What is BMS®?
Performance in People (PiP) has developed an objective way of measuring the impact of behaviours on customer experience. The Behavioural Measurement Score (BMS®) has been proven to link directly to improvements in independent CSS, voice of the customer and NPS measures. It analyses the 6 key behaviours (face-to-face) and 4 key behaviours (telephone) that impact most on the customers’ experience: Friendly, Enthusiastic, Professional, Interested, Attentive and Helpful.
Historically, video and telephone mystery shopping primarily focused on sales and process performance. It is now recognised that strong mystery shopping results can be achieved by ticking the appropriate ‘process boxes’ despite bland or disinterested customer interaction.
The Story of BMS®
BMS® was developed in 2014, after a call from a client regarding a high-scoring Video Mystery Shop they received. After evaluating the mystery shop, it became evident that the service was lacking. While the staff followed the correct procedures—such as greeting the customer, demonstrating the product, and closing the sale—in a highly structured manner, when asked if the customer would purchase from that employee again, the response was a definitive "no." PiP realised they were measuring the ‘what’ (process) but were missing the measurement of ‘how’ these processes were being delivered… that’s when the Behavioural Measurement Score® (BMS®) was born!
As BMS® has evolved, we have updated and refined some of the characteristics, which is now regularly completed on a 6-monthly basis. When we developed BMS® we also created definitions for each characteristic within each behaviour, which provides further detail on what needs to be achieved in order to score the characteristic.
In 2018 we evolved further and developed telephone BMS® consisting of 4 key behaviours: Friendly, Professional, Interested and Helpful.
PiP has had a dedicated BMS® Manager since 2016. They are responsible for ensuring consistency and accuracy in marking. It is vital that BMS® is marked consistently and fairly across the board, which is why BMS® is independently scored by PiP’s internal Quality Control team. Quality Control teams are subject to BMS® training, monthly team audits, regular 1- to-1 review sessions, and spot checks to maintain reliable scoring.
BMS® e-learning course
In 2023 PiP released a development in our training and coaching services with the launch of a CPD-certified Behavioural Measurement Score® (BMS®) e-learning course! Our BMS® e-learning course is designed for customer-facing staff, to take their CX skills to the next level by recognising and demonstrating great behaviours. The online course includes:
• The BMS® theory
• Process vs Behaviour
• BMS® scoring method
• How to achieve top marks
• Examples of great BMS® performance
• Top tips
• Self-reflection
• Activities and quizzes to recognise and understand the behaviours and characteristics
If you’d like to learn more about the BMS® e-learning course, please contact Jenna Murphy, Head of Training at Performance in People: jennamurphy@performanceinpeople.co.uk
Award-winning BMS® methodology
BMS® is now used by 100+ UK organisations, providing valuable benchmarking data to understand their specific areas of behavioural performance and how they compare within and outside of their industry.
At the UK Customer Experience Awards, BMS® was crowned the winner for the ‘UK’s Best Customer Experience Measurement’. It also received an award for ‘Best Customer Experience Innovation’ and is now recognised as “the science behind delivering a great customer experience”.
Contact us to find out more about how our BMS® methodology can help improve your customer service!
