Become A Mystery Shopper

You’ve seen the ads touting how you can make a part time or even a full time income doing “mystery or secret shopping.” Some say you can make between $10 – $60 an hour or more. That is technically true. But it’s stretching the truth a bit. There’s another side of the story that most people omit. I believe everyone should know this side as well.

According to Mystery Shopping Providers Association website: Mystery Shopping is the practice of using trained shoppers to anonymously evaluate customer service, operations, employee integrity, merchandising, and product quality. You can mystery shop for practically any service or product you can think of.

First and foremost, there is NO need to pay for mystery shopping information. Mystery shopping information is available for FREE o­nline. You just have to know where to find it.

Mystery shopping o­n any sort of regular basis is really for stay at home Moms, people who have plenty of spare time or someone with an extremely flexible schedule. Lots of notifications are for “emergency” or “urgent” shops which may need you to do it the very next day.

You MUST have internet access. You also must be intelligent. You will need to write out your reports and you have to be able to articulate your observations well.

The hardest part about getting an assignment is to get that FIRST o­ne. The trick to getting selected is to SELL YOURSELF in your reply.

With many shops you must pay out of your own pocket first then wait to be reimbursed. That’s not always the case, but it’s quite common. Many companies pay you the following month and it can take up to 45 days. So if you need the money you’re spending to do a mystery shop to pay the bills, DON’T do it.

The most time you will spend associated with a mystery shop is in filling out the report/survey afterwards. It will take you over an hour to complete the survey if you are just starting out. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not being truthful. Something very important that gets conveniently left out is if you don’t fill out the survey ‘correctly,’ your report may be rejected and you will NOT get paid.

Those stories about people making over $7,000 in a month doing mystery shops are anecdotes. They are few and far between. The truth is that you will earn far less. It is true that you can make $10 – $60 an hour doing mystery shopping. But…You may not get more than o­ne job a week or a month for that matter. The reality is that you might make between $50 – $100 a month when you first start out. If you stick with it, you can make several hundred dollars a month or more by doing multiple shops. To make any decent money, you’ll need to do multiple
shops in a day. And the longer you stay with it, the more money you’ll be able to make.

You’ve heard all the hype, now you have the other side of the story. You now know what to expect going in. And you won’t have to learn through the school of hard knocks like so many others have.

Cynthia Alexander has been mystery shopping for several years. She has written a detailed report on the subject. In the report she reveals insider tricks, tells where the highest paying jobs are and gives a website that lists hundreds of mystery shopping companies and best of all, it won’t cost one penny to sign up. Go to [http://www.stopyourbarking.com/mysteryshoppingexposed.pdf] to download the FREE report.

Author: Cynthia Alexander
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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You may have heard about mystery shopping, but don’t understand how it works. For over half a century, people have used mystery shopping to make money and receive free services and products.

Every day while you are shopping in your local grocery store or dining in your favorite restaurant, chances are you’ve walked right past a mystery shopper. The reason you didn’t notice them is because one of the most important requirements to be a mystery shopper is to remain anonymous.

There aren’t any physical job requirements to do most mystery shops. Regardless of where you live, your age, or your socioeconomic status, there are mystery shopping assignments available for people like you.

When working as a mystery shopper, you can choose the amount and type of assignments that you want to accept. This allows you to choose your income, and work part time or full time.

Mystery shoppers are utilized by many of the major brands and corporations that you are already familiar with. They use mystery shoppers to gain insight on how the typical customer views their company.

Mystery shoppers perform work for a wide variety of businesses including:

• Hotels
• Cellular Phone Stores
• Wholesale Clubs
• Museums

When I first signed up as a mystery shopper, I was surprised to learn that many different businesses in my area, many of which I patronize, have mystery shopping assignments available. I found myself driving down the road and saying to myself “I just saw a shop posted for there the other day”. Mystery shopping has provided a way for me to make extra money while shopping at places I already visit. It is also given me a chance to try some new places that I wouldn’t have normally tried.

Each assignment that you receive will be different and will include instructions on specifically what needs to be done. Here is an overview of how a typical assignment is performed.

A potential mystery shopper receives an assignment and thoroughly reviews the requirements and does the necessary preparation.

The shopper arrives at the location to be shopped during the time period specified in the assignment. The shopper observes the level of customer service provided, the cleanliness of the location, and the amount of time it takes for the employees to acknowledge and serve the shopper.

After completing the shop, the shopper submits a report on the findings of his/her assignment using the web site of the company that the work was performed for. The mystery shopper is then paid for the work that they performed via check or electronic transfer. This can take up to several weeks for payment to be received.

Not only can mystery shopping provide you with money a free products, you can have a great time while doing it. If you enjoy shopping, this can be the most fun you have ever had while at “work”.

The author enjoys writing articles about mystery shopping. See more articles by this author about topics such as countertop water filter and symbol handheld scanner.

Author: Eric Brooks
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Mystery shopping is a unique way for consumer-minded companies to receive useful feedback on products, services, and other aspects related to shopping from the perspective of an end customer. Companies use mystery shopping efforts to remain in touch with their key shopping demographics, and as a way to evaluate/determine the things that work and those that need improvement.

Through a variety of different avenues, companies can largely achieve the benefits of having mystery shoppers work for them at a negligible cost to their bottom line. That is, compared to the cost of hiring full-time, in-house personnel to perform mystery shopping duties or having other employees spend part of their valuable time carrying out that task.

Most mystery shoppers are targeted by companies as individuals in key demographic areas – for instance, a cosmetics provider might put out classified ads for females aged 18-30 for mystery shopping opportunities in various department stores with a large cosmetics section. Being that mystery shoppers are a unique mix of a type of focus group, and an ‘undercover agent’ of sorts, there is a certain amount of training involved for creating ideal mystery shoppers.

Depending on the data being observed by companies, mystery shoppers could be trained to focus on identifying ways to improve customer service, examine product quality, or evaluate marketing efforts. Above all else, though, mystery shoppers are valuable because of the ‘real consumer’ aspect they bring to such an effort, therefore training is generally as easy as a simple conversation detailing the things to notice while shopping.

Unfortunately due to an increasingly large amount of scam organizations using the ‘mystery shopper’ opportunity as a ploy, many companies are finding it harder to find qualified shoppers without making a significant investment towards displaying legitimacy. Most businesses use temp agencies to staff their mystery shopping needs, unless the project is particularly unique (i.e. shopping for maternity-related items).

In those rare cases where the project requires a specific shopper for the best results, companies generally turn to marketing research firms, private investigators, and even insurance companies who specialize in mystery shopping. This of course drastically increases the upfront price for services rendered, but ensures that a company will get the best quality while avoiding timely and expensive risks.

Today’s mystery shopping rates wildly vary depending on how economically-stable a particular market has fared during the economic recession. Generally-speaking, shoppers expect to earn at least $25, and as much as $150 per shop without taking into consideration any extra benefits (i.e. free/reduced-cost meals and/or merchandise, length of assignment, amount of detail in evaluation, various expenses, etc.)

Terry Mitchell is the owner and operator of Foxrater – http://www.foxrater.com – the web’s top free insurance quote site. It allows people to enter their zip code and compare the rates of auto, homeowners, health, and life insurance companies doing business in their area.

Author: Terry Mitchell
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Has anyone asked you how someone can make money mystery shopping? You attempt a reply but you admit to yourself you do not even know what it is. But the name is definitely intriguing. Mystery shopping. Is it buying something without knowing what it is? Or is it buying a mystery novel? Whatever it is, it is something worth looking into, especially if you can make money mystery shopping.

“Mystery shopping” is a research tool used by companies selling products or offering services to find out how satisfied their customers are after purchasing their product or availing of their services. The tool is also used to gain an objective insight into the customer’s complete experience when engaging in business with a specific company. But how is mystery shopping exactly done? And more importantly, how can you make money mystery shopping?

Businesses often enlist the help of companies offering mystery shopping services to get feedback on the products or services they are selling. These mystery shopping companies, in turn, employ people to do the research. These researchers, or “mystery shoppers” or “mystery consumers” go to stores, establishments, or sometimes even online retail websites to conduct business with them. The “mystery consumers” then answer a series of questions designed to measure their level of satisfaction on the product or service availed, including their entire experience when engaging in business with the retail or service outlet. These feedbacks is then returned to the business owner in the form of a report, who will then use the report as a guide in designing their marketing campaigns, or sometimes use the report to gauge the performance of their sales personnel and other employees.

Testimonials from mystery shoppers, especially online mystery shoppers, abound as to how fun, exciting and lucrative the job is. For shopaholics like myself, getting paid to go shopping is heaven. Imagine having your cake and eating it too, with someone else paying for the cake, and you getting paid for eating it. In addition, you are in charge of your own time. You can work anytime you want, any day you feel like it. But can this be for real? It is often told that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Stories from some mystery shoppers have recently sprung up, saying that it is not as fun and lucrative as some mystery shopping companies claim it to be. Sometimes, the shoppers are given assignments they are not really into, for example, doing research in a tattoo parlor for someone who is totally not into it. In addition, assignments are not that frequent. And since you get paid only upon completion of a report, you might not get paid for long periods of time, especially if your assignment entails the ordering of products online and waiting for the product to be delivered.

So if you ask me if one can make money mystery shopping, I will say yes, but it is not worth the effort. If you are looking to make a quick and easy buck, there are other alternatives for you. An example would be “affiliate marketing” over the internet, where all you need is internet access and a little time initially, and soon you can make money on your spare time without lifting a finger.

Everyday, thousands of people go online looking for make money mystery shopping. They search and spend their valuable time only to be introduced to one scam after another. Did you know that more than 83% of work at home opportunities are scams? And that number continues to grow everyday. Scam artists are more than happy to divorce you of your hard earned money and leave you nothing to show for it. Don’t fall for scams. There are legitimate online jobs, like affiliate marketing, that anyone can do to make money online.

Affiliate marketing is great for stay at home moms, people who have recently lost their jobs, aren’t happy at their current job, retired, disabled, or if you just want to make some extra money to supplement your current income.

Even if you know nothing about affiliate marketing, there is a course that will take you step by step and teach you everything you need to know to make money online with affiliate marketing in 8 weeks. Visit Wealthy Affiliate Truth to learn more about how to be financially secure, even in a recession.

Author: B. Bishop
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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This article isn’t going to go over well with those die hard mystery shopping fanatics out there who swear that mystery shopping is the greatest thing to hit the Internet since the Beatles hit the Ed Sullivan Show. Well, it’s time to set the record straight about Mystery Shopping and just how much you can realistically make from this endeavor. Hopefully, after reading this little expose, you’ll have a decent idea of what Mystery Shopping is about and whether or not you want to even bother with it. Yes, it is time to learn the truth about Mystery Shopping

The first thing I don’t understand is why people call this an Internet business. Mystery Shopping has nothing to do with the Internet other than the fact that you are probably getting paid by a company that has established itself on the Internet and when you make your reports, you do so by submitting the information via their web site. But other than that, there is nothing Internet about this. Okay, I guess I should explain what Mystery Shopping is for those who don’t know.

Mystery Shopping is basically going out of your house to various local, or not so local establishments and purchasing items or services from these establishments and then reporting back to the web site your findings. The web sites use this information as reviews for these establishments for people who want information on them. It is a great service for people who want to know if an establishment is worth going to. But for the mystery shopper, it’s a whole different story.

For starters, many times your payment comes in the form of the service itself. Say you’re sent out to eat at a new restaurant. Many times your payment is the meal. Well, maybe for some people that’s fine, but when you have to travel 60 miles to get to the restaurant, especially with the price of gas today, while it may be a fun night out, it’s certainly not profitable. If anything, most mystery shopping gigs will end up costing you money.

Then of course there is the gas expense. Even for the Mystery Shopping gigs that pay you in actual cash, by the time you deduct your expenses, which are not covered, you don’t end up with much. And the pay is pretty dismal anyway. At best, you’ll make about $20 for a very long assignment.

Finally, there is the problem of getting assignments. Most mystery shopping companies don’t give you a lot of work unless you’re willing to travel hundreds of miles, especially if you live in the sticks. You’ll be lucky to get one assignment a month in many cases.

The truth is, you can’t make a lot of money with mystery shopping. If you’re just looking for a night out, it’s great. Just don’t expect to get rich from doing it.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html

Author: Steven Wagenheim
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A lot of people assume that offers to become a mystery shopper are probably a scam, but you’ll be surprised that these are legitimate businesses. The Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) has over a 130 mystery shopping companies listed in America alone. There are hundreds more operating in all corners of the world.

Mystery shoppers pose as customers to gather information about service, quality, cleanliness and other issues on behalf of business owners. They visit stores, restaurants, banks, apartment complexes, cinemas and all other kinds of businesses.

A common misconception is that mystery shoppers get paid for their opinions. Mystery shoppers do not report what they thought about the experience, but rather what they observed during their experience. This means reporting on how long it took to be served, for example, or whether the food served was warm enough.

Mystery shoppers are hired by businesses to evaluate what their customers think of them. The information collected is used to recognize and reward top performers and to determine training needs and other deficiencies that may exist within the business. So we know that many companies use mystery shopping, but is it legitimate?

Today, there are an estimated 2.5 million mystery shoppers working for hundreds of mystery shopping companies all over the world. However, if you are truly interested in mystery shopping, do use some caution.

Check that the mystery shopping company that you wish to shop for is legitimate by finding out if it is affiliated with or a member of recognised associations such as the Mystery Shopping Providers Association in America . Companies that apply to MSPA have to go through an approval process and agree to uphold ethical standards. If a company is a member of such an organisation, then it is a company you can trust.

Also, find out more about the history of the mystery shopping company by visiting their website. Visit online mystery shopping forums in your country and read what other mystery shoppers have to say about the company. Best of all, shop with those companies that have been recommended by someone you can trust.

There are mystery shopping companies all over the world. To locate companies in your country, do an Internet search for terms such as “mystery shopping company” and the name of your country.

Sheetal Shah is an Online Marketing Specialist with Gapbuster Worldwide. She has been working within the Mystery Shopping industry from some time now, and armed with a Masters in Communications, aims to spread the benefits of improving customer service through mystery shopping to companies and shoppers alike. http://www.gapbuster.com/en-us/mysteryshoppingscam.asp

Author: Sheetal Shah
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Imagine if you were offered the opportunity to get paid to do something you love to do and always do for free. Shopping is fun for a lot of people and they wouldn’t mine shopping everyday. For those who cannot afford to shop as often as they’d like usually window shop as an alternative.

If you are this kind of person, could you imagine what it would be like to be able to walk into a store that has all the items you want and then purchase them without worrying about the cost? This is definitely possible. And it has become so common that a term has been coined for it. It’s called mystery shopping. And the shopper is called a professional shopper or mystery shopper. Why would someone pay you for shopping for them? Well, it’s generally not a person, but a company that wants you to shop for them.

The purpose of this type of shopping is to give the company you are shopping for the information they need to make decisions about a variety of products and services they are interested in. An example would be The Target Stores trying to find out how certain products are selling, how nice was the sales personnel and whether or not the store was clean. These are some of the details that companies would ask you to gather as a mystery shopper.

Mystery shopping is great for those who love shopping. The best thing about it is that you get paid to do something you love to do anyway. It’s like getting paid for a hobby.

So who are the people best suited for mystery shopping? Stay-at-home moms, students and anyone who wouldn’t mine getting paid to go shopping and getting the stuff they bought. There are many categories of shopping available such as grocery stores, restaurants and supermarkets. Sometimes your task might be as simple as visiting a particular store to verify whether they stock certain merchandise at the time and place contracted. Other tasks include viewing the parking lot to see if there are shopping carts lying around or timing how long shoppers have to wait in line to be served.

If you want to get involved in mystery shopping, there are several places that will provide you with the information you need to get started. Most of these places are located online in easily accessible databases. The databases generally list the companies, the task to be completed and how much they are paying for your service.

If the initial income from mystery shopping is not sufficient you may also try your hand at paid online surveys. Unlike mystery shopping, paid surveys do not require you to leave your home ever and the pay is just as good if not better. From home on your computer you’d basically complete surveys and within weeks you’ll receive a check from each company.

However, mystery shopping is paid fun for those who love to shop. But if you don’t like shopping, you could take a friend along that love to shop and share a great moment together. In fact, you could give the merchandise you bought to her as an appreciation. Which ever way you look at mystery shopping it is definitely a great way to boost your income and have a good time.

Windsor Pennicott is a marketer and writer of articles. For more information about paid surveys visit reviews of paid online surveys

Author: Windsor Pennicott
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Did you know that Web sites get mystery shopped? I talked with Tema Frank, president of Web Mystery Shoppers to learn more about how online mystery shopping works.

Web Mystery Shoppers looks for some of the same shopper qualities as other mystery shopping companies. Of course, shoppers have to be reliable and complete assignments by the deadline. They want people who have a critical eye and who can express themselves in writing.

Tema Frank says, “We need people of all backgrounds, all ages, all levels of computer experience.” In fact, they are actively looking for relatively new Internet users. More experienced computer users are able to “work around” problems that might stop less-experienced customers from buying.

As with other mystery shopping jobs, you should not expect a steady income from online mystery shopping. Payment is typically made by check within two or three weeks. Overseas shoppers who do not want to receive a check in U.S. or Canadian dollars are sometimes paid via other means, such as Amazon.com gift certificates.

After you apply, you will be asked to complete an unpaid training assignment. According to Tema, “We give you a scenario and send you to the Web site. You alternate between two screens-the client Web site and the questions. As you go through the site you fill out a questionnaire answering questions about what you are experiencing, how what you are getting differs from what you expected, and whether you would still be on the site if you weren’t being paid to be there.”

The scenario might be something such as looking for a gift for your mother or your 10-year-old nephew, selecting items for your home, or other typical customer situations. A “budget” will also be specified, such as, “You are shopping for a gift for your 10-year-old nephew. Your budget, including shipping and taxes, is $25.” You will not actually purchase the item, but that is what you are to shop for.

The training assignment is shorter than a paid assignment. Expect to spend 30 to 40 minutes on the training assignment, and about an hour on a paid assignment. Paid assignments may include testing the site’s search function and evaluating customer service by sending an email inquiry or making a telephone call.

Online shops typically do not require that the shopper actually complete a purchase. If entry of a credit card number is required, the client may provide a dummy number so that the shopper does not have to use his or her own credit card.

Although most mystery shopping companies edit shopper reports to eliminate spelling and grammar errors, Web Mystery Shoppers does not. They learned early on that there can be value in errors such as misspellings. In reports for a banking client, many shoppers spelled “mortgages” as “morgages.” This showed the client that they needed to optimize for the spelling error, so that people who search for information on “morgages” would find their site.

Web Mystery Shoppers clients include banks, retail, florists, travel, B2B, non-profit, and government agencies. According to Tema, “The usual clients I have are typically not the same ones that hire the store-based mystery shoppers.”

So what does Tema Frank see as the future direction of mystery shopping? She anticipates that companies will want “360 degree mystery shopping, shopping all channels through which the company operates” to make sure that the customer experience is consistent whether the customer is dealing with a brick and mortar store, Web site, catalog, call center, or other outlet.

If you would like to be considered for online mystery shopping assignments, apply at the Web Mystery Shoppers Web site at http://www.WebMysteryShoppers.com/

Copyright Cathy Stucker. Cathy Stucker has been a professional mystery shopper since 1995. She is the author of The Mystery Shopper’s Manual, the only book endorsed by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. Learn more about mystery shopping and getting mystery shopper jobs at Cathy’s mystery shopper blog at http://www.MysteryShoppersManual.com/

Author: Cathy Stucker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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What is mystery shopping?

Mystery shoppers go into businesses as customers. They interact with employees, make a purchase and possibly a return, then fill out an evaluation form describing what happened during the visit. Mystery shoppers get paid for providing this service.

What kinds of businesses use mystery shoppers?

Any business that deals with the public may use mystery shoppers: stores, restaurants, banks, hotels, salons, home builders, apartment complexes, gas stations, casinos, auto dealers, auto service centers, movie theaters, health clubs, pet stores, amusement parks, optical providers and more. You can get paid to get your hair cut or your eyes examined, have dinner, go to the bank, have your car worked on or fill up the gas tank, watch a movie, get your dog groomed, and lots of other things you like to (or have to) do.

How much will I earn?

Fees for a mystery shop (including purchase reimbursement when a purchase is required) may range from about $10 or $20 on up to $50, $100 or more. Fees will depend on the time required, difficulty, etc. The time required to complete a shop and fill out the form may be a few minutes to an hour or longer.

Many shoppers do this in their spare time, and earn a few hundred dollars per month. Some consistently earn more-often a lot more. It is not unusual for a part time shopper to make $500 to $1000 or more per month.

There are some mystery shoppers who shop full time and earn a living this way. It’s not easy, though, to be a full time shopper. You will have to juggle lots of assignments with different requirements, due dates and report formats, so you must be very organized and disciplined.

What are the requirements to be a mystery shopper?

You can be any (adult) age, male or female. You need to be observant and able to follow directions. You must be reliable. You don’t have to have a degree or any special training, but good writing skills are important.

The Certifications offered by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, are helpful but are not required.

Mystery shopping companies use the Internet to recruit shoppers, make assignments, and complete reports. Internet access is becoming a necessity to work with most mystery shopping companies.

How do I become a mystery shopper?

Apply to as many mystery shopping companies as you can. Legitimate mystery shopping companies will not charge you to apply, so do not pay to sign up with a company that says they will get you mystery shopping jobs.

When you get your first assignments, do them on time and do a great job. That will make you a successful professional shopper.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. Cathy Stucker has been a professional mystery shopper since 1995. She is the author of The Mystery Shopper’s Manual, the only book endorsed by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. Sign up for Cathy’s free online mystery shopping course at http://mystery-shopper.idealady.com/

Author: Cathy Stucker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, “Oh, you do Mystery Shopping; I always wanted to do that!” I think most people do find the thought of posing as a customer and reporting back on how they were treated, rather intriguing. But there is a lot more to it that skulking around in a trench coat and spy glass!

I believe most companies have taken the plunge and decided that it really is important to conduct frequent “mystery or secret shops” of their businesses. The question remains, do they do anything constructive with the information or is it used as a disciplinary tool?

Before you start having people snoop around your company, consider the following clues that will help guarantee a successful program.

1. What’s the Value in a Mystery Shopper Program?

a. The most important reason for conducting a mystery shop, is to see your business through the eyes of your customer. Not only should you consider mystery shops, but using focus groups on a quarterly basis that are made up of some of your actual customers. Both sources will provide you with excellent feedback that you can start to focus on.

b. Second, a well-thought out mystery shopper program will allow you to evaluate the accuracy of your training program. If your employees are taught in their training program that they must greet the customer in a certain way, the “shop” will show the results. It is also a way to hold employees accountable for what they learned in training. If you train them you can test them!

c. Third, it helps a company to truly focus on the areas that need improving, based on the customer’s reactions. Too often management believes that there needs to be changes in one area and the customer feedback shows that the focus needs to be elsewhere in order to keep them as a loyal customer. Management may think that tightly merchandising their floor space is giving the customer the selection they want, and it turns out that the customer says it is too cramped to shop comfortably.

2. Should I do a Mystery Shop Without the Employees Knowing?

a. Pop Quiz! How many of us read those words and remember a grumpy teacher walking in the classroom to a group of rowdy kids, slamming her book on the desk and bellowing, “Ok, take out a sheet of paper we’re going to have a pop quiz.,” Panic just struck your soul! The same thing happens with employees. In addition you have just thrown any trust you have built with your employee’s right out the window. If you want to build a team, let the players know the game plan!

b. Explain to your employees why you are planning a mystery shop. Explain in a positive way that it is part of the “on going” training program of the company and that the best way to improve business is to find out what the customer really wants. Explain also, that it is a way to hold the employees responsible for the information they were provided in any and all of their training programs. Employees are far less likely to be upset with the results of what they were tested on if they had sufficient time to “study”!

c. Your employees are part of your team. Give them the tools to be successful everyday and they will jump through every hoop you provide. It reminds me of a time my son was on a soccer team. He was five years old and this was a perfect sport to expend that energy that all five year olds seem to have pent up inside. I remember one Saturday game the coach was trying to remind the boys about the drills they had learned at practice. Game time for this age group is what I call, “like herding cats”! The boys were so excited they couldn’t wait to get on that field and show the coach what they had learned. All of a sudden one of the little boys got the soccer ball and was moving the ball down field as fast as he could. The parents were screaming, the coach was jumping up and down and his teammates were following in hot pursuit! As the little boy kicked the goal everyone went crazy! The little boys face just beamed as he came to the sidelines!
But the coach didn’t have that same delight on his face! The coach said, “You kicked the ball into the other team’s goal!!!!” Agggh!!! But the little boy snapped back as any five year old would, “You never told me which way the goal was”!

How many times have we forgotten to tell our team which way the goal is!

3. Where Do I Start?

a. Slow down and think, is my answer. First, think about the information you really want to obtain from these reports and what are you going to do with it. The questions you want to ask are one of the most important parts of the program. The best place to obtain the questions is to go back to the training material. Remember what I said earlier, if you train them you can test them.

You probably have, what I call, non-negotiable questions that you can begin with. Those are the things you teach employees that must be done, no matter what. If you want to attach points to the questions, then you can give more points to the questions that you want your employees to be the best at. Let’s say answering the phone in a certain way is mandatory. If they know that, and they are held responsible for doing that, then you should have it on the questionnaire and you can feel confident about attaching a higher number of points to it.

In most companies, there are three or four areas that they like to have the shoppers give feedback on. The first area is usually the facility. Was the location easy to find? Was the entrance neat and clean? Did I feel safe parking after dark? Was the interior of the location attractive? Was it easy for me to find what I was looking for? The next area usually covered is the inventory or merchandising of the store. Was the signing helpful? Was the business in stock on what I needed? Was it easy for me to shop? The last one is usually the area of service. How was I greeted? Was the employee easy to find? Was the employee knowledgeable? Did the employee make me feel special? Again, these questions can be as many or as few as you think is important to get the feedback that you need.

b. The next step is to hire the shoppers. This can make or break your program. Too often companies think they are saving money by hiring friends and family. I suggest that you hire people you don’t know. You are looking for unbiased feedback and the best way is to hire the right people for it. I recommend going to the Mystery Shopper Provider Association website for the listing of good companies to use http://www.mysteryshop.org.

You can hire a company to coordinate your entire shopper program, or you may try doing it yourself if you have a small company and want to try it first on your own. If you are choosing to find shoppers on your own to use your own materials, then I suggest http://www.shadowshopper.com. They have a massive database and it can be accessed by zip code. I will suggest, however, that you use the same techniques you use when hiring any employee. Call the potential shopper and interview them extensively just as if you were hiring a person to work for your company on a full or part time basis. You will get a good feel over the phone about their communication and grammar skills that I feel is so important in providing a company the proper feedback.

c. Lastly, I am always asked, “How often should I do a “shop” and how much should I expect to pay?” I believe consistency is key. If you are looking at saving money you can always choose to do your shops, randomly. Pay is usually based on the length of time it takes the shopper to do the “shop” from the time they leave their house until they get back. Pay can range from $25 per shop on up.

So depending on budget and whether you choose to do them weekly, monthly or randomly, make them a pivotal part of an on-going training program and do not do it for less than one year. That may translate into 12 shops to 365 shops, but either way you must ask yourself how much information would you like to have and how important could this be to your day to day business. We all know what happens when we say we are going to lose weight or exercise more or get organized, it is failure in the making if we are not dedicated to being consistent.

4. How Do I Give The Bad News?

a. The problem with mystery shopper programs is that they get a very bad rap from those employees who have been shopped because the results have been used as punishment.
I tell clients that this program is not a “stick”! It is not meant to create fear in the minds of your employees. If that is your goal, you better re-think your management style.

a. Praise first! Go through the report before you bring your employee in. Make sure you are well-versed in at least 3-5 things they are doing well. Praise them for those things and remind them to continue the good work.

b. Corrections second. Make note of no more than 3 areas they can improve in. Negative comments do not motivate as well as comments such as, “Well the mystery shopper found what I always have known, you sit behind the desk the whole time I’m gone”. Use the word “we” in your conversation with your employee, such as “We have seen through our reports that we all need to be working at making better eye contact with our customers. We need to make that a top priority this week. I know I can count on you and everyone else to focus on that.”

c. Don’t use the mystery shopper to do your human resources work! It is not the job of the mystery shopper to deliver the information that is necessary for you to let the employee go. In fact, it is probably not legal! Besides, it is a sign of a weak manager that can not deliver constructive criticism!

A mystery shopper program takes time to create a well run program that provides the feedback that can be used to further the performance of the company. It is not just about the actual “shopping” it is about the entire program and how the information is used.

By using this tool you will see that providing what your customers say is important to retaining their business shouldn’t be a “mystery”!

Anne M. Obarski is “The Customer Service Spy!” As a professional speaker and trainer, Anne will work with your company to provide you with the clues to keep your customers coming back. Anne presents keynotes, break-out sessions and customized training, nationwide, in the area of customer service. You’ll want her two new books, “Surprising Secrets of Mystery Shoppers” and “Real World Customer Service Strategies That Work”. For more info go to: http://www.merchandiseconcepts.com or email Anne at anne@merchandiseconcepts.com

For high resolution photo of Anne, please visit [http://www.merchandiseconcepts.com/annephoto.html]

Author: Anne M. Obarski
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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