Similarities

Rotation Schedule: How often a shopper may return to the same location.

This usually is a minimum of one calendar year, or 365 days for most financial shops, but some shops,

like teller and general information shops may have rotations of 1-6 months. The reason for this is to help

avoid and minimize the occurrence of shopper detection. Keep in mind the type of shop and how often a

typical customer would return to a location for that service. For example, a teller shop might be done

weekly or monthly without attracting attention, but a checking account inquiry would not normally occur

more often than once per year, and targeted financial services shops may have rotations of 2-5 years.

Types of Shops:

Bank, Broker, & Credit Union Shops:

There are 2 Categories of Bank Shop: In-Person and Telephone shops, and 3 common subcategories of

Bank shop: Teller or Counter shops, Drive-Through shops, and most commonly, Non-Teller Shops,

where the focus and ultimate goal is a conversation and/or interaction with a Bank Employee and where a

Teller or Counter shop is avoided. The employee evaluated may be a Branch Manager, Mortgage

Lending Officer (MLO), Personal Banker or other Banking Representative. This is most commonly the

case when talking about Checking Account Inquiry Shops and also applies to Mortgage and Home Equity

Lending Inquiries.

Investment Services/Financial Services Shops:

Again, there are 2 categories: In-Person and Telephone Shops, with 3 main subcategories: Financial

Advisor, Platform Representative, and Wealth Management Shops. Please note that a Financial

Advisor (FA) might also be referred to as a Financial Consultant (FC), and a Platform Representative

(PR) might also be referred to as a Licensed Bank Employee (LBE) or Financial Services Investment

Officer (FSIO). Wealth Management (WM) might also be referred to as Private Banking, and a Wealth

Advisor might be referred to as a Private Client Advisor (PCA) or Business Development Officer (BDO).

The types of securities products offered and the licenses held by the Representative dictate whether the

Representative is an FA/FC or LBE/PR/FSIO. Trust Agency Representatives are another title commonly

seen, and those representatives may be licensed to sell insurance and other products often associated

with a Wealth Advisor. The dollar amount of the investments that the Representative handles typically

classifies the FA/FC as a Wealth Management Representative. A shopper performing a Wealth

Management shop would need to be comfortable portraying a scenario in which he or she had up to a

million dollars in investable assets: checking, savings, CDs, Money Market Accounts, 401(k), and/or IRA.

Since there are many different concepts that go into executing one of the above shops, we typically hold

one hour briefing calls to coincide with the written client requirements guide in order to cover all the

information necessary for one of these types of shops. Today, I’d like to help you build a strong

foundation and understanding of these types of shops, so I’m going to focus on concepts that relate to

both Bank and Investment shops. The below concepts are those that tend to be the most confusing to

shoppers and the most commonly mentioned in feedback and coaching.

Scenario:

The scenario is the shopper’s primary responsibility. A scenario should be developed ahead of time,

before a shop is attempted, and it should fall within parameters included in the client requirements guide.

When filling out the scenario portion of your report form, this should be inputted ahead of time with the

information you were prepared to give, not after the shop was completed with the information that was

asked. Your scenario is made up of your name, address, marital status, income, occupation, investment

or banking experience, current accounts or assets and net worth that you’ll be portraying for the shop. It

also includes whether you should be interested in refinancing or mortgage/auto lending, and the features

you use with your current financial institution, such as direct deposit, online banking, and online bill pay.

Parameters for your particular shop will be outlined in the client requirements guide, and you can talk to

your Project Manager about developing your scenario if you are unsure.

Know When to Hold ‘Em, Prompting Employees During a Shop:

Know ahead of time if you are required to ask general knowledge questions, such as, “What is the time frame for loan approval?” before you attempt your shop. In some cases, the shopper is required to ask specific questions if the information is not volunteered. For example, a shopper may be asked to inquire about an interest rate for a lending shop, a particular purchase option for an automotive shop, or menu options for a hospitality shop. There are some cases, though, when the shopper should, "Let the shop happen to them" and not volunteer scenario details or prompt the employee in any way, when they should "Hold on" to those details, answering appropriately and without hesitation when asked but not "laying it all out on the table" so to speak.

This is lovingly referred to in the industry as a "data dump" and should be avoided. For example, if an employee asks if you have bank accounts at another financial institution, you might just respond with a simple, "Yes," allowing the employee to ask follow up questions and "uncover" those details throughout the needs assessment process. When we volunteer such information, we change the employee's behavior in many ways. We don't allow them to do their jobs, and we also may get ahead of their presentation. When this happens, employees may forget to do things that they normally would have done, discuss a topic that they normally would not have, or otherwise behave differently. Changes like this skew reporting results and also give us extremes. Where every other shopper on a particular project is portraying a standardized scenario and following the guidelines not to prompt, the shopper who does prompt now has a different experience.

Shops like this are typically done in cases where the client wants to evaluate the skill sets demonstrated on the employee's own, without any leading or prompting by the shopper, or when the goal is a standardized result. Make sure to read your shop guidelines carefully and ask your scheduler if you are unsure about this.

Features vs. Benefits:

When we talk about a feature, we are talking about a feature of a product, such as direct deposit, online

banking or online bill pay being included with a particular account. For investment, it might be tax-deferral

that is associated with a particular mutual fund or fixed annuity, or a death benefit. It’s a feature that

comes with the product. A benefit, however, is something intangible. When we discuss a benefit, we’re

not talking about how an account or annuity might benefit you, but rather how a particular feature with

benefit you as a customer. For example, you might get an increased sense of security that comes from

having the free safety deposit box to store your important documents. You might have the benefit of

convenience that comes from online banking, being able to check your balances and transfer funds

online. You might save money by using online bill pay, because you don’t have to go to the post office to

buy stamps. These are all examples of how a feature of a product or account can benefit a potential

customer.

Reporting:

Remember to save our work often. For this discussion, we’re going to focus on Prophet, but again, these

are concepts that can translate from one reporting system to another. This can be done by clicking the

“Save my work for now” button visible at the bottom or top, right corner of your screen while completing

your report. Prophet will time-out at 30 minutes but will trigger a pop-up reminding you to save your work.

However, shoppers who have their browsers set to block pop-ups will not see this reminder. It’s also

possible for the system to time-out due to interaction with Java and other programs that may be on your

computer, so it’s a good rule of thumb to save your work at least once per section or more often if you

have a particularly long section to write or might get interrupted. It’s a good idea to get in the habit of

saving every 15 minutes.

Save a copy of your narratives in a Word document or email draft. This is an extra precaution that can

help preserve your work in cases of power surges and technical malfunctions. These tips will not only

save time and frustration but also protect the integrity of your report. Generally speaking, our narratives

are the most detailed and the most accurate the first time we write them, so you want to take every

precaution to protect the data and information contained within them.

Recipe for a Great Narrative:

Your report is broken up into sections in order to help you to know what to write about and also to present

a chronological or logical pattern of information. It’s important to understand that the client does not

always see the answers to the numbered questions. In general, these techniques will help you to write a

more detailed narrative.

Use the numbered questionnaire items as a guide. There is a section for everything you want to talk

about. So progress systematically from top to bottom; write about only those items in the narrative

section, and then move on. If you get to the end of your report and still have more to say, put the narrative

in the most appropriate place and ask your Project Manager or Editor for feedback.

Don’t get ahead of yourself. The most common cause of frustration when writing narratives is that the

shopper feels it is taking too long, or that they are being redundant. If you feel like, “I already said that” or,

“Didn’t we already cover this?” then chances are, you’ve written it in the wrong place.

Address each of the numbered questions in writing. This is called, “Providing written narrative support.”

You’re supporting why you answered a particular question the way that you did. This is typically done in

1-3 sentences, but it doesn’t necessarily mean writing a book, either. For example, if I’ve checked that,

“Yes” the employee stood, “Yes” the employee smiled, and “Yes” the employee shook my hand, and

“Yes” the employee introduced him/herself, then I need to write a sentence that reads, “When I entered

the branch, Sally stood, smiled, shook my hand, and introduced herself.”

Write your narratives like a recipe. You can open a cook book and reproduce the prefect chocolate cake,

right? So, write your narratives in such a way that the person coming along behind you, whether it’s the

Project Manager, Client, or Editor, could answer the numbered questionnaire items just by reading your

narratives. That’s the “Recipe for a Great narrative.”

Last, but certainly not least, make use of your resources. We provide live conference calls for client

requirements briefing. This call should be attended after reading the written client requirements guide to

get the most benefit out of the experience. Come armed with your questions, and make sure you are

comfortable before you attempt your shop. If you’ve been provided with a video link, PowerPoint modules,

or a direct line to your Project Manager, use these resources also. In addition, Integrity Consultants has

developed the resource Market Research Pros where you can find job posts from many industry

providers, informative articles, including an upcoming deeper insight into investment services products

and shops, and discussion topics. You can also network with shoppers, schedulers, and providers. You’ll

find this group on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/MarketResearchPros/ and are also

invited to visit the Integrity Consultants Facebook Page at: http://www.facebook.com/Integrity.Consultants

where you will find even more great articles, tips, and discussions. Ask questions, get comfortable,

objectively review any feedback offered, and share your experiences and expertise for a successful

shopping experience. As our company motto says, “Your Success is Our Success!”® Truly.