The Client
Cutco Corporation is a U.S. manufacturer of high-end knives, predominantly distributed through direct sales or multi-level marketing. Cutco is a highly regarded brand of cutlery and kitchen accessories directly marketed to customers through in-home demonstrations by independent sales representatives who are mostly college students. More than 100 kitchen cutlery products are sold under the Cutco name, as well as a variety of kitchen utensils, cookware, sporting, and outdoor knives.
The Challenge
Because the strength of the Cutco brand relied upon its sales and service reputation, the management team was looking to improve their call effectiveness scores, which were averaging around 80%. After using other mystery shopping companies in the past, Cutco management found that their representatives were able to tell when they were talking to a mystery shopper. The results were skewed, and scoring was inaccurate.
The Solution
After working with other mystery shopping companies, Cutco management engaged ARC to provide a combination of mystery shopping, remote call monitoring, and email monitoring. “…We were very satisfied and have not felt the need to look elsewhere for this type of service…” shared Kim Heister, Manager. “We use a combination of secret shops with remotely monitored calls and additionally we use [ARC] to provide email monitoring. The reports that we receive are very useful and when we request changes to existing reports or the addition of new reports, Cheryl is quick to implement the desired changes.”
The Results
“Through the joint effort of ARC and my supervisory team, we are continually modifying our scoring requirements and have achieved great results. Our year-round group consistently scores 98 – 100%+ (with bonus points) on their monitored calls [up from 85.5% before working with ARC]. Regarding ARC I would highly recommend their services. Cheryl Thibault has been a pleasure to work with over the past several years. I have found her to be up front with her comments and she has offered a number of important suggestions for improvement. She completes the work in a timely manner and is very flexible with our requests for reports, etc.”
