It’s All in the Details

Since most shoppers want more work, we can unintentionally adopt a “quantity versus quality” mentality. A shopper can become overwhelmed by assigning themselves numerous jobs to make the most money each month and this can result in submitting incomplete or lower quality evaluations. Be careful not to take on more shops than you can reasonably devote your time to.

Remember, every time you submit a mystery shopping report, expect a review for accurate content and grammar from several customer service representatives before the evaluation is forwarded to the requested company. Be careful not to underestimate this fact. The quality control reviews by customer service representatives can affect the number of shops a shopper may have access to in the future.

If you are a regular shopper with a company, customer service representatives might record comments about your performance in your shopper file. If you want more and higher priced shops, remember to submit only accurate, grammatically correct reports. You should also be mindful to include pertinent details in your reporting. Adding a couple more sentences with details in your shopping narrative can distinguish you as a highly qualified and detail-oriented shopper versus an average or “quantity-driven” shopper.

Your final evaluation report reflects not only yourself, but also the reputation of the mystery shopping company. If you can take the extra time to make sure you are submitting a polished, accurate report, you can build your reputation with your mystery shopping company and be awarded better, higher paying shops. If you can remember the details, it can be a win for all!

It’s Demographics, People!

When you begin mystery shopping for a company, the website will generally ask you to update your profile with vital information including your name, location, contact information, and other demographic statistical information. Sometimes, shoppers will receive a notice to update their personal profile. A shopper should strive to update personal informational every six months to increase the likelihood of obtaining more shops. Most companies are always in the process of expanding and increasing their shopper base and any changes can represent new and exciting shop opportunities.

With a few computer clicks, you can add or change demographic information such as including an additional zip code, city location, industry desirability, age or gender groups. Any change of these options could greatly increase your job listings each month. When you change your personal profile options, a whole new geographic or demographic territory might be opened to you.

If you have not noticed the nearest industrial areas to your home, now is the time to look at a local map, peruse the surrounding areas, and include those areas in your profile. Mystery shopping companies tend to offer jobs closer to the metropolitan districts, so if you live in a rural or urban area and are not receiving a plethora of jobs, you might want to change or add more demographic options to your profile.

With just a couple of changes to your profile, you might find more jobs and different types of shopping which could greatly increase your capabilities to earn extra money.

Shopping Can Help the Community

As a mystery shopper, you should take great satisfaction that you are truly helping to improve your community by providing a comprehensive customer service report.

Many companies often send surveys to their buyers after a purchase to gather information on their customer service. This will help to improve their services.  As a mystery shopper, you usually submit a much more in-depth report, which usually includes a physical inspection of the premises, interaction with employees and customers, as well as feedback on the representative’s presentation.

Mystery shopping reports will usually ask you to focus on one employee and provide feedback on what their strengths and weaknesses that individual displayed. You will also be asked other questions about the maintenance of the community.

When companies compile all their mystery shopping reports, they will make changes in their policies and this benefits the community resources.  For example, some companies have utilized recommendations from mystery shoppers on allowing potential residents to view photos of sample apartments in their leasing office that were previously not available for viewing until the following month.  Previously, if a building was at a 100% resident occupancy, many leasing professionals would just tell a potential resident they were currently occupied and would not extend an invitation to visit. Now, more companies are offering prospects an invitation to visit despite having no vacancies.

Do not hesitate to offer suggestions in your report. Sometimes those are put into action and help to make your community a better place!

Phone Excuses to Reach Target

Most apartment shops will include a phone portion. This simply means that you will be calling your assigned apartment community prior to visiting.

You may or may not have a target agent. If so, the target agent’s name will be listed in your shopper notes. If you are not assigned a target agent, the notes will say that you can shop “Anyone”.

In cases where there is a specific target agent, you may not reach that person on the phone right away. This is where phone excuses are important so you can continue to make calls without being identified as a shopper.

What time does the office close?

This is an easy question that can be answered quickly. The leasing agent may ask if you are a resident and you can say yes to get them off the phone quickly.

Do not be afraid to be brief. You goal is to call back later and hopefully get your target agent.

Is this the apartment complex across from (fill in an area on the opposite side of town)?

You are asking this to get off the phone quickly. The leasing agent may try to ask you questions about whether you would be interested in their property, but you can thank them without answering their questions and say you really are looking for the other community.

Does your community have breed restrictions?

Most communities have breed restrictions when it comes to dogs as pets and some communities do not allow pets at all.  Once they say that they do not allow pets or that they restrict certain breeds, you can say you own one of those breeds, thank them and end the call.

There are many more excuses that can be used, so have some fun with this. Your main objective is to complete calls without blowing your identity as a shopper.