bass company - final final
TRANSCRIPT
Business Consulting Final Report
SDSU Small Business Consulting Program
Bass Company
SDSU Small Business Consulting
Final Report
BA 404
Fall 2014 Prepared by: Levente Imbuzan - Project Manager Gevorg Avetisyan Tyler Harper Ronald Weaver Assisted by: Kamila Sikorsky SDSU Business Graduate Student Michelle Engel Small Business Development Center Consultant
December 5th, 2014
Bass Company
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Bass Company started in 1951 when it was originally founded as a private
investigation firm. Through the years its focus shifted from private investigation to
market research, specifically mystery shopping.
The company was bought by Mr. Murrell, the current owner, in 1994 and has
been operating as one of San Diego’s premier mystery shopping companies since then.
Currently, Bass Company employs one part time employee and utilizes 30-40
independent contractors to conduct its evaluations. Mr. Murrell is in charge of all of the
accounting for the company and is also responsible for reviewing and editing all of the
final reports before they are distributed to clients.
Through our analysis of Bass Company we came across a few key findings. We
learned that in the San Diego area the two main competitors for Bass Company are
Interactions Marketing and TrendSource. We learned that while the company does have
a website almost all of its marketing is conducted via word-of-mouth and through no
other mediums. We also discovered that ever since the 2008 financial crisis Bass
Company has been steadily losing clients due to an increase in the number of
companies switching to other forms of customer evaluations.
Finally, upon completion of our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats analysis we found that Bass Company has a number of strengths: good
customer relations, low turnover for reports, and they are able to tailor reports to a
company’s specific needs and vision. We did, however, discover that the biggest threat
currently facing Bass Company is companies switching over to conducting market
research through the online receipt model as well as other forms in order to cut costs.
Bass Company
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After conducting our analyses for Bass Company we pinpointed the top 10 key
issues that we found and highlighted them in this report. We organized them from what
we believed to be the most pressing issues at the top to the least pressing but still
requiring attention at the bottom. These key issues will hopefully help Mr. Murrell
identify areas in his company that need improvement and fixing.
After identifying and analyzing these key issues we also came up with a series of
10 “slam dunk” recommendations for Mr. Murrell. These recommendations are meant to
be things that can be implemented by Bass Company immediately and/or cheaply and
would allow it to promptly see net benefits. In addition to these 10 “slam dunks” we also
created recommendations for three ideas that we believe are important for Bass
Company to implement. These ideas are, for the most part, time and labor intensive and
not necessarily inexpensive but we feel that despite some of the work required and
challenges posed by these recommendations they should be whole-heartedly
implemented and if such, will absolutely bring a positive benefit to the company. All
recommendations are listed according to what we believe would bring Bass Company
the most benefit if implemented.
Bass Company
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 2
LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................................... 5
LIST OF TABLES AND EXHIBITS .................................................................................. 6
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 8
ANALYSIS OF CLIENT BUSINESS ................................................................................ 9
Company Description and History ............................................................................... 9
Administration ............................................................................................................ 10
Financial Analysis of Business .................................................................................. 15
Customer Analysis ..................................................................................................... 17
Marketing ................................................................................................................... 19
Competitor Analysis ................................................................................................... 23
Situational Analysis .................................................................................................... 31
SUMMARY OF OVERALL FINDINGS .......................................................................... 36
KEY BUSINESS ISSUES OR PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED .............................................. 38
GROUP’S OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................. 48
GROUP’S TEN “SLAM DUNK” IMPROVEMENTS........................................................ 63
IDEA 1: Create an Effective Marketing Message ....................................................... 64
IDEA 2: Implement a Marketing Strategy ................................................................... 68
IDEA 3: Implement a Customer Relationship Management System .......................... 74
IDEA 4: Develop a Marketing Budget ........................................................................ 74
IDEA 5: Hire a Marketing Salesperson ...................................................................... 80
IDEA 6: Increase the Price of Evaluations ................................................................ 82
IDEA 7: Develop a More Robust Online Presence .................................................... 84
IDEA 8: Redesign the Website .................................................................................. 88
IDEA 9: Use of Contracts in Business Dealings ........................................................ 91
IDEA 10: Implement the Business Model Canvas ..................................................... 93
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 96
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LIST OF APPENDICES Contained herein is a list of appendices that can be found at the back of this report. A – Time Logs
B – Business Model Canvas
C – Bass Company Marketing Flyer
D – Sample Employment Contract Form
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LIST OF TABLES AND EXHIBITS
Figure 1. Bass Company Online Performance Analysis Breakdown ............................. 13
Figure 2. Bass Company Website Homepage .............................................................. 20
Figure 3. Bass Company Testimonials Page ................................................................ 21
Figure 4. Bass Company Logo ...................................................................................... 22
Figure 5. Segments of the Mystery Shopping Market ................................................... 24
Figure 6. Visual Representation of SWOT Analysis ...................................................... 35
Figure 7. Market Force Company Logo ......................................................................... 59
Figure 8. Seceret Shopper Company Logo ................................................................... 59
Figure 9. Customer 1st Company Logo ......................................................................... 60
Figure 10. Google AdWords Search Terms and Daily Maximums ................................ 72
Figure 11. Zoho.com Mainpage .................................................................................... 75
Figure 12. Calender Feature on Zoho,com ................................................................... 76
Figure 13 Current Bass Company Homepage Layout ................................................... 90
Figure 14. Business Model Canvas Template ............................................................... 93
Benchmark 1. Interactions Marketing Market Segments ............................................... 25
Benchmark 2. Why choose IM, What the Service Entails, and Industries Best Served . 26
Benchmark 3. TrendSource Services Offered Page ..................................................... 27
Benchmark 4. TrendSource Expertise by Industry Page ............................................... 28
Benchmark 5. Interactions Marketing Client Showcase Page ....................................... 29
Benchmark 6. TrendSource Client Showcase Page ..................................................... 30
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Table 1. Gross Receipts, Total Expenses, Net Profit 2012-2013 .................................. 15
Table 2. Wages, Gross Receipts, Total Expenses 2011-2013 ...................................... 15
Table 3. Comparison of Net Profits, Total Expenses and Gross Profits ........................ 16
Table 4. Details of Membership for MSPA-NA .............................................................. 51
Table 5. MSPA-NA Membership Fees based on Type of Membership ......................... 52
Bass Company
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INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this report is to provide the owner of Bass Company with an
analysis of the company as well as recommendations for improvement. Research of the
company’s prices, operations, finances, marketing, geographical and on-line
competitors is included to present Mr. Murrell, with a clear understanding of the
company’s position in the market. The detailed analysis identified several business
issues which are pertinent to the long term success of Bass Company. The
recommendations the Small Business Consulting Center (SBCC) team have provided
herein are constructed with the goal of increasing the company’s current and potential
revenue streams.
Bass Company
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ANALYSIS OF CLIENT BUSINESS
Company Description and History
Bass Company was founded in 1951 by Rod Bass. Originally, because of his
background in Naval Intelligence, the company operated as a private investigation firm.
It was his wife, Virginia Bass, who changed the focus of the company from private
investigation to mystery shopping.
In 1994 Mr. Murrell bought the company for $100,000. He graduated from
University of San Diego with a degree in Accounting and acquired his license as a CPA.
Bass Company is currently run as a sole-proprietorship by Mr. Murrell. He has
one employee that has been with the company for 10 years. Previously, the daughter of
the Bass’, Suzan B. Cresto, worked at the company but resigned some time ago.
The main focus of Bass Company today is mystery shopping. Mr. Murrell
specializes in, in-person “shopping” as well as shopping conducted over the phone. He
is currently the dominant mystery shopping company in San Diego, providing mystery
shopping to various financial institutions located around the county.
Bass Company
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Administration
Management
Bass Company has been operated by Mr. Murrell for almost 20 years. He is
responsible for almost everything, he does, however, have one employee who assists
him with bank account management, and with accounting. Mr. Murrell has extensive
experience in accounting, which makes it easy for him to monitor and control the whole
business. Mr. Murrell is also the last step in the mystery shopper sequence of events.
He reviews every single report and edits them before sending them out to his clients to
ensure professionalism and consistency.
Staffing
The staff of Bass Company consists of only Mr. Murrell and his assistant. All
evaluators are hired as independent contractors. They work part time and get paid $10-
$11 per hour while Mr. Murrell’s assistant, gets paid $18 an hour. She helps around the
office with whatever she is tasked with as well as manages all of the 90+ bank accounts
Bass Company currently has open with various financial institutions in San Diego.
Evaluators are paid depending on where and how they evaluate a certain product or
service. Evaluators get paid based on three variables:
- performance of the evaluation;
- time they spend on the evaluation;
- mileage compensation.
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If the evaluator had to purchase any service or product from the customer, he or
she can either retain it at a discount price or return it for a refund if they do not want to
keep it.
Qualifications required in order to be hired as a mystery shopper
● Excellent writing skills including grammar, punctuation and composition
● Be able to adhere to time constraints and deadlines
● Reliable; self-motivated; ethical
● Detail oriented; observant; factual
Operations
Bass Company operates with five types of organizations:
● Hospitality Industry;
● Food and Beverage Industry;
● Financial Institutions;
● Parks and Recreational Venues;
● Retail Establishments.
Bass Company used to work with Subway, SeaWorld and the San Diego Zoo.
After some period of time working with Bass Company, Subway decided to switch their
model of customer service evaluation to a receipt model; SeaWorld switched to using
video cameras, rather than using Bass Company’s services. The San Diego Zoo
entirely changed their model, by setting up kiosk machines, through which customers
can participate in an electronic survey.
Bass Company
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One of Bass Company’s major clients is California Coast Credit Union (CCCU).
Bass Company utilizes different customer service related analyses and evaluations.
These services are performed by telephone, and in-person. These services include:
1. Employee Evaluation
Bass Company’s philosophy is to work closely with management in order to
implement a program that encourages and monitors customer service and sales skills
such as: cross-selling products and upselling services as well as product knowledge,
and repeat visitations. A considerable advantage can be achieved if employees know
that they can be evaluated anytime.
2. Performance Analysis
Bass Company also provides performance analysis services by using an online
tool. The online system allows unlimited access to employee evaluation’s and summary
information. Tables, graphs and charts are available to help track performance and
achievements. Information can be provided on different operation levels including:
Overall company performance
Branch/store or regional results
Historical information by individual employee
Figure 1 shows a generalized Online Performance Analysis Breakdown that Bass
Company offers on their website.
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Figure 1. Bass Company Online Performance Analysis Breakdown
3. Internal Controls/ Cash Handling
Cash handling evaluations performed by Bass Company give the client the
opportunity to test certain procedures (how employees handle the returns, for example).
Additional attention has to be paid when cash is involved, especially for the different
types of transactions with cash.
4. Competitor Analysis
Bass Company also provides additional services related to the evaluation of
competitors ‘services and products. The evaluation program comprises monitoring new
trends, the actual market and the competitors’ business state. This information can be
used to enhance the customer’s competitive advantage and create more value for their
clients.
Bass Company
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5. Customer Feedback
Bass Company’s services also include assisting their clients in collecting data
gathered from customers. Customers’ feedback creates value for businesses. It is a
good idea to compare how customer service is evaluated by shoppers and how the
same service is viewed by ordinary customers. This data can be used in order to
conduct marketing research. Bass Company is able to not only collect data but also to
interpret it and give recommendations to the client based on their findings.
Physical Facilities
Bass Company’s office is located in San Diego at 8265 Commercial St, La Mesa,
CA 9194. It is the only facility in the possession of the company. The office occupies
1,000 square feet and Mr. Murrell rents it on a monthly basis.
Bass Company
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Financial Analysis of Business
Bass Company is a modestly profitable business that derives its revenue from
customer service related evaluations and analysis. As shown in Table 1, in 2013 the
Gross Receipt went up 4.5% and Total Expenses decreased by 21%. This decrease in
Total Expenses in large part accounts for the dramatic increase in Net Profits.
Table 1. Gross Receipts, Total Expenses, Net Profit 2012-2013
2012 2013 Difference
Gross Receipts $155,844 $162,869 $7,025
Total Expenses $152,686 $120,638 ($32,048)
Net Profit $3,158 $ 42,231 $39,073
From 2010 to 2013 Net Profits have been unsteady. In 2010 Net Profits were -
$9223; in 2011 $10,812; in 2012 $3,158; in 2013 $42,231.
As shown in Table 2, from 2011 to 2013 the wages paid out to independent
contractors were an average of 29.1% of gross receipts and an average of 33% of Total
Expenses. From this we can see that wages to independent contractors are a large part
paid out by the business.
Table 2. Wages, Gross Receipts, Total Expenses 2011-2013
2011 2012 2013
Wages –
Independent
Contractors
$49,363 $47,247 $46,867
Gross Receipts $174,947 $155,844 $162,869
Total Expenses $164,135 $152,686 $120,638
Bass Company
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Table 3 shows a line graph comparison of Net Profits, Total Expenses and Gross
Profits. There is a trend of the company retaining a low percentage of Gross Receipts
and high Total Expenses.
Table 3. Comparison of Net Profits, Total Expenses and Gross Profits
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Customer Analysis
Current Customers
Most of Bass Company’s current clients are financial institutions. The largest of
which is California Coast Credit Union. These financial institutions want to make sure
they are providing their customers with the best service possible. It is difficult for a large
institution to stay on top of all of its employees.
Industry Analysis
The mystery shopping industry is a $500 million dollar a year industry that
provides insight into their consumers businesses (Hutchings, 2011). It is pertinent that
businesses constantly adapt to their customer’s needs in order to remain competitive in
the market. Mystery shopping providers employ independent contractors to go to
businesses and measure quality of the services provided and monitor whether
employees are following regulation and business policy. This industry helps to create a
culture of excellence especially when employees know that at any time they can be
evaluated.
Businesses in the mystery shopping industry work with their clients to find out
what they want to measure. Businesses always need to do market research to keep
abreast of the needs of the consumer. This is why there will always be a demand for
mystery shopping companies. Statistics show that almost 90% of customers that are not
satisfied with their services will not say anything directly to the business, but will go
straight to the competition (“Facts about mystery shopping – Industries that use
shoppers”, n.d.). It is important for businesses to keep their customers if they are to
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remain profitable as it is more expensive to acquire new customers than to keep loyal
ones. In 2004 the Mystery Shopping Providers Association conducted a test to see how
many businesses used mystery shopping. They found that over 8.1 million mystery
shops were conducted and these businesses who employed mystery shoppers saw an
average growth of over 10% (White, 2004).
Bass Company
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Marketing
Product
Bass Company provides market research through the employment of
independent contractors, also known as “mystery shoppers.” Evaluations are performed
in person, by telephone, and via the Internet. Bass Company delivers personnel
evaluations, performance analysis, internal controls/cash handling evaluations,
competitor evaluations/analysis, market impact of new businesses and
customer/member feedback.
Promotion
Most of the clients acquired are from word of mouth. Although a large amount of
the promotion is through the company’s website, (Figure 2 shows a view of the Bass
Company homepage) Mr. Murrell also used to go into businesses, conduct free
evaluations for them and then present the owners with these evaluations, but this tactic
proved ineffective. The website offers information about the company, its services and
testimonials.
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Figure 2. Bass Company Website Homepage
The website does not include links to social media websites because the
company does not have a presence on social media and also has a very weak online
presence. Figure 3 shows the testimonials on the website; these include those from
retail stores, financial institutions, food companies, and recreational parks.
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Figure 3. Bass Company Testimonials Page
This lack of an online presence, especially in social media, hinders the
company’s credibility. The company must link with multiple sites such as LinkedIn,
Twitter and Facebook, in order to gain trust and interest from potential customers.
In relation to recognition, the company’s logo, as shown in Figure 4, is not one
that stands out. . It makes no mention as to what the company does (i.e. a tag-line)
which can turn potential clients to competitors due to a lack of brand recognition.
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Figure 4. Bass Company Logo
Placement
Bass Company services all of Southern California and recognizes the importance
of serving different markets. They pride themselves on being the best mystery shopping
company in the area and does not utilize this effectively in marketing materials.
Price
The prices of the services in this industry can range from expensive to
inexpensive. Larger player’s in the industry charge substantially more because they
have contracts with larger corporations and offer more services. Bass Company
charges a lower price, around $40 for an in person evaluation and $28 for a telephone
evaluation.
This can be an advantage or a disadvantage; a lower price can attract clients
who may not have as much funds as large corporations. Bass Company could capitalize
on small businesses who cannot afford to use larger mystery shopping companies. On
the other hand price can be an important marketing tool conveying value. If too cheap, it
can deter potential clients who are seeking quality of price.
Bass Company
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Competitor Analysis
Bass Company operates in the Market Research industry (NAICS code 54191).
According to IBISWorld.com, this industry is highly fragmented with the two largest
companies only dominating a small part of the overall industry. Nielsen Holdings N.V.
controls 14.2% of the market and Kantar Group controls 4.6%. The remaining
companies that make up this industry are extremely small with 81.2% having 20
employees or less (IBISWorld, 2014).
Although the companies in this industry might be small, the annual revenue
generated in this industry is expected to increase by 2.9% every year until 2019,
increasing from $21.1 billion to $23.7 billion (IBISWorld, 2014).This represents a vast
and growing market which companies in this industry can tap into.
As shown in Figure 5 Internet research accounts for the largest segment of
market research, accounting for 31.8% of services offered. This includes online surveys
sent out to customers as well as a receipt-based survey model that is given to
customers after their visit, typically at the bottom of their receipt. Face-to-Face market
research accounts for the 2nd largest segment with 22.8%. This includes traditional
“mystery shopping” services that companies offer. Market research by telephone is the
4th largest, accounting for 14.0% of the services offered (IBISWorld, 2014).
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Figure 5. Segments of the Mystery Shopping Market
Due to the mobile nature of mystery shopping and the need for evaluators to “go
out into the field” and see how companies operate in the real world, physical facilities
are not usually necessary beyond a small office within which to coordinate day to day
work and/or within which to meet clients. This makes a company’s website paramount,
as it is usually the only way customers can gain any knowledge about the company and
what services it offers.
Barriers to entry within this industry are low. With no need for facilities or any sort
of licensing the only perceived barrier to entrance is the experience and knowledge of
the company conducting the market research. Due to the low barriers to entry,
competition within this industry is high. Companies compete on the quality of their
service, their expertise and knowledge, survey and sampling techniques, timely
presentation of reports and price.
Bass Company
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Benchmarking
The main competitors for Bass Company in the San Diego area are Interactions
Marketing (IM) and TrendSource (TS). Benchmark 1 is a screenshot from Interactions
Marketing’s website. They offer a services page that highlights all of the different types
of market research they are able to perform. Each service is a clickable link that takes
you to a page that highlights IM’s experience with this particular service, (Benchmark 2)
showcasing why you should choose them, what the service will actually consist of and
then lists a few industries that are best served by this particular type of service
Benchmark 1. Interactions Marketing Market Segments
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Benchmark 2. Why choose IM, What the Service Entails, and Industries Best Served
Benchmark 3 is a screenshot from the website of TrendSource. In much the
same way as IM, they offer a services page that goes into great detail about what each
service they offer is and how it can help your business.
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Benchmark 3. TrendSource Services Offered Page
Benchmark 4 is a screenshot from the TrendSource Website. In order to inspire
faith in their expertise and abilities TrendSource has a page dedicated to their
experience in the market research industry. They break down the page into different
industries they serve, and on each page highlight their expertise within that particular
industry, what specific area’s they focus on, and what products that they offer that would
be best suited for that particular industry.
Bass Company
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Benchmark 4. TrendSource Expertise by Industry Page
Benchmarks 5 and 6 are screenshots from the websites of IM and TS
respectively. In order to inspire customer confidence in their abilities, both companies
utilize dedicated webpages showcasing the clients that they serve. IM in particular is
quick to point out the large, national brands that it serves while TS takes a more
conservative approach and does not reveal any client names.
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Benchmark 5. Interactions Marketing Client Showcase Page
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Benchmark 6. TrendSource Client Showcase Page
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Situational Analysis
SWOT analysis has been selected as a method to analyze the current business
condition and future trends and opportunities. Based on overall SWOT analysis findings
a better marketing strategy can be implemented later on. The main idea of SWOT
analysis is to ensure that after a certain amount of time, weaknesses will become
strengths and threats will become opportunities. Strengths and weaknesses are
considered internal factors influencing the whole business, whereas opportunities and
threats are external factors. (Erstad,1998)
Strengths
Valuable experience from the customer's perspective.
Companies have the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge about how their
businesses operate from a trained professional. Mystery shoppers are individuals, who
are able to provide unbiased evaluations within a short period of time. Many companies
base new programs on the judgments made by these individuals.
Customer Satisfaction
Evaluators in Bass Company are known specifically for their ability to evaluate
customer service, this gives businesses an insight into their respective customer
satisfaction. Companies can find out if any employees exuded behaviors that might
lead to low customer satisfaction. It can also help a company understand how
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employees interact with customers when management is not physically present. The
feedback and professional evaluation has proven to reduce the level of uncertainty that
managers have about their employees and enhance the overall experience for
customers.
Low Cost of Evaluation
Bass Company has relatively inexpensive and affordable prices for certain
evaluations. The prices vary and depend on the type of services Bass Company
performs. Mystery shopping does not require much investment in order to get
feedback. Since companies are looking to cut costs around company evaluation,
mystery shopping may be a very useful option.
Generate New Research Ideas
Companies are always thinking about new ideas and coming up with new
research questions. Often, without a customer's critical assessment, it is difficult to
receive insight into how the company can improve its business. Mystery shopping is a
strong tool that many companies can use to stimulate research for a desired result.
Weaknesses
Absence in Professional Organizations
Bass Company is not a member of any networking or professional organizations.
It is a good idea to be enrolled in some professional organizations, where the company
will have access to new information and an opportunity to interact with new clients, get
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feedback and additional data. These interactions could potentially generate new
research ideas and further professional development and growth.
Lack of Advertising on Social Media
Bass Company struggles to find new clients due to a lack of exposure on social
media. Word of mouth is the main marketing tool which helps attract new clients. If
Bass Company limits itself to just word of mouth, it is severely limiting its potential
customer base.
Opportunities
Launching a New Advertising Campaign on Social Media
A new advertising campaign will raise awareness among companies, which need
their services. The more customers know your company name, brand and the
intricacies of services offered, the better the chance you have of gaining a new client
and potentially turning them into a long-term customer.
Reaching the Right Person in the Company
There is a need to be able to reach the right person within a certain organization
in order to make the marketing effort more efficient. It is always a good idea to know
who the human relations person is for a potential new client. It is also a good idea to
know who the actual decision makers are, the person who is able to actually sign a
business contract with your company.
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Threats
Feedback on Social media, different apps (software)
With the growing number of information technologies and access to alternative
sources of information for different types of products and services, there is a high risk
that clients would be able to receive adequate evaluation services by using social
media, software programs and mobile applications. This could lead to a reduction in
demand for Bass Company’s services.
Financial Crisis
Crisis’ and a lack of resources within companies force them to the cut their costs.
Clients may not be interested in service improvements through Bass Company if they
have to solve short term problems like wage payments or a lack of money to buy
supplies for their businesses.
The Receipt Model as a Form of Evaluation
Even though the receipt model of service and experience evaluation is very
unprofessional and biased, in recent years this type of evaluation has become a very
common form tool used by many companies. This tendency could influence a new
customer’s decision allowing them to choose an alternate model as their main form of a
service evaluation. This could lead to a reduction in the number of customers for Bass
Company or undermine the whole idea of mystery shopping.
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Figure 6 is a visual representation of everything discussed within this preceding section.
Figure 6. Visual Representation of SWOT Analysis
STRENGHTS
WEAKNESSES
Valuable Experience from the Customer’s Perspective
• Absence in Professional Organizations
• Customer Satisfaction • Lack of Advertising on Social Media
• Low Cost of Evaluation
Generate new Research Ideas
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Launching a new advertising campaign on social media
New Technologies and Software Applications
Reaching the right person in the company
Financial Crisis
Receipt Model of Surveys as a Form of Evaluation
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SUMMARY OF OVERALL FINDINGS
A thorough investigation of Bass Company was conducted and their client
relationships, marketing, financial situation and competitors were evaluated. Bass
Company is owned by Mr. Murrell and it is currently a sole proprietorship. Mr. Murrell
has one assistant who is a full-time employee as well as evaluators who are private
contractors that work part-time. Bass Company offers a mystery shopping service for a
number of markets although, their main clients are in the financial industry. Their
evaluators investigate specific areas of their clients businesses and file a report on their
findings which is then summed with key issues, and recommendations are made to
respective clients on these issues.
The company’s financial situation could be improved upon. Although they are
not losing money, the profit margin is not ideal and does not allow Mr. Murrell to live
solely off of its profits. They also do not have an adequate marketing strategy in place
which hinders the growth of the company. The only marketing techniques currently
used are word of mouth and personal selling. The website is mostly utilized for one-way
communication; customers can access it but have a hard time communicating with Bass
Company through it, at this point it is mostly informational which presents a weakness
for the business. It also needs to be updated for Search Engine Optimization. Bass
Company does not currently have a presence on any social media site such as Twitter,
Facebook or most importantly LinkedIn, which is another weakness.
Despite these shortcomings, Bass Company possesses many strong points.
Bass Company has been operating for over 50 years in the San Diego area and began
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business in 1951. Mr. Murrell has over 20 years of mystery shopping experience that
he is able to rely on for each and every report the company does. In addition, they are
the dominant mystery shopping company for financial institutions in San Diego,
dominating 70-80% of the market. Furthermore, they are one of only a handful of
companies that actually open bank accounts with their financial clients.
Mr. Murrell continually updates his client’s evaluation forms every 6-12 months,
while custom tailoring every evaluation to the clients own personal needs and vision.
This, coupled with a quick turnaround of 2-3 days for a report, makes Bass Company a
strong competitor with other mystery shopping companies in terms of efficiency.
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KEY BUSINESS ISSUES OR PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED
Key Business Issue One – Lack of a Marketing Message
When a business creates a product or service they typically have a specific
market demographic in mind that they would like to market it to; this can be a very broad
or a very narrow segment. In order to be successful in their marketing, a company
needs to have a concise and effective message that they want to convey about a
specific product or service they offer (Mathson, 2010).
In the case of Bass Company, there is no clear or concise marketing message.
The website offers testimonials from previous clients as well as provides an overview of
what the services they offer. However, there is no mention of why a customer should
choose Bass Company over a competitor; or what value Bass Company can bring to
the consumers business.
In this volatile market consumers have access to a wide variety of sources with
which they can obtain market research information. For example, they have the choice
of other mystery shopping companies, using an online receipt model to garner
feedback, email surveys and self-input kiosks. The lack of a clear delineation between
the benefits of Bass Company versus other forms of market research is a serious
detriment when it comes to acquiring new cliental, and the lack of a clear, concise
message is a serious roadblock towards gathering a potential customer’s attention.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Two – Lack of Business Strategy
For any business, a clear and concise business strategy is not only a necessity,
but a business cannot remain profitable long term without one. A business strategy acts
as a map to reach a specific business goal. It is important to establish core
competencies for a business and to decide what initiatives limited resources will effect.
Bass Company must establish a strong business strategy for the market they are
in, in order to move forward. It appears as though the company is operating on a day to
do basis and not looking at the big picture for future growth. For example, Bass
Company has yet to establish either a differentiation, a low cost strategy or both (Root,
n.d.).
In addition, it can be detrimental if an organization fails to make plans to
anticipate changes to the market or the industry in which they are involved. If an
organization is not prepared they will be at the mercy of the external forces. This is why
it is important to be proactive instead of reactive by formulating a business strategy
before conducting business (Olsen. n.d.).
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Three – Lack of Customer Feedback Data
Bass Company does not receive critical data feedback from its customers. The
importance of receiving this type of feedback is paramount to marketing strategies.
Marketing managers can use this feedback in their materials to prospective companies
to show data on specific improvements that Bass Company heavily influenced. For
example, during a talk with Mr. Murrell he stated that his company helped decrease the
wait time that customers stood in line for a financial institution. Receiving specific data
from this customer on how much wait time was decreased and specifically what
recommendation(s) his company made to improve this feature would-be paramount in
advertising to prospective financial institution clients. The marketing materials would
include the aforementioned specifics on wait time and therefore, can help the
prospective company see how Bass Company can help increase customer satisfaction
through their services.
In order for Bass Company to grow, it is imperative that they it gather specific
data from current clients on how their mystery shopping has helped the clients business
improve. This type of information would not only be beneficial in terms of marketing and
promotional materials it would also enable Bass Company to set benchmarks that it can
pride itself on accomplishing within specific businesses. Currently, there are no such
benchmarks in place, which Bass Company can compare itself to and as such, there
are no historical standards that it can constantly compare itself to and continue to strive
for professionally.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Four – Lack of an Extensive Marketing Strategy
The current problem facing Bass Company is their lack of an extensive marketing
strategy. In the past Mr. Murrell has attempted to provide free evaluations to
businesses in an attempt to spur interest in his company but to no avail. As of now, the
only marketing strategy that Bass Company employs is word-of-mouth marketing, this
severely limits their potential customer pool to only a few organizations.
Operating in a Business-to-Business (B2B) environment such as Bass Company
does severely limits the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing. In a Business-to-
Consumer (B2C) environment a simple recommendation of a business from one
person to another may be enough to spur that person’s interest in investigating that
company further. In a B2B environment, however, the two people having that
conversation may not be in any position of power or even have the responsibility to
investigate the services Bass Company offers.
This further limits the types of business Bass Company is able to receive work
from as it is rare for people from varying industries such as finances, hospitality and
retail to engage in conversations together as most people prefer to engage with people
who work in similar fields (Hague, n.d.).
All of these factors combine to put Bass Company at a serious disadvantage with
its competitors. The already limited effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing is further
stunted by the B2B environment and therefore limits Bass Company’s potential market
segments.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Five – Website Redesign
Having a website for a business is an important marketing tool to raise
awareness of their offerings. In today’s market, potential customers use the internet in
order to find the services they need. If a company does not have an online presence,
they can miss out on potential customers.
Although, a company may have a website, it does not mean that they can forego
continually updating it. Website layout and overall look and feel is important for
attracting new consumers. If a website is unorganized and hard to find information, the
credibility of a company can be harmed (“The importance of having a website for any
business”, n.d.). Having a well-designed website can help level the playing field for a
small business, so it must not fall to the wayside and be merely a forethought.
One important tool is to use colors that represent your business and the type of
clients you want to attract to it. Colors can be a part of your branding strategy. Too
many bright colors should be avoided on a website (Web design mistakes to avoid –
WHTwiki, n.d.). For example, brands use red to represent power, passion and energy.
Blue is used to represent trust, integrity and communication which may be more
appropriate for a business in the Mystery Shopping industry (Stranger, 2012).
Bass Company’s website layout could be better optimized color wise in order to
increase its effectiveness. The company follows a red and gray color scheme. The
psychological significance of red was previously mentioned, but gray is a color
representing compromise, non-involvement and can be an overall unsettling color
psychologically (Smith, n.d.).
Bass Company
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In addition, customers on Bass Company website are not able to view a client list
of past and present businesses that have been worked with. Not having such a list is
detrimental to Bass Company; customers may have decreased confidence in the
company’s skills, abilities, and expertise due to a lack of reference to any actual
companies that the business has helped or worked with in the past.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Six – Lack of Online Presence
As of now Bass Company currently has a very weak online presence, particularly
on social media. It does not have a LinkedIn or Yelp page and while it does have a
Facebook page, the profile is not filled out well and simply states the name of the
company and its address.
In addition the company website is not currently search engine optimized and
does not make use of Google keywords in order to make the site easier to find by
Google’s search engines and thus allowing it to appear on the first page of results.
These limitations place Bass Company behind its competitors Interactions
Marketing and TrendSource who both have very well established Linkedin, Facebook
and Yelp profiles as well as having very robust websites that consistently appear at the
top of searches for “mystery shopping San Diego”.
As we move toward an ever connected world it is imperative for companies to
have a strong online presence (Williams, n.d.). A presence in the virtual world is akin to
a presence in the real world and many consumers actively search for information about
companies on the internet before making a decision. Bass Company’s weak online
presence is a weakness for the company. It does not allow for communication of its
brand and message to reach potential customers and even more importantly it may
cause some customers to lose faith in the reliability of the company if they cannot find it
online.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Seven – Lack of Marketing Budget or Marketing Sales
Person
Bass Company does not have a definite marketing budget, which hinders growth
and expansion. A marketing budget is an estimate of projected expenditures to market a
service or a product (Friezner, 2014). A well-established marketing budget can aid not
only with growing a business and expanding the customer base it can also provide
peace of mind to a company owner. Many businesses struggle with marketing and often
times wonder if they should be doing more or if they are spending too much on
marketing. Creating an efficient, well organized marketing budget can aid and undo a lot
of stress that owners face. Most marketing budgets are created by allocating monthly or
annual funds from gross revenue. The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends
that a business with 10% profit margins allocates 7-8% of their revenues to marketing
(Beesley, 2012).
There is also a need for a personal selling approach. Personal selling is a
promotional technique, where a salesperson uses his or her skills and knowledge to
build a relationship with the other party (decision maker or other person responsible for
the purchase) in order to sell a product or service. (KnowThis.com). For a type of
service like mystery shopping, it is beneficial for a company to have a personal selling
approach and have face to face interaction with a client. A salesperson is more likely to
understand and be able to clearly explain the benefits of mystery shopping to a potential
client as well as interpret any questions or doubts they may have about the service. In
addition they will also be able to follow up with potential customers and further try to
persuade them on using Bass Company’s services.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Eight – Lack of Membership in Professional Association(s)
Bass Company is currently not a member of any professional associations,
market research or otherwise. From a business growth perspective it is essential to be
enrolled in at least one professional association. Most of these associations offer
workshops, seminars, access to free publications related to the specific industry, a huge
database full of articles, white papers, and books (Cherwin, n.d.) that can be a valuable
source of ideas and knowledge as well as provide plenty of opportunities to interact with
other members; if taken advantage of, these types of opportunities could prove
invaluable to improving the knowledge base and network of a company.
In order for a company to remain competitive, especially in a highly competitive
industry such as market research, it must constantly be on the lookout for new ways to
improve its business and streamline its processes to make them more efficient. Bass
Company’s lack of enrollment in any association seriously limits its growth potential in
addition to placing it constantly one step behind the competition in the way it conducts
its operations.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Nine – Price of Evaluations is Too Low
Pricing is an important tool in marketing value to customers. Price is the tangible
cost of a product or service but value is the gain a customer gets from a product or
service, over what they pay (Coker, n.d.). What is often overlooked is that price can
communicate value to a customer (McLaughlin, n.d.). It can communicate the gain to be
received from purchasing a service. A price that is too low can unintentionally
communicate to a customer that a product might be of an inferior quality than competing
products and in effect drive said customers away.
Currently, Bass Company charges a price of $40 for in person evaluations and
$28 for telephone evaluations. This is a very low price for a business delivering services
in market research. Wages for Bass Company account for an average of 29.1% of
gross receipts for Bass Company, almost a third. This alone is an indicator that the
company needs to increase revenue, and one of the ways in which it can do this is to
increase the cost of evaluations.
How much prices should be increased will be left up to Mr. Murrell to decide.
While there are two direct competitors for Bass Company in San Diego both of these
institutions are large, national organizations and therefore charge exorbitant rates,
($100 per evaluation for IM and $95 for TS). This team, however, recommends that
even a price increase of $10, from $40 to $50, will allow Bass Company to see a boost
in its overall revenue.
Bass Company
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Key Business Issue Ten – Uncertainty about the Future of Bass Company
Financial statements as well as interviews conducted with Mr. Murrell have
revealed that the future of Bass Company is uncertain. During our first interview he
indicated that he probably should have sold the business before the economic crisis and
got out while he still could. He has also stated numerous times that he would have
preferred to sell the business and that his current commitment is only due to the fact
that it is no longer financially profitable to do so.
In addition, the future of the office space that is currently being used as the
company headquarters is also very uncertain. Chances are the space could be
renovated and turned into another type of business in which case Mr. Murrell presented
the team with two options he envisions for Bass Company. One option would be that
both he and his assistant work on the company independently, from their homes. A
second option would be that Mr. Murrell rents out an office space from a friend of his
and he returns to doing accounting work while managing Bass Company on the side.
The financial statement he shared with the team also show’s an unsteady trend.
In 2010 the business operated at a loss of $9223; in 2011 net profits were $10,812; in
2012 $3,158; in 2013 $42,231. The reason for the dramatic increase in net profits from
2012 to 2013 is because of a decrease of $32,048 in total expenses. This wild
fluctuation in profits makes it very hard to map out a solid growth plan for Bass
Company’s future.
Bass Company
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GROUP’S OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS For the purposes of this report the SBCC team has identified 3 key
recommendations that we believe would be extremely beneficial to Bass Company if
implemented as well as 10 “slam dunk” recommendations that Bass Company would
be able to implement at little to no cost that would allow it to increase its overall
business and revenue.
Recommendation One – Join a Professional Organization
There are two types of organizations that Bass Company can enroll in that
would give it the biggest benefits.
● Enrollment in professional organizations (where competitors are present and
where industry related issues are discussed and shared)
● Enrollment in organizations, where most of the participants are current and/or
potential clients.
One professional organization that Bass Company should enroll in is Mystery
Shopping Providers Association-North America (MSPA-NA). They are an organization
that aims to improve the quality of customer service by enrolling mystery shoppers and
uniting mystery shopping service providers. MSPA-NA is the leader in customer
experience management and also serves to measure the quality of services provided by
companies (MSPA, 2014). Member companies combine their efforts and resources for
the sake of improvement of their businesses by finding new and efficient ways of
dealing with customer service dissatisfaction.
Bass Company
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Customer experience metrics provide clients and business owners the
opportunity to compare and ensure that, at the point of interaction with the customer, a
company delivers on its brand promises. MSPA-NA member companies help their
clients to figure out how their services work by assessment as a representative of a third
party.
Even if Bass Company, as a participant, would not be as active as other
members, it could benefit by reviewing updated database’s or even by implementing
new ideas and practices used by its competitors and, therefore, Bass Company would
be able to keep up with the market.
Bass Company
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Table 4 shows a list of the different types of memberships that MSPA–NA offers.
Table 4. Details of Membership for MSPA-NA
Regular Members
Mystery shopping companies that operate
within North America. Companies
whose primary product is customer service
evaluation
Associate Members
Firms or persons that provide goods or
services to mystery shopping provider
companies.
International Affiliate
Companies whose primary membership is in
another MSPA Region and do not have an
operating office in North America
Shopper Members
Individuals that want to further their mystery
shopping careers through certification and
other resources provided by MSPA-NA.
Bass Company
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Table 5 shows the varying prices of each type of membership.
Table 5. MSPA-NA Membership Fees based on Type of Membership
Regular Members
Total revenue is under $1 Million
($550 annually)
Total revenue is $1.1 - $5 Million
($750 annually)
Revenues is above $5 Million
($950 annually)
Associate Members
$1200 Annually
Affiliate Members $250 Annually
Regular shopper $20 Annually
Benefits of enrollment:
● Access to “The Mystery Times”. Provides knowledge about other mystery shopping
companies in the industry. In this quarterly newsletter, there is also some practical
cases related to customer service evaluation
● Relevant updates to legislation policies having an impact on business operation.
●Access to the shopper social network “The Listening Post”. The web site is only
available for certified shopper members in MSPA- NA
●Information and workshops to help and increase your revenue and business
development as a mystery shopper
Bass Company
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There is one more professional organization that Bass Company could benefit by
joining; National Association of Mystery Shoppers. This organization has several types
of memberships. The types vary from $24.95 (Regular Membership) to $300 (Platinum
Membership) annually. Regular membership gives mystery shopping companies some
benefits, which are: (NAMS, 2014)
1. Companies “Profile” is available to over 80 of the top, most trusted mystery shopping
firms in the USA.
2. One easy application, no need to fill out an application for every shopping company
you want to apply to.
3. One simple place to update your profile. No need to contact every company you’ve
signed up with, just update a few simple things like a new phone number, new email
address, etc.
4. Easy to remove your profile from the shopping pool should your career take a new
path.
In addition to professional organizations Bass Company should belong to other
organizations whose membership consist primarily of businesses that could be potential
clients for the company. These organizations can vary from Financial Institution
Organizations to Hospitality, Restaurant and Food and Beverage Associations. After
enrollment is such organizations Bass company should gradually take a leadership role
and try to establish trust between the company and potential clients.
Bass Company
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The California Restaurant Association is an organization that Bass Company
should enroll in. Among the members of the California Restaurant Association are a few
local companies, one of which is headquartered in San Diego; Cohn Restaurant Group,
located at 2225 Hancock Street. Starting with one single dinner in 1981, David and
Lesley Cohn now own over 21 restaurants in Southern California.
Another alternative in order to build a network with businesses is through the
Southern California Association for Financial Professionals (SoCal AFP, 2014). Among
the members of this association are representatives of treasury management in certain
banks throughout the Southern California region. These representatives have a great
deal of responsibility and influence in banks’ management decisions, therefore, these
people could help Bass Company expand its business to more financial institutions.
Mr. Murrell also expressed the desire to be involved in working with retail
businesses in California. There is a great opportunity to build long term relationships
with members of the California Retailers Association. Building a network with key
people in these organizations is a wonderful opportunity for Bass Company to attract
new clients.
Bass Company
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Recommendation Two – Create a Brand
A brand is a "name, sign, term, or a combination of which helps to distinguish the
product or services from one provider to another one. (American Marketing Association,
2012). Brand is a promise to a customer. So, everything which is reflected in the brand
should be delivered at the “moment of truth” or “when a company’s product or service is
fully and finally revealed to a client” (American Marketing Association, 2012). A
company brand has to be derived from who you are, who you want to be and who
people perceive you to be. It also has to match with the company’s mission and vision.
Bass Company has to build a reliable brand according to services the company
provides. Therefore, branding is not about allowing your target market to choose you
from different competitors, it is instead getting them to see you as one single provider
which can find the way to meet customer’s needs and wants accordingly (Lake, 2014).
The foundation of any brand is a logo. A company’s website, services, and promotions –
all should be imbedded with a logo and thereby communicate your brand.
Consistent, strategic branding helps a company to survive in the long term,
especially during crises. A company is also able to charge extra money for its services
because of strong brand awareness among its clients. For example, “Secret Shopper”
mystery shopping company is perceived as a reliable mystery shopping brand which
helps the clients identify their services very easily. People are ready to pay extra money
for a brand, rather than to trust another company with the same services but with a
weaker brand name. Sometimes, even though your services or products may be getting
worse compared to the competition, people will still buy from you because of a strong
association with the brand.
Bass Company
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A brand encompasses all of the feelings of the customer as well as the the total
experiences and perceptions people have when they think about your company. Bass
Company has to work on building a strong brand that customers will associate with.
Regardless of the type of business or through what mediums a business
currently engages its customers there are several steps to building a reliable brand:
Deliver the message clearly
Clear explanation of what the company does and what value it brings the
consumer
Build credibility
Credibility can be confirmed by having a client list, or by highlighting key
business partners
Motivate the Buyer
Use active verbs and interesting images to encourage people to act and be
excited)
In addition to these steps Bass Company has to communicate a brand message to
customers that encompasses answers to these questions:
What is the company's overall mission?
What do your customers already think of your company?
What qualities do you want them to associate with your company
Bass Company
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Ultimately, Bass Company has to take several actions to build a strong brand:
Have a Well-Designed Logo and Place it everywhere.
Every communication with people has to be the same. For example, if Bass
Company’s web site hosts the company logo every other piece of communication has to
include that same logo in order to make it memorable for customers.
Communicate the Brand Message to Customers
The brand message should reflect that Bass Company is an experienced
company that can evaluate customer’s services in a professional way.
Integrate the Brand With the Logo
Bass Company’s brand has to be integrated with the logo. In other words the
logo and the brand have to work in conjunction to convey the message that Bass
Company wants to present to customers about itself. If Bass Company’s brand
promises professional service evaluation, the logo cannot contain something that does
not convey professionalism.
Develop a Tagline.
Write a memorable, meaningful and concise one to two sentence statement that
captures the essence of your brand. This tagline should be present on the company
website as well as expressed in all promotional materials used by the company.
(Entrepreneu.com, 2014)
Bass Company
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For instance:
“For over 60 years Bass Company has provided the San Diego and
Southern California region with mystery shopping services that are fast,
reliable and tailored to the needs and vision of your company.”
Create Brand Standards and Keep It Consistent
Building a strong brand is not as easy as simply placing a well-designed logo on
all promotional materials; the logo must go along with other important variables like:
brand message, images, words, and color. Creating standards for the brand within all
promotional materials is a must; in addition all materials must remain consistent with
regards to the logo, message conveyed, and images and colors used.
Keep the Brand True.
The brand should be honest. Do not promise something that you cannot deliver.
This is very important in building trust with customers especially in the very beginning
when your brand is not as strong and is still trying to establish itself. (Entrepreneu.com,
2014)
Bass Company
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Here are some examples of well-known mystery shopping brands.
(Note the cool blue colors used that convey calm and professionalism.)
Figure 7. Market Force Company Logo
Figure 8. Seceret Shopper Company Logo
Bass Company
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Note in the following example the use of the check-mark to convey
professionalism and a sense that “things are in the bag” when using this company.
Figure 9. Customer 1st Company Logo
Bass Company
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Recommendation Three – Establish a System to Obtain Customer Feedback
In order for Bass Company to grow it is imperative that they gather specific data
from current clients on how their business has helped them and in what ways. Mr.
Murrell has stated that he would prefer not to use contracts in his business dealings,
however, this team feels so strongly about this recommendation that if a company is
unwilling to provide the sort of detailed information needed by Bass company we feel
that the use of a contract with his clients explicitly stating that they must provide specific
technical feedback on numbers and figures that directly resulted from his companies
evaluations and recommendations might be necessary.
One of the things that Bass Company measures for their client California Coast
Credit Union (CCCU) is customer wait time in line. Evaluators write down how long they
wait in line to see an agent and then this information is given to CCCU. Let’s say that
CCCU does some extra training for employees and management is able to decrease
wait time by 20 seconds using the evaluation as a starting point for this measure. Bass
Company needs to be able to get this type of feedback from their clients immediately as
it will allow them to better market these changes in real time to future banking
companies who may be interested in decreasing customer wait time.
Another element Bass Company evaluates is the up-sale of other products and
services. For example, during an evaluation an evaluator notes that the teller didn’t
offer to open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) (based on customer information
the teller has access to). For example purposes let’s say that this customer qualifies for
an IRA and has the extra funds to do so. However, since the teller did not offer it to the
customer, they did not open an IRA and the bank incurred a missed opportunity on
Bass Company
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potential revenue. Another three evaluators note the same thing at this particular
location and CCCU changes specific operations based on these analysis to increase
sign-ups for IRA’s. Looking back at a month of data CCCU sees that their IRA’s indeed
have increased by 15% and the company is now generating more revenue from this
task. Currently, Bass Company does not receive this information and could not use
their evaluations on this specific increase in revenue in their marketing materials to
other financial institutions that want to increase the number of people that are signed up
for an IRA.
Obtaining this type of feedback information from customers is important in order
to enhance Bass Company’s marketing efforts and make them more efficient. Any type
of data and statistics received from an organization needs to be included in some way in
marketing promotions to businesses. Customers will be much more likely to choose
Bass Company if they can see that it delivers quantifiable, tangible results for its clients.
This type of information will also help to establish Bass Company’s brand as one that is
reliable and professional and gets results.
In order to grow and be competitive in this industry a company must have a “leg
up” on their competition. After reviewing competitors in San Diego we found that most
of them do not list specific data on how they helped another company with operations
and revenue. The use of information like this in marketing promotions will allow Bass
Company to expand its operations to even more businesses.
Bass Company
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GROUP’S TEN “SLAM DUNK” IMPROVEMENTS
1. Idea One – Create an Effective Marketing Message
2. Idea Two –Implement a Marketing Strategy
3. Idea Three – Implement a Customer Relationship Management System
4. Idea Four – Develop a Marketing Budget
5. Idea Five – Hire a Marketing Salesperson
6. Idea Six – Increase the Price of Evaluations
7. Idea Seven – Develop a More Robust Online Presence
8. Idea Eight – Redesign the Website
9. Idea Nine – Use of Contracts in Business Dealings
10. Idea Ten – Implement the Business Model Canvas
Bass Company
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IDEA 1: Create an Effective Marketing Message
Even though it sounds very straightforward and clear, there are some challenges
that have to be taken into account by a company before they establish their marketing
message.
1. Content of the message
How is your message perceived by people? Did they understand the values the
company is trying to convey?
2. Easiness of calls to actions
How easy is it to follow calls to action? Sometimes, when it is hard or
inconvenient people may be pushed way from any action.
3. Interestingness
A catchy message is more interesting and easy to remember for the consumer.
The more the message is appealing to people, the better the chance that it will remain
in their heads.
4. Consistency of the message
The main idea, or values which are highlighted in a message should be
consistent regardless of the means in which the message is being delivered. People
often remember messages much more easily if they hear them numerous times.This
means the same message should be delivered across the website, flyers, emails and
marketing promotions.
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Highlighting Benefits in the Message
Considering these 4 variables, there is a need to highlight the benefits of Mystery
Shopping versus alternatives methods of customer service evaluation.
Highlighting benefits in the marketing message is a good way to persuade
clients and make them consider purchasing a product. Highlighting how your company
is able to bring value to the consumer is a very effective tactic in convincing them to
choose your product over another.
Many Mystery Shopping providers have already adopted this method of
highlighting the benefits of their organization. For example, ‘Five Diamonds Hospitality’
and ‘Reflections MS’, which cater to clients from Southern California, have very clear
marketing messages on their official web sites. Therefore, they are more likely to be
interested in their services and purchase them. Some of the most common benefits
highlighted by these companies are:
●Personal approach
●The quality of service
●Variety of services
(Nowadays most mystery shopping companies are more oriented toward a
broad range of services, rather than just one single service)
Mystery shopping is a more professional and objective way to evaluate customer
service performance. According to Dwek (1996), “mystery shopping has competent,
knowledgeable and trained personnel by which the whole concept of mystery shopping
becomes more reliable, serious and with the better quality performance than traditional
forms of service evaluation.”
Bass Company
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The SBCC team has identified three key benefits that we believe Bass Company
should highlight in all of their marketing materials. These benefits in order of importance
are:
1. Evaluation of Competitors
Bass Company has a competitive advantage because the company can evaluate
competitors’ businesses and share this information with their clients. As competition in
industries is ever increasing this type of evaluation can prove very beneficial to
companies looking to outdo their rivals. We believe this type of evaluation should be
strongly advertised by Bass Company.
2. Tailoring the Report According to the Customers’ Needs
Another advantage of Bass Company is its ability to customize each report
according to the clients’ needs, without generalization the reports and making one a
universal standard. Some customers need comprehensive business evaluations, while
others are only looking to have a specific component of their company evaluated. The
ability to tailor evaluations to a customer’s needs and wants has the potential to put
Bass Company ahead of its competitors who mainly use generic evaluations with their
clients.
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3. Diverse Staff
One of the key components of Bass Company’s evaluation system is its use of
multiple, and diverse people in their review process. Bass Company will send 2-3
different people to the same location to evaluate one business. This approach allows
the client to receive unbiased feedback from multiple evaluators and most importantly
allows them to know how gender and race differences might affect the service that a
customer receives in their business. We believe this is another strong benefit that Bass
Company needs to make more of its consumers aware of.
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IDEA 2: Implement a Marketing Strategy
In order for Bass Company to expand its operations to more customers and grow
its business it needs to implement an effective marketing strategy. A marketing strategy,
according to Homburg (2009), is “the goal of increasing sales and obtaining a
competitive marketing advantage. Marketing strategy includes all basic and long-term
activities in the field of marketing…”
According to Hague (n.d.) there are 10 reasons benefits to operating in a B2B
environment such as Bass Company does. For the purposes of simplicity we have
selected only the top three that we feel impact the company the most, these are:
1. B2B Buyers are More Rational
In a business setting decisions such as how much money to allocate to customer
evaluations and which company should perform said evaluations is rarely left up to a
single individual; instead, more often than not, a team of people will decide upon these
decisions. This allows the team to rationally consider all options and consider all of the
factors of each option such as pricing and technical expertise. As Hague said (n.d.) “as
consumers we are often less well-informed, less accountable to others and far more
susceptible to whims, indulgences, recklessness and showing off than is the case when
we are in the workplace.”
2. Personal Relationships are More Important in B2B Markets
Often times the products consumed in a B2B market are complex and very
technical. This forces companies operating in this environment to expend a larger
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amount of revenue on salespeople that are able to readily explain to clients what a
product is, how it works and how it can bring them value.
3. B2B Markets Don’t Rely as Heavily on Packaging
In a consumer marketing setting products are often packaged in certain ways to
highlight aesthetic characteristics to consumers, such as a brand name for phones or
“sex appeal” for cars. Due to the nature of the B2B market, however, this type of
branding is not received well as companies are more interested in the technical aspects
of a product rather than the perceived visual appeal.
What this all means for Bass Company is a marketing strategy that focus on the
expertise and abilities of Mr. Murrell and his evaluators, their ability to bring value to a
corporation and the individual attention that each report receives from its inception all
the way until its final delivery to the client.
A marketing plan that Bass Company should follow is one that is tailored to the
B2B market. A great place for Bass Company to implement its marketing strategy is
LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for the B2B market because most users on the
site are business minded; in fact, a study by Hubspot research concluded that “LinkedIn
traffic has a three-fold advantage over Facebook and Twitter in B2B lead conversion.”
(Devaney. 2013).
Developing a respectable LinkedIn account (which will be discussed in a
separate recommendation) is one platform that Bass Company should spread its
message through. This will allow the company to interact with other businesses, and
build personal and professional relationships with potential clients.
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Another marketing strategy that Bass Company should implement is the use of a
blog (also discussed further in a separate recommendation). Creating and continually
updating a blog will allow Bass Company to establish its self as a respected source of
news and information about mystery shopping and will cause clients to shift their
perspective of the company from one that is merely selling a product to one that is an
expert in the field of mystery shopping (Devaney. 2013); expertise and technical skill are
an important selling point in B2B markets.
An effective strategy to creating a well-respected blog is to “pick up your industry
trade magazine and look at the topics its covering. Then write something similar.
Interview an industry thought-leader, post your views on legislation that impacts your
industry, and write a how-to” (Devaney. 2013).
Google AdWords is another marketing tool that can greatly contribute to a
company’s marketing strategy. If a potential customer does not know you exist it is
difficult to obtain them as a client. The use of AdWords allows a company to market
itself on the first page of Google search results for particular keywords. The cost of this
varies by keyword, but allows for an increased online presence.
How AdWords work is through a Cost-Per-Click method (CPC). Through the
CPC method you are only charged when a search term that you’ve specified is clicked
on by a user. This eliminates the need for any recurring fees that need to be paid. Users
are also allowed to set a daily maximum that limits how much a company gets charged
per day by users clicking on their search terms. Once the daily maximum is reached the
campaign turns off and does not resume until the next day.
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One thing to be aware of is not selecting keywords that cost too much. If a
particular search term cost is extremely high it is likely that many other companies are
using the same search terms and therefore, the competition is increased and that term
would be considered ineffective. It is recommended to choose narrow, defined search
terms to allow for greater targeting and minimal costs. Figure 10 is an example of
search terms Bass Company could use and suggested daily maximums for each term.
When starting a new campaign it is necessary to do a trial run for a week and
see what kind of data results you obtain. The data received will tell you what search
terms were effective and which ones were not. A suggested daily maximum for this
type of trial is $5.00 per day to keep costs low. This is effective enough to make an
informed, educated marketing decision for the continuation of the campaign and its
effectiveness.
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Figure 10. Google AdWords Search Terms and Daily Maximums
Although this is a paid marketing strategy, if done well it can be extremely cost
effective. It will allow for more strategic targeting of your marketing strategy and allow
you to only see results from people who are interested in a mystery shopping service.
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Finally, the use and implementation of a CRM system (discussed in a separate
recommendation) will allow Bass Company to spread its message through mass
marketing email “blasts”. These “blasts” can be sent out to as many people in as many
companies as Bass Company sees fit and will help to put the company “on the map” of
many businesses throughout San Diego.
In order for these mass emailing’s to be effective, however, they need to engage
the attention of the receiver. They should contain the marketing message flyer we have
included in Appendix C, include the company’s logo, the branding statement, as well as
links to the company website, company Twitter account, company LinkedIn account and
most importantly the company blog. All of these materials put together will promote
Bass Company to potential clients as a company that is well-established, respectable,
and that is an expert in its field.
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IDEA 3: Implement a Customer Relationship Management System
Maintaining and growing relationships with customers is important for any
business to survive. Utilizing a customer relationship management tool (CRM) is an
industry standard and the most effective way of undertaking such a task.
There are numerous tools a CRM is equipped with in order to easily help a
business manage their customers. We feel the most important tools for Bass Company
are lead management, contact management, account management, workflow
automation, marketing automation, opportunity management, sales reporting, sales
forecasting, social CRM, and mobile App capability.
There are a plethora of programs available online to download however, we
found one that has a free and paid version and is easy to use and contains all the tools
we recommended. The program we found is called Zoho and has a free version and a
paid version available for download. Figure 11 shows the homepage of Zoho.com
where this service can be accessed from.
The paid version has a few extras such as email integration, social CRM,
workflow automation, call center connectors, and unlimited records, meaning can hold
unlimited amount of customers in the database. This is the professional version and
costs $20 per month. With the capabilities it offers and the efficiency gained, we feel
that this cost is minimal compared to the return on investment.
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Figure 11. Zoho.com Mainpage
This software is simple to learn especially due to the “how-to” videos available on
Youtube as well as the Zoho site itself. The Zoho website claims that the software is
easily customizable allowing the user to add the tools they need and delete the tools
that are unnecessary. Also, within the individual tools themselves, they are
customizable to fit the needs of a growing company. We will highlight a few of the tools
from the Zoho website that we deem most important.
Lead Capturing
With this tool a company can take the data received from their website and
import it into the CRM. This allows for quicker contact time for new customers which is
vital to the success of a business lest they sign a contract with another company before
you get the opportunity to talk with them. In addition the software allows for easy
Follow-up. During talks with Mr. Murrell he revealed to us that his ability to follow-up
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with leads has been lacking. With this software it will remind when follow-up with a lead
is necessary and put it on a calendar with a specific day and time this action is
necessary. Figure 12 is a screenshot of the calendar on the Zoho website. This results
in a decrease of lost customers due to inability to follow-up as well as makes the
company appear professional and genuine.
Figure 12. Calender Feature on Zoho,com
With the workflow tool a company can assign leads and or customers to different
representatives. For Bass Company this would be ideal as their evaluators are
essentially representatives for the company and assigning new mystery shopping jobs
to them in an easy timely manner would increase productivity.
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Marketing
This CRM allows a company to track and measure all marketing activities.
Some of these can include mass email campaigns and media rich campaigns such as
Google Ad-Words. Receiving any kind of metered data with marketing efforts can be
long and tasking. Using this tool can help ease some of the stress of trying to evaluate
a certain marketing campaign by having the data already organized as it is received.
Forecasting
With the forecasting tool one can use it to understand a trend a certain company
has pertaining to when they typically need mystery shopping. Being able to forecast
when a company needs this service will enable Bass Company to beef up staff at
certain times as well as cut-back on staff during forecasted slower times saving money
and resources.
With all of these tools combined plus the many more, Bass Company can
become increasingly organized and grow customer relations. Although organization is
key to any business, in a B2B environment it is the relationships that weigh more
heavily on the success of a company.
The use of a CRM will maintain these positive, growing relationships as well as
generate new ones in the future. This will inevitably increase profits and allow for
expansion into other industries such as retail which is one of the current main objectives
for Bass Company.
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IDEA 4: Develop a Marketing Budget
The amount that a company should spend on marketing depends on two
variables: total sales and net profit margins. According to the United States Small
Business Administration, if total sales do not exceed $5 million and the net profit margin
– after all expenses – is between the 10 – 12 per cent range; it is reasonable to spend
7-8% on marketing. (Boykin, 2013) Bass Company should certainly consider a
marketing budget within these parameters. The actual numbers however depend on
other factors such as what the goals of Bass Company are and how much money can
realistically be allocated toward marketing. If the company is looking to increase their
short term profits then allocating more money toward the marketing budget is advised.
There is, however, a high risk of failure, because success depends on time.
In order to be able to determine which marketing strategies are the most
effective Bass Company has to keep the track of its Return on Investment (ROI) or the
amount that it gains from the amount that is invested.
According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, there are 5 ways to
track marketing ROI.
1. Ask customers how they heard about your company.
When asking, provide a list of the sources you advertised in/used as well as an
“other” option. This allows you to determine which sources are the most effective and
which ones are not.
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2. Manage and track contacts
Keeping track of the costumers a business has is paramount to keeping them as
well as building a new customer base. CRM is a fully integrated tool that allows
companies to keep track of data from customers that visit their website, keep track of
online marketing and advertising efforts, as well as create mass email marketing
campaigns and help with company promotion on social media websites.
3. Handing-out Coupons
Coupons are handed out by companies promoting new services or attempting to
attract new customers to their business. They can be a valuable tool to track marketing
as they allow the business to see which specific coupons are people coming back with
more frequently, this then allows them to more accurately invest their time and
resources.
4. Code marketing materials and emails
Coding marketing materials and promotions with a unique numerical code or a QR
code is an effective way to track ROI. A CRM system would be able to keep track of
every time a code is scanned or input on the website and would thus allow a business
to more effectively track its promotions.
5. Track phone calls
Tracking phone calls is another effective way a company can determine its ROI.
A call tracking system can monitor where a customer is calling from, can be used to
establish which promotional source they received the number from and can be used
in conjugation with a CRM system to manage marketing efforts.
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IDEA 5: Hire a Marketing Salesperson
A marketing salesperson is an individual who helps a company sell a certain
product or service. A salesperson can be very beneficial, especially for a company like
Bass Company, which sells an intangible product (customer service evaluation). For a
product like customer service evaluation it is often best to have a real life person
explaining the process and the benefits of it versus a piece of promotional material.
Against the background of the current situation a marketing person would be very
beneficial to Bass Company. A salesperson also can help the owner develop and
implement a marketing budget as well as manage the CRM activities of the company
and adjust them accordingly. In addition they will be responsible for creating new
marketing promotions as well as obtaining new clients. All of this will allow Mr. Murrell to
have more time to focus on the client reports and evaluations.
In order for a marketing salesperson to be effective their job must be treated as a
long-term investment and, as such, they should be paid accordingly with a base pay as
well as a commission for each business successfully recruited to Bass Company.
According to ‘Sales Talent Agency’, a Small Business Consultant Company in Canada,
the most popular compensation model that is used in most small businesses is 50%
salary/50% commission. This is especially common for companies that require new
business development.
According to the same source, however, if a company is focusing on increasing
existing revenue (what Bass Company is trying to achieve) the best option is a high
base and low commission. There is no precise figures on what is the actual percentage
and salary should be. Salary depends on State policies, whereas the commission
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percentage depends on the total revenue of the company and its ultimate goals. For
instance, the minimum wage in California is $9 (effective from, July 1, 2014)
(Department of Industrial Relations, 2014). Based on the fact that the other employee at
Bass Company earns $18 an hour, we recommend that the marketing person be paid a
wage of $15-20 as well. The percentage of the commission will also depend upon the
total revenue of the company and what is feasible but we recommend 10% as a fair and
decent amount.
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IDEA 6: Increase the Price of Evaluations
The main goal of choosing the right price is to communicate value to prospective
customers and to ensure that Bass Company remains profitable and is able to cover all
expenses. The price must capture the value of the services offered.
Mr. Murrell indeed delivers great value to his customers and the price must
communicate this. For example, he revises the report form for his clients every six to
twelve months to keep the services current. In addition one of his clients, San Diego
County Credit Union has been rated number one. These things will help communicate
value to his customers and justify him raising his prices. The team discussed with the
Tom the importance of showcasing the specific benefits of his services. Mr. Murrell
could include statistics and testimonials in his presentations to prospective clients.
In addition, another reason for Mr. Murrell to raise prices is because of his no
contract policy of doing business. This means that clients can cancel their services with
him at any time. If Mr. Murrell is to continue to offer this no contract policy then prices
should be raised due to risk. Most market research and secret shopper companies
obtain contract with large corporations and this way of business could possibly be a
disservice to Bass Company. The fact that clients can alter and add or decrease
services at any time puts Bass Company high in customer responsiveness. This is yet
another reason to raise prices since this flexibility adds value to the services that Bass
Company offers.
Raising Prices
In the industry, mystery shopping services prices vary. Complexity of the
evaluation in addition to basic requirement can add to the price. They are usually based
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on a per evaluation basis and can range from $35 for basic service audits to $300 for
video recorded interactions (Donnelly, 2013). We feel that Mr. Murrell has a
considerable reason to increase his evaluation prices considering the value of market
research to today’s business. On the Mystery Shopping Providers Association website,
it states that the mystery shopping industry is estimated at almost $600 million in the
United States (Mystery shopping providers association, 2005). In addition the report
states there were about eight million mystery shops conducted. If we do the math, this
breaks down to $75 per evaluation. As we can see, Bass Company’s prices are well
below the average, and need to be closer to this price.
Raising prices can be challenging, however there are action a business can take
to make the process smoother. First, Bass Company can rebrand itself, create a new
label, or differentiate itself. In an earlier recommendation we addressed changing the
business logo which can help make raising prices easier. If you appear to have a
business that offers premium services, clients will feel comfortable paying more. In
addition language is very important, and adding a subtitle to Bass Company business
name can help add value. For example, Bass Company: Market Solutions, or Bass
Company: Market Research Firm.
In addition, bundling services can help add value and justify raising prices. For
example, Bass Company can take the current needs of a client, and for a one-time
offer, bundle additional services using an upsell strategy. In the future, the client will see
the importance in having this service included and will be willing to pay more. Bundling
alone helps add value for the customer (Michalowicz, n.d.).
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IDEA 7: Develop a More Robust Online Presence
In our modern, ever connected world social media has become an absolutely
tremendous opportunity for businesses to grow and expand their customer base.
The top two benefits that studies have found about the effectiveness of social
media indicate that “A significant 89% of all businesses that have a dedicated social
media platform as part of their marketing strategy reported an increase in their market
exposure.” As well as, “More than half of marketers who have used social media
marketing for over 3 years reported an increase in sales over that period.” (Angelova,
2013). These two findings indicate that a company that is not active on social media is
one that is not maximizing its potential market exposure and is not earning as much
revenue as it potentially can.
Choosing the right social media platforms to focus on is something that a
company has to consider very hard before choosing to invest time, money and
resources into developing a strong presence on that site. For the purposes of this report
the SBCC team identified the three top B2B social media websites that we feel would
benefit Bass Company the most (DeMers, 2014).
The first social media site is LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become the pre-eminent
website for businesses looking to connect with consumers and more importantly with
other businesses. Surveys indicate that out of 81% of respondents that used the site,
48% used it primarily in a business capacity (LePage, 2013).
The way that LinkedIn works is users create a basic profile, upload a picture of
themselves (or in Bass Company’s case, a picture of their logo), users can then upload
background information about themselves, select a list of skills that they have, and
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projects or groups they have been involved with. After this users can begin connecting
with other users and developing professional networks on the site.
What makes the website truly useful, however, is its ability to connect someone
directly with a “decision maker” in a company. Most users add their job title onto their
pages so finding the right people in an organization comes down to simply looking at a
company’s LinkedIn page, determining who the leaders are based on posted
information and then contacting them via InMail or even better, requesting that one of
your contacts who may also be a contact with this person introduce you to them (Elad,
n.d.).
A strong presence on the site indicates to potential customers that a company
has a good reputation and is a reputable organization to conduct business with. It can
also be a valuable tool for finding the right people in a business to contact with email
blasts.
In addition to being on LinkedIn, Bass Company needs to develop a strong
presence on Twitter (Burdett, 2014). Twitter is a social media site that allows users to
“tweet”, or create posts, of 140 characters or less to followers, people following the
original poster. These posts can then be “retweeted”, or shared on a user’s page, by
users that find the post interesting/amusing/insightful/etc. All users can see all posts
therefore content has to be filtered out using hashtags (#) that allow users to see only
posts within that specific hashtag, for example #BassCompany #mysteryshopping
would only show posts with those specific hashtags.
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The value of twitter comes from the fact that it can be used to generate a lot of
buzz very quickly. Users retweet posts instantaneously and if a certain one picks up a
lot of traction within a certain group or with a certain hashtag a lot of users will be able
to see it in a very short amount of time.
Another advantage is that users can tweet links to websites or articles. This
feature can be used by Bass Company to share links leading to articles on mystery
shopping, legislation involving mystery shopping or simply links to its website or blog.
This type of link sharing will help to establish Bass Company’s online credibility as well
as help drive online traffic to its blog and website.
The final site that we recommend Bass Company establish itself on is
WordPress.com. WordPress is an online site that allows users to create and host a
website or a blog for free. Users simply enter in some basic information after which they
will choose a url for their blog, such as: BassCompanyBlog.wordpress.com, and then be
allowed to develop their blog however they see fit. The website itself has hundreds of
templates, colors, styles and options to choose from, therefore the blogs are extremely
customizable for a user’s needs and wants.
The benefit of establishing a blog is that it will allow Bass Company to begin to
write about things that are relevant to the mystery shopping industry. As stated before
the best way to find things to blog about is to “pick up your industry trade magazine and
look at the topics it’s covering. Then write something similar. Interview an industry
thought-leader, post your views on legislation that impacts your industry, and write a
how-to (Devaney. 2013).
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Blogging will allow Bass Company to establish itself as an expert in the industry
and build credibility with its customers. The blog can then be added to Bass Company’s
LinkedIn site as a professional source for customers to view, promoted on the
company’s website and repeatedly tweeted about on the company’s Twitter account. All
of these sources will help drive traffic to the site and help get Bass Company noticed by
industry professionals, be they in the mystery shopping industry or outside of it.
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IDEA 8: Redesign the Website
Objective
Bass Company website should be redone in order to instill a level of trust and
importance in the minds of current and prospective customers. It should help market its
services and raise awareness about the company.
Website Layout
Bass Company website should be reorganized to follow an “F” shaped format in
order to follow the natural pattern in which the prospective customer looks for
information. The picture below (Figure 10) illustrates this (Jones, 2012). Website users
often read important information very quickly. Users generally first read in a horizontal
movement at the top of the page and then scroll down and continue this horizontal
movement.
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Figure 10. F Website Format
Finally, users read the content’s left side in a vertical motion, and this is done
more slowly (Nielsen, 2006). From the above description you can see that users will not
read the text thoroughly, so the first two paragraphs must state the most important
information. In addition, “start subheads, paragraphs and bullet points with information-
carrying words.” Bass Company should put the Services, Staff Login, etc. buttons on the
lefts side of the home page following the format of the above example.
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Figure 13 Current Bass Company Homepage Layout
Before the “Who We Are” and “What We Do” sections (found in a screenshot of
the Bass Company homepage in Figure 13) there should be a quick synopsis of what
the prospective customers absolutely must know about the company and at the end a
mention of the complimentary evaluation services followed by a quick link.
Website Color Scheme
Bass Company should change its color scheme from red and gray to more
appropriate colors such as blue, white and black. As mentioned earlier blue represents
trust and communication, which is more appropriate for this type of business. In
addition, color scheme and aesthetics communicate value to the prospective client. The
care taken on visual representation of a company is important to draw in clients and to
maintain profitability and ensure growth of profitability.
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IDEA 9: Use of Contracts in Business Dealings
Through numerous discussions with Mr. Murrell the SBCC team learned that
over the years Bass Company has lost a significant number of clients due to a change
in management. The new managers did not see the need for in-person evaluations or
were trying to cut costs and ended up switching from using Bass Company’s services to
using the online-receipt model or in-person survey kiosks.
Despite the fact that Mr. Murrell prefers doing business the “old-school way” and
would rather not use contracts, the SBCC team feels that their use would greatly benefit
Bass Company’s retention of future clients.
The main benefit of using a contract, in Bass Company’s case, is that it would
make their services immune to a change in management. The implementation of an
employment contract that states Bass Company will render services to this company for
X number of months/years would prevent that client from cancelling the use of Bass
Company’s evaluators for a set time.
This would not only allow for more steady growth of the company as income
would be fixed and predictable for a set amount of time; it would also help Bass
Company avoid large fluctuations in revenue as new clients could be found before old
ones leave.
Another benefit of using a contract is that it will allow Bass Company to state the
rate and terms of payment ("Why use a Contract?” 2008). While we did not ask Mr.
Murrell if non-payment was an issue for him nor did he ever explicitly state that this has
happened in the past, using a contract would none-the-less mitigate this issue from ever
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happening. It would also allow Bass Company to estimate what its future revenue would
be and aid it in financial planning decisions.
The main components of a contract that Bass Company creates should be:
Description of Duties/Work to be Preformed
Length of Time of Services to be Rendered
Terms of Cancellation of Services
Rate of Pay/When Pay is Due
Agreed Upon Terms to Resolve Contract Disputes
Other Information – As Needed
In order to assist Bass Company with the creation of a contract we are including
a link to RocketLawyer.com (https://www.rocketlawyer.com/document/employment-
contract.rl). This website will allow Mr. Murrell to create a free, printable version of a
standard employment contract that he can then begin using with clients. This website
will provide step-by-step directions on how to fill out each part of the document as well
as provide access to local attorneys to review the document or answer any questions if
need be.
In Appendix D we have included a sample employment contract created through
RocketLawyer in order to showcase how effective the service can be.
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IDEA 10: Implement the Business Model Canvas
The most important piece of developing a focused strategy is thinking of Bass
Company in terms of the business model canvas. Figure 14 shows a template for the
Business Model Canvas. Originally created by Alexander Osterwalder, the business
model canvas enables companies to focus on operational and strategic management
(Canvanizer, n.d.). Below is a picture of a business model canvas (Cosby, 2013).
Figure 14. Business Model Canvas Template
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The business model canvas has nine building blocks: Key Partners, Key
Activities, Value Proposition, Customer Relationship, Customer Segment, Key
Resource, Distribution Channel, Cost Structure, and Revenue Stream.
Key Partners – Who are your key partners/suppliers? What are the motivations
for the partnerships?
Key Activities – What key activities does you value proposition require? What
activities are the most important in customer relationships, revenue streams,
etc.?
Value Proposition – What core value do you deliver to the customer? What
need of the customer are you satisfying?
Customer Relationship – What relationship does the target customer expect
for you to establish? How can you integrate this into your business in cost and
format?
Customer Segment – Which classes are you creating value for? Who is your
most important customer?
Key Resource – What key resource does your vale proposition require? What
resources are the most important? (For example for customer relationships or
revenue streams?)
Distribution Channel – Through which channels do your customers wants to be
reached? What channels work best? How much do they cost?
Cost Structure – What is the most cost in your business? Which key resources
or activities are most expensive?
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Revenue Stream – For what value are you customers willing to pay? What and
how do they currently pay? How would they prefer to pay? How much does every
revenue stream contribute to the overall revenues?
All of these pieces of the business model canvas come together to give you a
visual overview of your business. For reference we have included a canvas for Bass
Company in Appendix B. The canvas forces Bass Company to consider key elements
for strategy and success. If Bass Company is unable to fill in any part of the canvas, it is
important that section be focused on. The left side of the canvas concerns the product
or offering and the right side concerns the market (parts of the business not under the
company’s control.) In addition the canvas allows for flexibility, permitting easy changes
to be made in order to adjust to varying conditions as needed for Bass Company.
Overall, the business model canvas is an essential tool for every business
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REFERENCES
1. Angelova, V. (2013, September 2). 7 Reasons Why Social Media is an Absolute
Must for Business Branding. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from
http://www.likeable.com/blog/2013/09/7-reasons-why-social-media-is-an-absolute-must-
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