A mystery shop provider uses schedulers to assign shop assignments to their shoppers as well as to verify the reports a shopper files are fully and accurately completed. So the ease of a scheduler’s job is dependent on how well their mystery shoppers perform. Since one of the functions of a scheduler is to assign shops to you – the mystery shopper, you definitely want them to like you and enjoy working with you. There are some key things you can do as a mystery shopper to ensure your scheduler likes you and wants to continue working with you.
Scratch Their Back, And They Will Scratch Yours. As a shopper, your goal is likely to make more money with fewer and easier shops. A scheduler needs someone to complete the grunt assignments nobody else will complete. If a scheduler calls you asking if you can help them out with a specific assignment in your area, you should definitely consider doing it. Think of mystery shopping in terms of one assignment being a stepping stone for another bigger and better assignment, rather than each assignment being separate from each other. When you help your scheduler out, they will remember your name and will likely give you preferential treatment when the better assignments come along.
Even after you take into account the ability to get better assignment by doing a grunt shop and you still feel like the pay on that shop isn’t worth the work involved, don’t be shy about telling your scheduler how you feel. Perhaps they can give you bonus or travel pay for completing the assignment, and you both will win!
Stick To Your Commitments. When you accept an assignment, your scheduler is counting on you to complete the shop and file the report by the deadline. Your scheduler in turn needs to turn the paperwork around on her end and submit it back to the company who ordered the shop. She has her own internal deadlines to meet. Not to mention her supervisor who is looking over her shoulder. So when you accept the assignment, your scheduler is relying on you to do the shop within the given time constraints. Her job depends on it.
If you cannot complete a shop within the timeframe given, don’t accept the shop assignment. If something comes up after you have accepted the shop, notify your scheduler immediately so she can find another shopper to complete the assignment on schedule.
Follow The Rules. After you’ve completed a few shop assignments, you may feel like you can relax a little bit. Maybe you decide to skim through the shop requirements rather than read the requirements completely, or ad lib on the report a bit and fudge some of the data. After all, most shops are pretty much the same, right? No! Each assignment has its own unique requirements. With some shops you may need to note exact times down to the second for several different events in the shop, while others you may just need to know how many minutes the shop lasted. For some you may need to check displays while for others you may have to check the cleanliness of the bathrooms and fitting rooms.
When you file your shop report, there are usually some safeguards built into the report to ensure you completed the shop correctly and are not just making guesses. For instance, some locations will verify your time results or that you completed the shop solo and so forth by reviewing video tape footage during your shop.
When you file a report that was not completed correctly, you put the scheduler in a difficult position. If she catches the inaccuracies herself before she files the report with the company who ordered it, she will ask you to correct it. This typically causes delays in turning the report back to the company. If the report goes all to the way to the company and they catch the error themselves, it makes the shop provider look bad and they are faced with a client relations issue as they attempt to retain that client and get future shop assignments from them.
As a mystery shopper, you can ensure a scheduler likes you by simply doing a good job on your shop assignments and helping them out from time to time with assignments nobody else wants. When you choose to treat mystery shopping as a professional job and you are devoted to doing your best job on each assignment, it will show in your work. Your scheduler will see your devotion and integrity, and soon you will benefit from this with higher paying and better shop assignments!