Impressing Your Scheduler

For another perspective on building a strong relationship with your scheduler, Amy Braley, field staff coordinator at IntelliShop (www.intelli-shop.com), offers the following tips for making life easier for both you and your scheduler.

One of the most important things you can do as a mystery shopper is to create good relationships with your schedulers. A good relationship with your scheduler can increase the number of shops you receive and also the type of shops you receive. Creating a good relationship with your scheduler is rather simple, but requires a shopper to continually work at keeping the relationship a good one. Some tips for creating great relationships with your scheduler:

1. The number one most important thing you can do is to complete your shops and submit your reports on time. If you must cancel a shop, you should always contact your scheduler well in advance of the deadline. You should NEVER flake on a shop.
2. When you contact your scheduler, be sure to include your first and last name, the shop(s) you are referring to, and any other pertinent information. The more information you provide; the better. You will get a more timely response to your questions and your scheduler will not have to work as hard to find the answers.
3. Use proper grammar and spelling when communicating with your scheduler. Your scheduler will understand a few typos, but if she/he cannot understand the message you are trying to convey, she/he cannot help you.
4. Finally, submit good, thorough reports. The less your scheduler has to contact you for more information, the better. Your reports should be grammatically correct and provide all the requested information.

By following these tips and being a great shopper, you will definitely be able to create some great relationships with your schedulers. A great relationship will provide a better working experience for both parties involved.

Do you have a stellar relationship with one of your schedulers? Leave a comment to tell us how you made it happen.

"Snowing" Your Scheduler

A strong relationship between a shopper and a scheduler is a crucial part of mystery shopping. And keeping the line of communication open and honest is an important part of that relationship. Judi Hess, president of Customer Perspectives (www.CustomerPerspectives.com), offers the following advice for maintaining a good relationship with your scheduler:

Although mystery shopping companies have diverse procedures, most of them have the same criteria regarding which shoppers to turn to first. Naturally, they want shoppers who are honest, fair, consistent and objective. Just as importantly, they give priority to shoppers who are RELIABLE -in other words, those who conduct their shops when they say they will and submit them immediately thereafter. If something happens and you can’t meet your obligation, you need to notify your scheduler at once, preferably by e-mail. And one more thing-if your scheduler contacts you, whether it’s for a missing shop or because more detail is needed, always respond immediately.

Resolutions

Whether you’re excited, relieved or stressed about the new year, 2009 will be here before we know it. And we all know what that brings: those resolutions we "look forward" to every year!

Now is the time to think about what resolutions you'll make for the new year. Mystery shopping providers are already coming up with theirs.

From a shopper perspective, what should they be thinking about for next year? How can they make your life easier in 2009?

What are some of your resolutions as a shopper? Need to work on your narratives or apply with more companies? Let us know what you are thinking about for 2009!

What clients are looking for from Member companies and what that means for a mystery shopper

The following is a post by Carl Phillips, director of Customer-1st (www.customer-1st.com ) talking about one of the latest trends in mystery shopping.

New challenges bring new opportunities. We have seen a recent trend with many of our clients to dig a little deeper into the sales process when conducting mystery shops. Automobile dealers want our field staff to now go through the entire sales process, rather than just rate speed of greeting, friendliness and product knowledge. Our bank clients are asking that we have our field staff mention they are having car problems, during their regular flow of conversation, to see if the teller suggests an auto loan. Our grocery store clients want us to now measure if the associates are suggesting related items when they encounter a customer that needs assistance. It seems more and more importance is being placed on suggestive selling, which is a term I personally dislike. Selling is something you do TO some. I prefer the term suggestive problem solving, which is something to do FOR someone. It seems like a minor difference -- except to the customer. When we feel someone is really listening and is offering to help, verses mechanically suggesting something because their supervisor told them to, it takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to customer relationship building.

Because of this trend we are seeing a need to work with shoppers that are Silver or Gold Certified and that we have had some experience with in relation to their quality of work. Yes, there are still shops available for the novas, or new shopper, but those shops usually don’t pay as well as the shops requiring more detail. Our clients are also becoming savvier about the training process and have even asked, during the bidding process, if we have the capability of only scheduling certified shoppers. Yes, these are challenging times which require us to pay closer attention to the customer’s needs , guide them to make the right decisions and doing everything we can to over deliver on their expectations. Customer 1st realized from day one that we are only as good as our valued shoppers. I share the above information with you so that you can understand why we ask some of the questions we do. And also to help us meet our customer’s needs and do all you can to gain the kind of assignments that compensate you for detailed work.