Tuesday, October 21, 2008

How to Get Mystery Shopping Jobs Repeatedly

So by now, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you have already compiled a list of companies that you can do mystery shopping jobs for. If you are a new reader you should definitely get started on that.

What is important as a new mystery shopper is getting jobs. You might start off doing any job you can get your hands on at first. As a new mystery shopper, you probably get the jobs that aren't the best. You'll probably start with the low paying jobs or the ones that have longer reports. You may even end up doing the shops that have the super long reports just because you don't realize how long the reports will actually take you.

Let me clue you in on how to get some of the better jobs. You won't get the great jobs right away, but you can start to make your mark on the company by doing something you have to do anyway. You have to write reports for companies when you do shops so you should make your reports the best that you can. Be super descriptive when it comes to describing employees, the atmosphere, food, service, etc. For example, instead of saying that your hamburger was hot and delicious say, "The hamburger was cooked to perfection. The meat had the coloring of a burger cooked medium well, just as I had ordered. The lettuce was cool and crisp. The tomatoes were perfectly ripe and fresh. The bacon was crispy and sizzling. The temperature was just right as well." Instead of saying that the fries are good you can say, "The french fries were firm, crispy, and well seasoned."

I tested out this theory of mine as I was filling out the report for a casual dining shop.
I teach writing so I used some of the tricks that I use as a teacher to help get more opportunities as a shopper. The shop was for a dinner for two including soup, appetizer, drinks, two entrees, and desert- all reimbursed might I add. Even the tip was covered. Anyway, I felt particularly creative that night for some reason. I decided that I would try out my theory of being super descriptive in the reporting section. It probably only took me ten minutes more than it would have taken me otherwise to write a less descriptive report. I have done shops for the company before and I had even filled out this report before in the past, (read more about it here) but was just less descriptive.

What happened to me was that I got a personal email from the scheduler thanking me for the outstandingly written report the very next morning. I got the opportunity to do new shops on my log. I'm not a scheduler or anything but I know that schedulers do not necessarily show ALL available shops to everyone that signs up for their company. From what I have heard, but am unable to verify for myself, you have the opportunity to do more mystery shops if you are certified. It appears that evidently if you do a really good job on your report, the scheduler might think you are worthy of doing more shops too. This is a company that I had been scoping out for months to see what shops were available and then the day after I did a great job on my report all of a sudden there were more opportunities for me. Another thing that happened was I got a 10 on my report for my shopper rating. Finally, I have been getting emails about job opportunities from this company and even phone calls. All of this for just spending time being a little more descriptive.

When you think about it, doesn't it make sense? If a scheduler has to choose between two people to do a shop, wouldn't they choose the one that has the best feedback? Companies read the feedback from the mystery shopper and I'm sure they are thrilled to see reports of the shoppers that are thorough and descriptive.

So, what do you think? Does anyone have anything to add about this? Personal experiences that affirm this theory? Leave me some feedback on what you think about this theory of mine.

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