The event, which was held at the Cambridge Student Union Debating Chamber [on Thursday evening], was attended by representatives from city centre businesses that all signed up to have their staff and service rated anonymously in Cambridge BID’s Mystery Shop programme.
This year, nearly 200 businesses - more than twice as many as last year - signed up to take part in the programme – a sign of the growing commitment Cambridge businesses have to deliver excellent service to their customers.
The first round, which took place this spring, involved 196 businesses compared to 90 last year. A second round of mystery shopping followed in the summer.
All the businesses were assessed on the same criteria: selling skills, staff attitude, store standards, welcome, goodbye, appearance and local as well as product knowledge. Cambridge BID commissioned independent market research organisation, Storecheckers to undertake the extensive mystery shopping programme.
Ian Sandison, Chairman of Cambridge BID, said: “Excellent customer service is key to a business’s continuing success and I am delighted that so many businesses in Cambridge recognise this and are making such an out-and-out commitment to their customers.
“In a world where online shopping is growing, it is the personal service offered on the high street that keeps people coming into stores and reinforces the relevance of the high street.
“This is why the Mystery Shop programme, which is all about improving personal service, is so vital to what Cambridge has to offer.
“The fact that the number of businesses signing up to Cambridge BID’s programme has doubled demonstrates the belief and commitment these businesses are putting in their staff and service. This is the level of excellence we have now come to expect from businesses in Cambridge.”
The winners for Best Overall Customer Experience 2016 across 12 categories were:
- Café: Hot Numbers
“A great venue with a great product, a captivating atmosphere and with great staff… My lasting impression of the service was that the colleague was attentive, genuinely friendly and engaging, knowledgeable about the products and enthusiastic about their job and serving me.” - Restaurant/Late Night Venue: Butch Annie’s
“The place was well organised and the food was fresh and tasty. The service was knowledgeable and efficient and therefore I would return and recommend the venue.” - Independent Business – Fashion & Beauty: Prohibido Lingerie
The staff member who served me has the ‘wow’ factor when it comes to service. I could have stayed there all day and, if I could have, I would have purchased every single item she recommended.” - Independent Business – Other: Cambridge Framing & Mirror Centre
"The colleague was both friendly and professional. She gave me all the help and information I needed and she treated me like a valued customer." - Service: Harvey Jones Kitchens
“Product knowledge was phenomenal. He listened carefully to me and clearly explained how the service could meet my needs.” - Leisure & Tourism: Visitor Information Centre
"The member of staff was exceptional. She gave me clear and easy-to-understand advice and employed a perfect combination of offering advice and basing her suggestions on my requests and answers to her question." - National Business - Fashion: Rohan
“The service was outstanding. I was made to feel like a truly valued customer. My enquiry was handled very well indeed.” - National Business – Other: Le Creuset (joint winner) & Crabtree & Evelyn (joint winner)
“Service was excellent. The staff member showed exemplary enthusiasm and made me feel highly valued as a customer due to her attentive approach.” (Le Creuset) - “The assistant was polite and professional throughout, whilst still making the procedure upbeat and friendly. We soon built up a rapport and I left feeling like a very valued customer.” (Crabtree & Evelyn)
- National Business – Shoes & Accessories: Hotter Shoes – Lion Yard
“I felt like a valued customer from the moment I entered the store. Even though it was busy, the assistant gave me her full attention, was happy to chat while she worked and found me the perfect pair of shoes." - Lion Yard: LUSH
"A great range of products combined with staff who are professional and know the products very well." - Grand Arcade: Penhaligons
"The store staff are very interested and enthusiastic about their products and go into great detail about the ingredients and scents from the products so I would definitely recommend the store to friends and family in the future." - The Grafton: The Perfume Shop
"I received excellent, fully engaged service from a staff member who really took an interest in my needs. He also took the time to build rapport by asking if I was new in town.”
This year, there were two categories for Overall Winner – Shopping Centre and Non-Shopping Centre.
The Overall Winner - Shopping Centre was The Perfume Shop for The Grafton Centre. The mystery shopper from Storecheckers commented in the report: “Excellent service from a very knowledgeable, friendly staff member – I would definitely recommend due to the personalised service.”
The Overall Winner - Non-Shopping Centre was an unprecedented result split fiveways between businesses who all received the maximum 100% across all criteria. Sharing the award were Cambridge Framing & Mirror Centre, Harvey Jones Kitchens, Visitor Information Centre, Le Creuset and Crabtree & Evelyn.
This year, the Mystery Shop programme additionally worked with Cambridge Science Festival to mystery shop over 20 of their events in March. The new Customer Experience Special Recognition Award was given to the Institute of Manufacturing exhibition and the Plant and Life Sciences marquee.
Five of the Cambridge University Colleges B&B Accommodation providers were also mystery shopped during the summer with Downing College becoming the first recipient of the Customer Experience Special Recognition Award in this category.
Ian Sandison said: “These Awards recognise excellent service and the level of service has certainly been outstanding this year. It is exceptional to have five Overall Winners in the Non-Shopping Centre category – all scoring the maximum possible across all judging criteria. Huge congratulations to all our very worthy winners.
“Cambridge BID is delighted to support businesses in our city, helping them to go from strength to strength. All the businesses that took part in the Mystery Shopper programme are offered the opportunity of a de-brief session with Storecheckers to feedback on individual reports, enabling them to build on their successes. Further training sessions, linked to the results of the Mystery Shop report, will additionally be held this January.”
Beth Cant, Manageress of The Perfume Shop – The Grafton Centre, said: “I have an excellent team who work extremely hard on customer service. It’s important for us to give our customers the best experience we can when they come to see us. Our mission statement is ‘Smile, listen, be there’ – and that’s what we do.”
Claire Milbourne, Manager of Crabtree & Evelyn, said: “When a customer walks away happy, having had a good experience, and tells their friends – that’s what we strive for. We like to make our customers feel part of the Crabtree family.”
Jackie Neill, Store Manager of Le Creuset in Cambridge, said: “We are delighted to have won the award for Mystery Shop, as customer service is of the utmost importance to us as a brand.”
Andrew Palmer, Manager of the Visitor Information Centre, said: “These awards are a fantastic achievement for the staff of Visit Cambridge and Beyond. They celebrate and recognise our dedicated approach to delivering first class customer service, to visitors to Cambridge.”
David Grenham, Marketing Manager for Harvey Jones Kitchens, said: “We have built our business on client satisfaction, so we are delighted to receive this award in recognition for the customer service levels achieved by our Cambridge showroom.”
Karen Hilpert, Manageress of Cambridge Framing & Mirror Centre, said: “I’m really happy and proud. This award is validation that my staff are as good as I believe them to be.”
The awards were presented by the Mayor of Cambridge, Councillor Jeremy Benstead, who said: “I am delighted to present this award today to businesses that have clearly gone that extra mile to ensure their customers are being treated to excellent customer service.
“To have assessed nearly 200 businesses and find the customer service at such a high level speaks volumes about the businesses in Cambridge city centre.”