Category: Tips for Mystery Shopping

The main purpose of an apartment mystery shop is to evaluate the leasing agent’s performance and ensure he or she is following the training provided by their employer. They should work to move the interaction forward toward the end goal of securing a lease, but occasionally you will encounter an agent who seems nervous or shy. Here are a few suggestions for creating an environment to give the leasing agent the greatest opportunity for success.
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Complacency can hinder your efforts to develop as a mystery shopper. Are you ready to come back from complacency and get back your mojo!

Once you tackle and learn the job of mystery shopping, it is easy to become complacent on just filling out the evaluation report and submitting it for payment without pursuing a desire to improve your skills.  Working at a satisfactory level for a regular paycheck may suffice for a while, but to ensure higher-pay job opportunities, you should set aside a small amount of time to focus on your job proficiency.

There are numerous areas a shopper could improve, but an important one is submitting better reports.  This can include better proofreading, increasing your vocabulary, or working on your typing skills. When you submit well-written, well-edited reports in a timely manner, it can improve your reputation as a shopper, making the mystery shopping company trust you with better or more frequent job opportunities.

Keep in mind, there are many free proofreading tools you can download which are far superior to the regular proofreading software that usually comes with your computer system.  A quick search on the Internet for free proofreading software can easily upgrade your available tools in a few minutes.  You could also consider investing in a small dictionary or thesaurus to help keep you out of a vocabulary rut.  There are even free online writing exercises to improve your sentence and grammar structure as well as typing skills.

You can set yourself up to earn great supplemental income through mystery shopping if you are able to stay on top of your game. Come back from complacency and get back your mojo today!

You’ve made the wise decision to start earning money working from home as a mystery shopper and you are about to perform your very first apartment mystery shop! Follow these tips to help you do your best. After all, if the shop goes smoothly, you will feel better about accepting more jobs and making more money.

One of the first things you should do is get a good night’s sleep. You will need to be alert and observant on the shop, so try to get the rest you need. In the morning, have a bite to eat and then start making your calls to the apartment community. Most apartment communities start answering their phones around 9:00 AM, but this can vary a bit by location.

When you call, make sure you already have a timeline in mind for your move. Don’t hesitate when asked for that information! Doing so will make the agent will wonder why you don’t immediately know when you will be moving and that may compromise your identity as a shopper. Remember to also have a reason why you are moving. Most people move because of a job or because their lease ended. Just be sure your reason for moving is plausible.

After the call has been completed, you are ready to complete the on-site portion of your shop. Wear better clothes to make a good impression, but dress comfortably as well. You will likely have to walk to the model or empty apartment. Make note of the time you arrive at the shop and the time you leave.

Lastly, when you have finished your shop and return home, you will want to write the report ASAP, while the information is still fresh in your mind. If you took notes during your visit, you will be ahead of the game and your report will be accurate.

Once you’ve completed a few shops, you’ll find that most of these practices begin to come naturally!

The phone portion of the mystery shop is a vital first step. You typically cannot complete the onsite visit until you have made the phone call. The call allows the leasing agent to get to know you and your needs better and set up your visit. It also allows them the opportunity to give a sales preview of what their community has to offer, so it is an important tool in the overall performance evaluation.

Target Agent

If you have a target agent, make sure to pay close attention to the name of the person as you make your calls. Often, the leasing agent is so used to saying their opening greeting, they may say their name faster than you were prepared to hear.

If the person answering is not your target agent, find a reason to get off the phone quickly without raising suspicion.

No Target Agent (meaning Anyone)

If you do not have a target agent, you can begin the shop with whoever answers the phone. This is one of the easiest types of shops to complete.

The leasing agent should invite you for a tour during your phone conversation. Accept this invitation and be prepared to shop this same person onsite. If the call is nearing the end and you have not received an invitation, let them know you’d like to stop by that day to have a look and pick up information.

Anyone Except (Name)

This means that any leasing agent who answers the phone other than the person specified NOT to shop will become your target agent. If the person you are to avoid answers, make an excuse to get off the phone.

Overall, do not complete an onsite visit before you complete the phone call unless otherwise directed in the special instructions for the shop. It is important that the leasing agent exhibits a warm personality, inquire about your needs in a new apartment home and offer you the opportunity to tour their community. Making the telephone call is their first opportunity to do this!

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!

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.

You might receive an email from your mystery shopping representative that you have 24 hours to update your job status or be removed from the shop or system.  However, there may be occasions where you missed reading that email or read it at the last minute and just like that, the website has locked you out of the system!  Now you cannot update your shops and you might run into losing a job if you are not able to get your update to the follow-up representative until after the 24-hour cutoff.  All of the work you did making telephone calls might be lost or worse yet, maybe you visited the shop and find the job has been removed!

Before you panic at the thought that you lost your jobs and did all that work for nothing, be sure you immediately respond to the mystery shopper representative on the latest update to request an extension as well as send an email to the website main address administrator.  Sending an email to the follow-up person and the website administrator can help you avoid losing the job.  Of course, your best bet is to always keep your follow-up representative up to date at least a day or two before the due date to ensure there is no lack of communication that might lead to your loss of jobs.  If you do get locked out of the system, be sure you resend emails to the mystery shopper representative and the website administrator.  Always remember the golden rule; communicate, communicate, and communicate some more!

If you shop for a company for an extended period, you are bound to exhaust your job opportunities if you use the same identity.  Most companies have requirements on the number of locations you can shop more than once, but some may allow you to shop a property several times if you present yourself as an entirely new shopper.

Since some apartment management companies record information of visitors in their computer databank, which may include your name, email address, telephone number, or any other personal information in their system, this information might pop up to the employee as they input the information into the computer the next time you shop.  Shopping the same location can clearly signal to an employee that you might be a mystery shopper.

However, if you are an experienced shopper, you will realize you should have new identities readily available so you can pick up new shops.  If you have performed a shop before at the same location, it will sometimes be noted that you can shop again if you use a different name, telephone number and email address.

A mystery shopper can easily use a nickname or married name to change their identity and there are numerous free email websites to obtain a different address.  For example, if your name is Elizabeth, change it and use a nickname such as Liz, Eliza, or any other closely associated name.  Also, do not forget to sign up for new email addresses which allow you to obtain new identities.  There are numerous websites that provide free addresses, such as Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo.

Follow these tips to have numerous identities to allow you to qualify for more shops!

Every once in awhile, you will have a full day of mystery shopping. This can be a good thing and you should be happy, as this give you an opportunity to earn a lot of money. Check with your scheduler to make sure you shop on the correct day; some shops cannot be done on the weekend while others can ONLY be done on the weekend. It’s important to adhere to the client’s specifications.

If you need help arranging your itinerary for the day, look at the times certain shops close. For instance, apartment shops usually stop showing their last apartment before sundown and banks close earlier than most retail stores. In addition, some shops have certain times that the shop must or must not be completed within.

Although you may think the best way to complete shops is by geographic route, remember that time is also a factor and it needs to be considered.