I began mystery shopping when a friend that was already a shopper told me that I would be good at it. I was not familiar with it, but I always valued giving and receiving good customer service so I said why not. I began to shop and I got so deep into it that I forgot that she was doing it before I was.
In my mind, I was first and I referred her! We would often race to see who would get a shop if we both applied for them. We would also compare our ratings to each other- a friendly rivalry. However, I began to notice how hard I worked to keep my commitments to the shops that I applied for while she did not have a big problem cancelling. It may be because she was tired or maybe because she decided the pay was not enough after she already applied. She then began to wonder why I was getting more blind solicitations or referrals from other companies.
I would tease her about it and her response would be “Well, I am with 35 other shops so I have other options”. She felt that if she cancelled several times due to what she considered legitimate reasons that they should understand. If they did not, she felt that she was with 35 other companies and so she would just move on.
On the other hand, it was a rare occasion when I cancelled and I felt very bad about it. There are a lot of people counting on shoppers; the client, the schedulers, the reviewers and also the customer. I may not be with 35 companies, but the companies I am with know that they can count on me to keep my commitments. So the question is: Is it better to be with a lot of companies that may not be sure if they can count on you or to be with fewer companies that know you will keep your commitments and value you as a shopper? You decide.
Happy shopping!