Secret Shoppers Are Not A Secret

SS are out in force every Tuesday at a Walmart near you!

I think I represent all insurance agents when I say that this concept of secret shopping is humiliating. The statistics on agent errors and malfeasance bear out that the overwhelming majority of agents abide by the rules. So why punish us all with this type of behavior. It has the smell of the USSR spying on its own citizens.

The most common questions you ask us: will the SS identify herself. NO. If I ask her is she is a SS does she have to admit it? NO. How to do I know if I met her criteria? If your behavior merits a complaint to the FMO, we will contact you immediately for retraining. Do I have to waste time with someone who obviously isn’t a potential client when I have others to wait on? SS won’t put you in that position. They are trained to approach your booth only when you are alone so they don’t disrupt another client conversation, but you must treat them with the same kindness you would any prospect.

Bear with us, they system is far from perfect and these SS are usually easy to identify: 50-ish  woman who says “I really like my current plan but what do you offer.” They were out this week trying to see if agents would disparage their competition. Agents called me and said, my standard response to a client who loves her current plan is, “Great, I recommend you keep it!”

Let’s face it. Only a SS would say “I love my current plan. Period.” Everyone would follow with a “but…it is too expensive, it doesn’t cover my drugs, my doctors are not accepting it, etc. ” Agents would then try to find a plan that would better serve all the clien’ts needs.

Never say: “Humana?! They are a terrible company, Ican tell you horror stories!” While I use Humana merely for example here, you understand my point. There are many companies  you may have had a sour experience with in the past –DO NOT MENTION IT!

When push comes to shove and clients insist on your opionion about XYZ company, I merely say, “I choose to represent the best companies in the market and I feel I do. There are good reasons why I don’t represent XYZ but I’m not allowed to discuss those reasons with clients. “

This gets my point across as well as saying point blank, “That company is terrible!”