Mystery shopping is a vital part of the customer relationship management program for any business that places service and hospitality as key components of the value proposition. Mystery shopping can be one of the most cost-effective and flexible customer relationship management tools available. It can be deployed quickly and inexpensively. Moreover, it is a program that can be modified and tweaked on the fly, giving the client access to very current market research information without expensive set-up costs. Mystery shopping allows business managers to quickly gather reliable and quality feedback from a customer’s perspective. It is an invaluable tool for businesses seeking to evaluate a team’s customer care performance levels, training budgets and the delivery of company mission statements to its core consumer sector. Five of the most common uses of mystery shopping are: review of customer brand perceptions; analysis of competitors; review of internal procedures and processes; evaluating staff performance; and evaluating point-of-purchase materials and the retail store.