Services, Reporting and Coverage

DSG provides wide range of field services

Whether you represent a company owned business, a franchisor, dealer network, non-profit, government agency, research organization, trade association, franchisee or entrepreneur, if you need information about what really happens at the point of contact between the company and the customer, DSG can help you design and execute a program to collect, organize and report it – accurately and efficiently. That’s true whether you need:

An on-going program or just a project perspective
Coverage that is multi-national, national, regional or local
Design support for the program, the sample, the questionnaire, the visit requirements and/or the reporting
Just visit implementation and data delivery.

DSG covers the Americas with a database of more than 240,000 independent contractors representing a wide array of backgrounds, knowledge and skills. The combination of that ready resource and the fact that DSG manages everything from its Southern California headquarters, including its own proprietary STARS software, means DSG offers clients maximum responsiveness to meet their program needs. In addition to standard approaches, DSG can provide custom-designed, specialty versions of a wide array of services. In fact, if you don’t see the specific field service you need listed below, check with us. We take pride in our ability to provide innovative solutions to your field service challenges.

Mystery shops

In-person
Telephone
Recorded telephone
Internet
Incentive, including instant rewards
Competitive
Relationship/longitudinal (shopper reports on a series of transactions as part of an on-going consumer relationship)

Intercept Interviews

Interviewer administered
Respondent administered
Videotaped

Audits

Point of purchase materials
Merchandising and stocking
Operations

Regardless of the type of visit, clients know that the DSG quality systems ensure unsurpassed data integrity. See Quality Systems – The DSG Personal Touch to learn how we keep first things first.

Data delivery and reporting designed to meet client needs

Making sure the visits are done right, the first time, on-time is our first priority, but we know the job’s not done until the information is in the hands of our clients. Our proprietary STARS system not only helps manage the visits from recruiting and assigning to data collection, it also allows us to deliver the data electronically in the format and on the time table specified by each client. The standard types of reporting include:

PDFs of full reports of each individual visit or interview simultaneously emailed to multiple recipients or posted on a secure website.
Summary reports, charts, graphs, and tables either in our standard formats or custom designed to client requirements and sent via email or posted on a secure website.
Bulk transfers of raw data in Excel, delimited text, or Access sent via email or posted on a secure website.

Our average turnaround time from visit to report delivery is 1.39 days with 87% of visit reports going out in two business days. Generally, our commitment is to send out data within three business days of the visit and we hit that standard on more than 99.9% of the visits done on that basis. That slight delay allows time to proof the data carefully and call the IC for further clarification when necessary.

Data may be turned faster if necessary, but we prefer to maintain enough flexibility to implement our quality system properly. We normally transmit or post electronic data at the close of the business day, but multiple transmissions throughout the day may be sent if necessary.

Our proprietary STARS software, designed and managed by our in-house Information Services group, offers outstanding speed, efficiency and capacity, but possibility most important to our clients, it means flexibility. It means they are not stuck with a third party reporting system, but rather, they can have the reports they want when they want them and that necessary changes can be made quickly and inexpensively.

Industry expertise

That flexibility has proven important in the dynamic businesses DSG serves. DSG expertise also helps clients anticipate possible needs based on experience working in a wide range of businesses and industries, including:

Hospitality businesses: including quick service, pick-up and delivery, mid-scale and upscale restaurants and hotels
Retailers of all types, including department and large hardware stores, service stations and convenience stores, grocery stores, big box retailers, rent-to-own and phone service outlets
Consumer products: especially soft drinks, wireless phones, satellite radio, and computers
Financial services, especially credit unions, home mortgages and car insurance
Automotive sales, rentals and repair and maintenance services
Real estate, including home sales and apartment and resort leasing
Entertainment and travel: clubs, theaters and buses
Miscellaneous services: parking lots and garages, cell phone service

Geographic Distribution

Currently DSG Associates, Inc. operates in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. We have also provided field services in Guam and various Latin American countries. Generally, we work directly with our Independent Contractors (ICs) and do not subcontract with any other mystery shopper companies, schedulers, or other outside services.

The primary exception to this is the state of Nevada. There, we have set up a special arrangement with a Private Detective Agency to meet the requirements of Nevada law. We also work with sub-contractors in a few other areas because of special local requirements.

We have many Spanish-speaking employees and are capable of and experienced in managing visits and/or intercepts in Spanish.

Our database of Independent Contractors (ICs) contains more than 240,000 individuals and grows every day. Although this measure is significant, the real issue is whether we have qualified, reliable ICs where we need them, who are willing and able to perform the assignment when we need it done at the price our contract allows. If, however, we do not have the ICs we need, we are expert in getting them, quickly and efficiently– without losing control of the quality of the data collected.