Willmark Is Watching

"There is a little larceny in all of us," says Leigh Hall, general sales manager of a remarkable company called Willmark Service System. Armed with this cynical but profitable philosophy, Manhattan's Willmark has become by far the world's largest independent sales snooping firm.

The Argus-eyed and suspicious-minded operatives of Willmark seem to be everywhere, checking on employee morality, trustworthiness, courtesy and efficiency for more than 5,000 U.S. and Canadian employers, including Montgomery Ward, Allied Stores, F. W. Woolworth, Schrafft's and Sears. Every major U.S. auto manufacturer engages Willmark to "shop" the showrooms and report on which models the dealers are pushing hardest. Willmark men and women also watch for gypsters and- short-change artists at Disneyland concessions and patrol Playboy Clubs tempting fluffy-tailed Bunnies to break the strict rules against dating customers after hours.

Willmark has profitably preached vigilance against larceny and laxity among employees since it was started in 1920 by a pair of company sleuths, Mark Bernstein, now 74, and his late brother, Will, whose names are joined in Willmark. Led today by President Bernstein, Willmark has spawned many imitators but still leads the field. Besides keeping a watch out for the bartender, restaurant cashier or gas-station attendant who neglects to ring up a sale on the cash register, Will-mark's 1,500 fulltime "shopping analysts" also rate each salesperson's ability by filling out a secret, 60-question "Selling-Quotient-Builder" after every transaction. Were his fingernails clean? Did he try to induce the customer to trade up or to buy something else as well? What were his parting words? ("Thank you," is considered adequate. Much better: "Come in next Thursday when we're having our sale.")

Clients pay Willmark from $21 to $750 monthly per store for its services and its many pamphlets, which offer inspirational selling tips to employees and dire cautions to management. Though a sign on every cash register warns salespeople that Willmark is apt to prowl the store at any time, employees seldom spot the professional shoppers. Willmark hires only "ordinary-looking people," bans flashy blondes or conspicuous Don Juans. Its shoppers earn only $60 a week and expenses, but the job is much sought after, since it involves the pleasure of being paid to buy anything from expensive whisky to diamonds--even though shoppers must return all nonperishable purchases at day's end.

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