If you are like most people, you are probably thinking about ways you can improve yourself in the new year. As a mystery shopper, you’ve likely had your share of issues and challenges with mystery shopping over the last year. So making some changes and improvements to your mystery shopping skills is likely high on your list of things to accomplish in the new year. Here are just a few ways you can improve your mystery shopping skills:
Pay Attention! If you have completed even a handful of mystery shopping assignments, you know that mystery shopping requires a great deal of attention to detail. If your attention is divided when you are reviewing your assignment guidelines, doing the on-site visit, or completing the report, you likely are going to miss something vital to the assignment.
Be sure when you are reviewing your assignment requirements that you fully understand what it is that you need to accomplish during the on-site visit. It often helps to visualize yourself doing the on-site visit and completing each of the requirements. Then when you are on-site, give the assignment your undivided attention and get fully immersed in your job. Make the mental notes you need to, based on the assignment requirements.
Reporting For Duty! Your report is vital to your mystery shop assignment. If you completed the assignment to the letter of the requirements, it really doesn’t mean anything if you can’t relay the details of your assignment in the written report. Spend some time reviewing the report and ensuring that you understand the specific questions being asked. Then make sure that your answers clearly answer the question that was being asked. As always, check for typos and make sure your written word is legible and understandable. Make it a point to never submit your report without proofreading your report at least once.
De-Clutter to De-Stress! Think about the issues you may have had over the last year with mystery shopping. Perhaps you got the date or time of an assignment incorrect, or you may have lost a receipt on an assignment that required a purchase. Perhaps you had trouble receiving payment from a provider but could not locate the paperwork from the assignment.
Many of the issues and challenges mystery shoppers have stem from a poorly organized or even an all-out messy, cluttered work space. If you don’t already have a space in your home committed to your mystery shopping job, make it your first priority to create some space for mystery shopping in your life and home. This may be an area as large as a completely separate home office, or it may be as small as a hanging folder in a file cabinet.
Then spend some time creating a file system both on your computer and in your workspace to neatly store your paperwork and files related to mystery shopping. Of course the most important part of any filing system is actually using it. So as the year progresses, be sure to file the papers and documents away in the correct spot. If you take a few minutes today to organize yourself, the rest of your year will be de-cluttered and more organized, giving you happier mystery shopping days throughout the year.
If you are already proficiently strong in these aspects of your mystery shopping life, take a look at where you seem to be having the most challenges with mystery shopping and spend some time making adjustments to improve your life as a mystery shopper!