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.

>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.

>What is Mystery Shopping?

>Well, I realize that many people have not heard of mystery shopping and I thought I should give a little more insight into what this actually is. Mystery shopping, or secret shopping, is when an individual is paid either a fee, or is reimbursed to try a good or service for a company while remaining anonymous. Some mystery shops require that individuals remain anonymous the entire time. Other shops require the mystery shopper to do a reveal at the end. Either way, the mystery shopper is providing a service for a company.

In order to start off mystery shopping, an individual will have to find a company that has listings in his/her area. While it sounds easy enough, often there are individuals who want to charge for this information. I’ve never purchased any kind of list to find out, I’ve just done research. I’d advise anyone to avoid mystery shopping lists. From what I’ve heard, a lot of them have useless information and there are scams out there too.

Be careful for mystery shopping scams. One scam I’ve read about is when a shopper is sent a bad check and is asked to deposit it into his or her account. The next step is to wire a portion of the check through a wire transfer. Basically, in the end the shopper is tricked out of his or her hard-earned money.

My blog will focus on mystery shops that I’ve done AND received payment for. I’ll also give links to the websites so readers can sign up. I’ll list the companies that have the quick and easy shops as well as the more in-depth higher paying shops. You’ll be surprised. From my experience, you can make up to $40 dollars an hour if you do a few short quick shops. Sign up to receive updates when I write a new post and feel free to ask questions or post comments about your experiences.

>Starting out…

>I can remember it like it was yesterday…oh yeah…it was only about a month and a half ago. I somehow came across a website that mentioned mystery shopping. This, of course, was not the first time. I had looked many times for information about mystery shopping that was legit and did not require a charge to learn about. If you’ve done any searching for that yourself, you know that mystery shopping seems to be something that people try to get you to spend money to learn about. Still somehow, I managed to stumble upon a mystery shopping site. Little did I know, it was about to change my whole outlook on fast food.

My first assignment was for a fast food restaurant. I can’t tell you which one because it is a mystery shopper thing not to eat and tell (except for in your report, which you get paid for). It was not one that I particularly liked but I was so giddy at the prospect of getting paid to eat fast food. I mean, in the town that I live in, there are not very many choices for fast food. So, I do eat at this restaurant once I get tired of the other places. Anyway, that was all that was available. I signed up for it immediately. This was all kind of a leap of faith for me. I had never done the mystery shopping thing before so I was just trusting that I would get paid for my efforts.

The mystery shopping experience involves a fee and often reimbursement too. The fee is what you get paid to do the shop. If you get a reimbursement too that means that on top of your fee, you will get reimbursed up to a certain amount for your charges. So, although you have to pay the money up front you get it back.

So when I got my first assignment and read the paperwork about 3 times to make sure I had it right. I had to go to the restaurant and order a hamburger, fries, and a drink. I had to see how the employees treated me. From the very beginning I had to be prepared. When you are mystery shopping, you have to be able to keep up with all of the details. Some of the questions that I was looking for answers to were: Who takes your order? Who brings your order to you? What do they look like and what was their name? How does the food look? How does the food taste? Did they check back later to see if you needed anything else? All the while you are trying to file this away in your brain because you can’t very well just get out your paperwork and write it all down. This is while you are keeping track of the timing too. When I was leaving I had to comment on the appearance of the restaurant, inside and out. The first shop was a little overwhelming but I did the first part of it with no problem. When I got home I typed up my report and scanned in my paperwork. I got paid for all the work I did with this company this month. Woo hoo!

My rating for this shop: 3.5 out of 5
The shop was not my best! I was just learning so I was slightly mechanical.
Rating for this company: 4.5 out of 5. This company is awesome to work for. Click here to visit their website and sign up.

Click on apply here. When you get to the next screen click on sign up now under the blue portal. The company is market force. They have a variety of mystery shops available including fast food, phone, ice cream, audit/digital, retail, etcetera. They pay either by check or by direct deposit. I recommend direct deposit because this goes directly into your checking account and it is a lot faster than waiting for a check in the mail.