Explore how The Artist Tree leveraged DTiQ’s Mystery Shops to transform their worst-performing store into their best-performing store.
Client Profile
Company: The Artist Tree
Operator & Role: Philip Del Rio, VP of Retail
The Challenge
The Artist Tree identified a need to enhance performance in one of their stores, which was underperforming compared to others. They aimed to improve sales, service quality, and employee training to elevate overall customer experience.
DTiQ Solution
The Artist Tree partnered with DTiQ to implement Mystery Shops, a tool designed to assess and improve performance in retail environments.
“I’ve worked with DTiQ for over 16 years. It has established for us the ability to inspect what we expect in terms of the different selling steps that we have in our locations. We’re constantly referring back to the mystery shop that we created with DTIQ to ensure that our stores are operating on those selling steps.”
Key insights & Areas of Improvement:
Day-to-day Usage
DTiQ’s Mystery Shops allowed The Artist Tree to ensure adherence to their defined selling steps across all locations, enhancing operational consistency and customer experience.
“When we do see that there are opportunities or missed points in the mystery shop, we’ll review camera footage and be able to really pinpoint what happened and where that potential employee needs additional training.”
Impact on Performance
By utilizing DTiQ’s Mystery Shop data, The Artist Tree identified areas for improvement and provided targeted training to employees, resulting in enhanced performance and increased sales.
“I think that’s our biggest benefit right now, is that we’re able to zone in on which employees need additional training and which stores may need additional training for the entire team.”
Artist Tree incorporated Mystery Shop criteria into their new hire training program, reinforcing key selling points and service standards from the outset.
Effect on Customer Training
Improvements in Mystery Shop scores directly correlated with enhanced service quality and increased average order value, demonstrating the impact of training initiatives on customer experience and sales performance.
“We’ve been able to see an immediate, direct correlation between the store’s improvements in their mystery shop scores with our average order value in stores. Service in stores largely impacts what and how much people are purchasing, and if you offer that level of service, you’re going to see the average order value for each guest go up.”
Measurable Results
Through consistent training and monitoring, The Artist Tree saw significant improvements in store performance, with the once worst-performing store becoming the best-performing store in their portfolio.
“When we first launched this program six or seven months ago now, we had a store that was not hitting the right metrics in terms of the mystery shop. Through repeated training and going over the mystery shop, we’ve seen them go from our worst performing store to our best-performing store. The morale of the GM improved because they saw an objective and measurable score that’s motivated them to improve the overall sales and service at that location.
We had a situation where higher initiatives, like selling steps, were not being executed. Having DTIQ as a partner and this mystery shop program was able to hold that store accountable to what I expect us to be putting out. That accountability for that particular GM and management team has really made a huge impact.”
Accountability and Impact
The implementation of Mystery Shops fostered a sense of accountability among store managers, leading to increased motivation, improved morale, and tangible sales growth.
The reliability and level of service provided by DTiQ, coupled with their longstanding partnership, were significant factors in The Artist Tree’s decision to select DTiQ over other providers.
“Because of the relationship that I’ve had with them for many years and level of service is why I’ve come back to DTiQ over several different companies, actually.”
Support for Online Reviews
The Artist Tree observed a positive correlation between Mystery Shop scores and online reviews on platforms like Yelp and Google, highlighting the direct impact of service quality on customer perception and feedback.
“Another correlation between the mystery shops and improvements in online reviews – if the managers are understanding the sales expectation through these mystery shops, we’re going to see those improvements online, whether that be on Yelp or Google.”
Conclusion
DTiQ’s Mystery Shops empowered The Artist Tree to identify and address performance gaps effectively, resulting in improved service quality, enhanced customer experience, and increased sales. By leveraging DTiQ’s innovative solutions, The Artist Tree achieved measurable success and strengthened its position as a leader in the retail cannabis industry.
Learn more about DTiQ’s solutions for retail operations.
