Customer Service Eyes At RDU

Did you know that RDU is teeming with spies? At any given time, secret customer service agents may be shopping for a t-shirt, eating a delicious meal, driving up to the terminal curb to pick up family members or washing their hands in one of our restrooms.

In customer relations, our mission is simple– provide exceptional customer service always. Mystery shopping is one of many tools we use to make sure we’re doing just that.

Most of the services that you use at the airport are provided by our business, airline and governmental partners. In fact, only 300 of the more than 4,000 employees who work at RDU are Airport Authority employees.

While those of us who manage customer relations for RDU can pop into our shops and restaurants to observe employee and customer interactions, employees here generally know us. But, we like to know what happens when no one with an Airport Authority badge is looking.

[caption id="attachment_317" align="alignright" width="300"] Mixed in with the passengers moving about our terminals are mystery shoppers, who help us keep our high customer service standards at RDU.[/caption]

Mystery shopping is used to gauge how well our front line employees are doing everyday to accomplish our shared customer service mission. RDU partners with Confero, Inc. to conduct more than 1,400 mystery shops each year. Confero hires and trains our secret shopping agents and works with those of us in the Customer Relations Department.

On their visits, shoppers measure our standards in 12 key areas along with overall principles. Everyone who works at RDU, regardless of position, is expected to meet and, when possible, exceed the standards we think you should expect each time you travel through RDU.

Mystery shoppers test our parking, traffic control, Park & Ride shuttles, security checkpoints, and even terminal restrooms along with The Shops of RDU. By doing this, we can not only see how well we’re doing, we can gather real life observations on service, merchandise selection, staff interactions, wait times and more.

So, how do our employees and business partners feel about being spied upon? They’ve embraced it and are very competitive in making sure their employees deliver exceptional, friendly service on a regular basis. In fact, many of our partners provide financial incentives for employees who earn perfect scores! After all, when one of our customers has an excellent experience at RDU, we all succeed.

Want to do your own mystery shopping, of a sort? Tell us about your latest RDU experience. We look forward to hearing from you!