In her latest book, The Secret Diary of a Mystery Shopper, author and entrepreneur Claire Boscq-Scott spills the beans on the good, the bad and the ugly of the customer service industry. She talks to Channel Eye about taking risks and seizing opportunities
It is said that divorce, moving house and changing jobs rate among life’s most stressful events. Imagine, then, doing all three in one year, while setting up a new business.
This was 2009 in a nutshell for Claire Boscq-Scott, the Jersey-based entrepreneur and customer experience guru. But rather than break her, the experience invigorated her and set Claire on an exciting new career path, the highs and lows of which she retells in a new book, The Secret Diary of a Mystery Shopper.
“I was working stupid hours. I was getting divorced. I needed to change my life. I couldn’t carry on like that. So I chucked in my job, sold my house and set up a business”, laughed Claire, who was number five in Global Guru’s top 30 customer service professionals for 2020, named a UK top 10 customer experience influencer by Customer Experience Magazine, and a Customer Experience Thought Leader 2020.
“It was an amazing time, and in many ways it was a relief. More than that, it was exciting”.
A secret diary
Claire’s new book is a collection of stories from her 11-year career as a mystery shopper, dealing with the good, the bad, and the exceptional with regards to customer service experiences.
It’s her third book but it’s one that’s been gestating for some time and it is based on a blog of the same name. As it turned out, lockdown provided the perfect opportunity to sit down and piece it together.
“It was quite hard choosing what stories to use, what with the story about stealing jewellery or finding adult toys in the toilet. But the purpose of the book is to say what happened and then talk about what this means from a customer service perspective, what was good and what can be done better”.
Bringing secret shopping to Jersey
Before setting up her mystery shopper business 11 years ago, Claire had been in the hospitality and customer service industry her whole life. Born in Paris, she moved to the South of France, where her parents opened their first restaurant.
Having been in Jersey 20 years, Claire was general manager at St Brelade’s Bay Hotel, and the Royal Yacht, while the hotel underwent major refurbishment, before joining L’Horizon Hotel and Spa. It was there she noticed a gap in the market for mystery shoppers in Jersey.
“We used to get mystery shoppers flying over from the UK. I thought, shouldn’t we be doing this with a local company? A company who would really understand our local needs? I realised there was a gap in the market for a similar service with local knowledge. So that’s when I quit my job”, said Claire, whose children were six and 10 at the time.
“It was during a recession, so it was a risk, and not many people in Jersey really understood mystery shoppers and how they can improve a business. It was a slow start, but then I got the offer to work on a pan-island contract, so I had to set up in Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Once businesses owners and board members could see the benefits, the business took off”.
Growing the hive
Claire doesn’t simply get paid to shop. A mystery shopper helps businesses improve service delivery, employee engagement, customer loyalty and grow profitability.
They are an effective tool – so effective that word soon spread. At one point, Claire employed as many as 92 trained mystery shoppers.
While mystery shopping had been Claire’s initial focus, she soon realised that many businesses didn’t know what to do with the results. They didn’t have the time or skill set to interpret her reports, understand the underlying causes and implement the changes needed to improve customer experience. The Busy Queen Bee was born.
“So I took more and more of that work on and became a consultant. I ask businesses where they want to be, show them where they’re at, and explain how they can fill in the gaps”, said Claire.
“The name came from a remark to a friend that I was just like the queen bee, and all my shoppers were my little bees, who go off and work for me and return with the pollen – the results for our clients”.
Like business owners from all industries, Claire has been forced to rethink her service offering since the pandemic hit. And, like others, Claire has realised the potential of taking her work online. Already a prolific blogger and vlogger, The Busy Queen Bee is now offering online training and consultancy workshops.
“The pandemic was a real pivot from facet-to-face operations to something people can do anywhere in the world . I’m now training global companies in mystery shopping, so they can do it themselves. I’m doing more consultancy work, and I’ve also started delivering my new Secret Diary of a Mystery Shopper keynote presentation on virtual stages until travelling starts again”, she said.
“When Covid-19 hit the business, I had to re-evaluate everything I was doing and how I was doing it. I had the book in my head and I finally had time to write it. I’m on a new path now and I’m excited to see where it leads.”
The Secret Diary of a Mystery Shopper by Claire Boscq-Scott will have its virtual launch on Wednesday 9 September and is available to download from Amazon.
