Company Overview: Strategic Reflections is based in Cincinati, Ohio. The senior partners in Strategic Reflections have been coordinating customer research and mystery shopping projects since 1988 for small, regional and national clients. Strategic Reflections, Inc. has utilized a plan of action based upon experience for accurate and efficient design, development, and implementation of each and every Mystery shopping program. Programs are designed to assess, address, and resolve all of the critical factors that directly impact the customer service experience.
The company serves businesses in the retail, financial, grocery, convenience, and food & beverage sectors.
Personal Experience: I have completed several fast food shops for this MSC. I found the pay to be adequate, especially for one that was a 60-mile round trip which was nicely bonused, as it needed to be done on very short notice on a Sunday so I didn’t have time to build a route.
What Others Have to Say: There are two areas of concern that have popped up on www.mysteryshopforum.com regarding Strategic Reflections. One shopper mentioned a scheduler for the MSC who hung up on them with no comment when they asked if they could bonus more than a $3 bonus for what would be a round trip in excess of 90 minutes. Another shopper reported an identical response when a scheduler wanted them to take a shop some 500 miles from home and the shopper inquired if a plane ticket and rental car were included with the fee. I daresay that if a shopper were to hang up on a scheduler that abruptly, said shopper likely wouldn’t be working with that scheduler again. One of the shoppers wasn’t able to log in to their account after this incident and apparently had to contact Strategic Reflections to be reinstated. This is unacceptable behavior, assuming it is true. However, the shopper reports that the follow-up by the management team was exceptional, giving them newfound respect for the company.
The other problem has been some sporadic pay problems. Some shoppers have reported pay running about 10-days late, while others report needing to follow up with 1 or 2 emails. Still other shoppers report payments running on time. Given what I’ve been able to find, this seems to be an intermittent problem and I would urge shoppers to just check their records when shopping with this MSC.
Overall: At this time, I don’t view the payment issues as being “chronic”; that is I don’t see the pay problems as a reason to avoid shopping with the MSC at this time. It is something that shoppers should monitor and contribute to the discussion at www.mysteryshopforum.com if delays in payment become more frequent and/or of longer duration.
I’m a bit more concerned about the behavior of the scheduler[s]. A business should have their people trained in proper telephone etiquette, and there’s at least one here who fell through the holes.
I would rate the company a B-, mainly because of the scheduler problems and, to a much lesser extent, the sporadic pay problems.
Questions, comments, or thoughts about this article? Email the author: james@mysteryshoppermagazine.com