By Frances Matteck/editor-in-chief

Every TCC campus has its own bookstore, and most students make their way there eventually whether it be for textbooks, school supplies or snacks and drinks.

To maintain a high level of customer service, the Follett Higher Education Group employs a secret shopper to evaluate each store four times a year, said Colleen Baker, district manager for TCC’s bookstores.

“The secret shopper program is a customer service measurement system Follett has implemented where anonymous third-party individuals visit Follett stores as a regular customer would,” she said. “The shopper will be at the bookstore for an average of 20 minutes and will solicit assistance to get a feel for the level of customer service at the store.”

Follett employs the eXcel customer interaction model as a standard of evaluation. This model asks the following questions: Did the staff engage the customer in 20-30 seconds? Did they explore their customers’ needs? Did the staff collaborate with customers and coworkers? Did they execute the transaction? Did they leave the customer smiling?

The model evaluates a phone interaction and a 20-minute sales floor and cash register interaction.

Follett’s benchmark goal is 88 percent, and all TCC bookstores have above average scores. NE Campus received the most recent score with a 93.18 percent in December. South, NW and SE Campuses received a 97.65 percent, 96.79 percent and 90.2 percent, respectively, on their latest shops.

Student Cody Harris just purchased his books for the spring semester from NE Campus Bookstore.

“When I went in there last week, one of the workers helped me get all of my books without any problems,” he said. “In and out in 10 minutes.”