Service sleuths set to cry foul for customer

Dec 3 2007 by Chris Knox, The Journal

BUSINESSES in the North-East are to be investigated by a new mystery shopping service that seeks to improve their customer service.

Service Detectives is the brainchild of small Newcastle-based business consultancy Zest Innovation and has already been tested on new restaurant chain Flatbread Café.

Zest wants to recruit more than 100 undercover detectives next year to visit North-East retailers in order to uncover bad service, with plans to roll out the service throughout the UK in the next few years.

Laura Williams, managing director of Zest, said: “Through working with our clients on other projects, we discovered that businesses find it particularly challenging to analyse their service from their customers’ point of view and could therefore benefit from a team of mystery shoppers capable of providing detailed analysis of the customer experience.”

Service Detectives have already evaluated the level of service at the Flatbread Café on High Bridge in Newcastle in its first few weeks in business – ahead of owner Hossain Rezaei’s plans to open another five North-East sites over the next two years.

Mr Rezaei said: “Flatbread Café intends to stand out in a really competitive market by providing world-class cuisine and world-class service. We are trying to create a fantastic customer experience.

“Our relationship with the Service Detectives will help us ensure our customers get a higher class of service.

“The report we received from them has been a powerful tool, informing the structure for our internal and external customer-service strategy.”

Zest says that it has been approached by a number of high-street businesses since reviewing Flatbread, and now is looking to compile detailed reports on their service standards.

To help generate inquiries for the Service Detectives business, Zest has created the Red Card service, which consumers can order from the company’s website.

Anyone who has suffered from bad service can hand the offending business the red card, which includes instructions on how they could benefit from Service Detectives.

Zest was set up by Laura Williams and Nina Belk in 2005 after the two met at Northumbria University while studying a design course.

The firm, which also includes service designer Helen Jamieson, helps businesses design new and innovative services.

Laura said: “From our experiences on the Design for Industry course, we began to realise there was a huge potential to improve the relationships organisations have with their clients through the services they offer.

“Service detectives will help businesses improve these services once they have been established and ensure they stay one step ahead of their competitors.”