>D’oh of the Day

>Hello everyone, it has been a couple of weeks since my last post. I’ve been kinda busy counting down the days until it was time for vacation time to begin. Now I’m back in the saddle again. And since my vacation started officially as of 3:15 this afternoon, I’m wondering whether time will go in super speed mode or whether it will be slooooow. Either way I plan on getting in some more posts. I had a mystery shopping experience today as I do frequently. This one didn’t directly involve completing a shop.

Let me start at the beginning. Today at about 1:30 I got a call to my cell phone. It happened to be on vibrate, as I usually put in on that at work so I don’t have to take out my cellie in front of all of my students and have a conversation in front of them. First of all it is super distracting. Secondly I am embarrassed about the condition of my phone. I am one of the types that could care less about bells and whistles on phones. I just want it to make and receive phone calls and the rare text message from my sister who continues to text me no matter how many times I ask her not to.

So there I was this afternoon, letting the kids decorate little sun visors and velcroing and hot gluing them together while a swarm of student enclosed my desk reaching their cute little germy hands everywhere. The phone vibrated in my pocket when it was ringing. I knew it had to be a call about a mystery shop because everyone else knows that I’m a teacher and they don’t call me during the day. I didn’t even pause what I was doing because I figured that I’d just call them back.

Well…at around 4:30 I finally checked my messages and found that I probably should have checked my messages earlier. One of the good shops. It was one of those alchohol shops that I’ve written about in an earlier post. Click here to read more details about that. I guess this company must have been pretty desperate to get that shop done because they were adding a $20 bonus on top of the shop fee of $10, PLUS reimbursement. Yeah…so I called the scheduler back three hours later only to find that the shop had already been assigned. ARGH

The lesson for me is to be available and to return calls as soon as I can. I mean it’s not like I was at home playing video games or something and just didn’t feel like calling them back…but I am notorious about procrastination so I guess I got what I deserve this time. Don’t be like me and miss out on your valuable shops.

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.

Alcohol Compliance Shops- Easy Money

If you like to have a beer every now and then, this is good news for you. Check this company out right away. If you do an alcohol compliance shop you can get a beer for free. I did one of these shops and it was very simple to do. The tasks were to check out the bathrooms, food court, pricing, signage, and of course purchase the beer. Not to mention the pay was $20 just for about 10 minutes of my time…shops like that always make me do a little woo hoo in my mind. I mean there is like a big song and dance to go with it and everything. Song 2., Blur, to be exact.

I went into the store which had just opened about two weeks before I stopped in. I walked to the bathroom immediately to check out what that was like. It was in fairly good condition. It didn’t smell terribly awful or anything. So I took a mental note of that and went back out into the store to check the other necessary things.

When I looked at the coolers they were almost empty. I opened the cooler up to look at the beers that were available and most of the drinks were warm. I didn’t know if they had just been put into the cooler or if the cooler just wasn’t working correctly. I noticed that price tags were not in the cooler consistently either. It was kind of haphazardly done. I tried to pick out a beer that I knew my husband would like since I don’t drink any kind of beer at all, I’m more of a super sweet margarita drinker. I can’t drink anything that you can taste the liquor in…anyway, I digress…so I was picking out the drink while trying to spend as little as possible to make sure I came in under budget.

I picked a drink and walked around the store looking at other things on my checklist. I looked at the food court. I looked for signs that said something about the age of alcohol purchase. I looked for the price tags (or lack thereof) of some other items throughout the store. After spending a few minutes looking around, I went to the checkout. I put my beer on the counter to checkout. The cashier asked for my birthday but never asked to see my driver’s license so I could have told her anything really. The cashier said that there was no price on the beer so she couldn’t ring it up. I silently went back to the cooler and put my 1st choice away and picked another. I went to check out once again. She couldn’t remember my birthday and evidently didn’t want to ask me again, so she must have just put in her birthday. The entire time she never asked for my drivers license. I almost left without my receipt because she didn’t give it to me right away.

This is one of those companies that pays you right into your paypal account. If you don’t have a paypal account you should sign up for one immediately. You will have to sign up with a bank account, but it is so convenient to have a paypal account in case you want to buy anything online. Also, a lot of mystery shopping companies pay this way. I’ve received my payment and already invested that money into making money with other shops. If you are interested in getting a beer for free, click here to sign up with this company. Also interesting about this company, if you get your friends to sign up and complete shops you can get paid for that too. I think they have to sign up with your email address as the referrer to do that though. In my opinion this is one of those companies that you shouldn’t dawdle on…go ahead and sign up for. Do it, do it now.

I’m outtie.

>Alcohol Compliance Shops- Easy Money

>If you like to have a beer every now and then, this is good news for you. Check this company out right away. If you do an alcohol compliance shop you can get a beer for free. I did one of these shops and it was very simple to do. The tasks were to check out the bathrooms, food court, pricing, signage, and of course purchase the beer. Not to mention the pay was $20 just for about 10 minutes of my time…shops like that always make me do a little woo hoo in my mind. I mean there is like a big song and dance to go with it and everything. Song 2., Blur, to be exact.

I went into the store which had just opened about two weeks before I stopped in. I walked to the bathroom immediately to check out what that was like. It was in fairly good condition. It didn’t smell terribly awful or anything. So I took a mental note of that and went back out into the store to check the other necessary things.

When I looked at the coolers they were almost empty. I opened the cooler up to look at the beers that were available and most of the drinks were warm. I didn’t know if they had just been put into the cooler or if the cooler just wasn’t working correctly. I noticed that price tags were not in the cooler consistently either. It was kind of haphazardly done. I tried to pick out a beer that I knew my husband would like since I don’t drink any kind of beer at all, I’m more of a super sweet margarita drinker. I can’t drink anything that you can taste the liquor in…anyway, I digress…so I was picking out the drink while trying to spend as little as possible to make sure I came in under budget.

I picked a drink and walked around the store looking at other things on my checklist. I looked at the food court. I looked for signs that said something about the age of alcohol purchase. I looked for the price tags (or lack thereof) of some other items throughout the store. After spending a few minutes looking around, I went to the checkout. I put my beer on the counter to checkout. The cashier asked for my birthday but never asked to see my driver’s license so I could have told her anything really. The cashier said that there was no price on the beer so she couldn’t ring it up. I silently went back to the cooler and put my 1st choice away and picked another. I went to check out once again. She couldn’t remember my birthday and evidently didn’t want to ask me again, so she must have just put in her birthday. The entire time she never asked for my drivers license. I almost left without my receipt because she didn’t give it to me right away.

This is one of those companies that pays you right into your paypal account. If you don’t have a paypal account you should sign up for one immediately. You will have to sign up with a bank account, but it is so convenient to have a paypal account in case you want to buy anything online. Also, a lot of mystery shopping companies pay this way. I’ve received my payment and already invested that money into making money with other shops. If you are interested in getting a beer for free, click here to sign up with this company. Also interesting about this company, if you get your friends to sign up and complete shops you can get paid for that too. I think they have to sign up with your email address as the referrer to do that though. In my opinion this is one of those companies that you shouldn’t dawdle on…go ahead and sign up for. Do it, do it now.

I’m outtie.