Welcome to Mystery Shopping Confidential

As the President of ICC/Decision Services (ICCDS, Inc.) and Past President of the MSPA (Mystery Shopping Providers Association) my goal is to educate you about mystery shopping (aka secret shopping), a business I know and love. As an industry insider I will help you to learn what mystery shopping is, and is not. Further, I will help you become a better shopper through my experience of working with hundreds of clients and thousands of shoppers . Our company has done MILLIONS of mystery shops throughout its 29 years of business. I want to share our learnings, to help you, and the industry.

Understanding Contracts, Non-Disclosure and Non-Compete Agreements

To be a mystery shopper, you will be required to sign many contracts for individual jobs, schedulers or mystery shopping companies. These should be read very carefully and very thoroughly, because once you sign, it’s a done deal. Contracts compel your performance to engage in a mystery shop, and likewise, it compels your client’s performance in paying you within its stated parameters.

Your contracts, like all other records, receipts and scheduling, should be meticulously organized in such as way so that you are able to pull them out and review them on a moment’s notice. It may be necessary to take a contract with you on a mystery shop. Likewise, it may be necessary to reference a contract in an invoice or when attempting to collect a past due account.

You also want to be careful in reading your contract. Some terms may not be to your liking. If, for example, you sign a contract stating that you will perform a mystery shop during the night, but you do it during the day, you have not fulfilled the contract. In the world of mystery shopping, timing can be everything. Shops that are scheduled for specific times are schedule that way for a reason. Not completing the shop as agreed to could mean you won’t get paid.

Contracts also state your responsibility for materials or equipment the client entrusts you with to complete an assignment. It is important that these be returned to the client in a manner prescribed by the contract.

Go in expecting your contract to govern exactly how the assignment and obligation will operate. This way, your mistakes will be few, and limited only by your ability to be thorough and meticulous in your pursuit of the assignment in question.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

It may be necessary to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to secure certain work. This simply means you agree not to disclose any trade secrets or secret shopping contract details to the company’s competition, employees or public at large.

Non-Compete Agreements

Occasionally, some contracts involve you relinquishing the ability to contract with a client’s competitors or for another company within the same industry. Similar agreements may also mean that you agree not to try to hire a client’s employees or attempt to contract directly with whomever your mystery shopping organization has hired to subcontract your services.

If you cannot abide by the terms, it is simply better not to sign the contract. If you have doubts, do not sign.

Getting Organized and Helping You Stay Organized

Professional mystery shoppers juggle several assignments at once and must keep track of expenses and income for tax purposes. Organization is the key to success. Can you imagine if you made a mistake in your records and forgot to file your taxes? What if you promised to perform a shop and forgot to show up? Many other people are affected by what you do and don’t do each day, so it’s important to figure out what type of organizational system works best for you. Some people like to keep everything in the computer. Others prefer to see it all on a calendar right in front of them. Others use a book called a ‘Day Planner’ to keep track of business and personal activities.

The method doesn’t matter as much as the fact that you’ve got a system in place that keeps you on track.

Office Equipment Required To Run Your Mystery Shopping Business

When you choose to become a mystery shopper, you are basically setting up your own home business. Mystery shopping requires numerous reports and the most successful shoppers know how to keep all of this information organized. This means you’ll need, at minimum, a place to work, access to a phone and access to a computer. Like any home business, you may or may not need certain office equipment, depending on the requirements of the companies for whom you work.

Some of the equipment you might need may include the following:

• Answering Machine (or voice mail system)
• Cell phone
• Scanner/Fax
• Stopwatch
• Digital Recorder
• Digital Logger
• Digital Camera
• Digital Scales/Thermometers/Other Digital Measuring Equipment

Must you run out and buy all of these items in order to get started as a mystery shopper? Certainly not. Over time, as you become more adept in the business and take on varying assignments, you will discover that each company has their own way of doing things and their own requirements. The more equipment you own, the more you can say ‘Yes’ when opportunities for assignments arise.

Mystery shoppers work as independent contractors. You will pay your own income, Social Security and Medicare taxes on the income you generate. Of course, you will be treated as a small business and can deduct regular business expenses to offset your income. Expenses such as travel expenses, office expenses (supplies, equipment, postage, etc.), business purchases, and computer usage fees may all be deductible. Expenses related to your home office may also be deductible.

Do I Need a Computer and an Internet Hook-Up?

Most mystery shopping reports are completed over the Internet; however, some companies require you to use Microsoft Word or Excel. Having those programs on your computer and knowing how to use them will be a big advantage. Many reports require data, tables and pictures in the formats these programs provide. Open Office is a similar program, which is free to download, and it provides a compatible format.

There are also several programs that can help ensure your PC runs smoothly listed below:

Registry Mechanic
This program makes correction to your computer’s registry, which is a series of codes telling your computer’s programs and operating systems what to do and how to handle data. The problem with Windows is its notoriety for leaving behind registry keys that are no longer used, incomplete or instruct your computer to unnecessarily execute files – all at the cost of performance. This program is available through a yearly subscription, but it ensures your computer runs at its optimal speed.

AVG/E-Wido
Available for free download, this antivirus program provides an active scan in the background, and has the added advantage of being able to work with other programs without coming up as a virus itself when scanned.

How To Obtain Online Mystery Shopping Jobs

With the popularity of the Internet, the large majority of mystery shopping work is obtained and completed online. Your best chances for receiving assignments online involve checking your email regularly and responding to job offers promptly.

You will not only want to apply to many online companies, but check in with them on a regular basis.

Become familiar with a software program known as Prophet, a database program used by mystery shopping companies to assign work. While no one company shares its database with another, you can sign up through the developer’s website at http://apply.archondev.com. Instead of being in only one of many databases, this application process will put you in every database using the Prophet software.

It is necessary to keep all information and profiles submitted to online systems updated and accurate. Include your MSPA certification number when you obtain one. Many databases also allow you to advise companies as to what equipment you have, such as a video recorder, fax or cell phone. As professionalism is important, you should obtain an Internet browser spell check program.

Tools Of The Mystery Shopping Trade

The modern mystery shopper has plenty of tools at their disposal, including:
• video cameras
• digital photography
• cell phones
• audio recorders

Video Cameras:
The newer cameras are smaller and more easily concealed than ever. These provide the benefit of a picture and recorded sound. Many can be concealed in purses, jackets or shopping bags. Most come with a USB cable which can be interfaced with your PC. This allows you to review the footage or sound they pick up. Some models can function as a regular digital camera.

Digital Cameras:
Digital cameras are also getting smaller. The benefit of newer storage allows you to take hundreds of pictures before running out of memory, especially when stored in a .jpg format. Like video, you can also connect these to your PC via a USB cord. These are handy for photographing on assignments involving loss prevention.

Cell Phones:
Cell phones perform the same functions as video cameras and digital photography devices and are virtually everywhere. Many also record audio, and allow you to conduct surveillance out in the open. Most are small enough to obscure the visibility of your message or pretend conversation with an answering machine from employees.

Why A Good Report Is So Essential

A good report is tailored exclusively to the guidelines provided. Most should and will provide a style guide or word count beyond the questionnaire, if any. You will not only be telling the reader what happened, you will be answering a list of predetermined questions, all predicated upon what areas a company’s management has determined to require examination. A good report will do both of these.

In order to accomplish these objectives, all relevant details of your mystery shopping experience are necessary. You may have to anticipate where clarification will be required, and attempt to provide it before it is asked for to the best of your ability.

Ideally, you should know and understand the guidelines provided by your scheduler before you do the mystery shop. If you have any questions, you should ask them before. It is necessary to know and understand exactly what you are looking for before you go looking for it. This will help you write the best report possible, mostly because the necessary structure will be mentally in place.

A good report will also be submitted along with all the correct forms and items required by your mystery shopping guidelines. This may include receipts, notes, questionnaires, pictures or video. Some of the more high paying jobs require no report whatsoever because the mystery shop is recorded on video.

Who Uses My Reports and Why Are They Beneficial?

Mystery shopping helps businesses gain feedback on more than just customer service. Management can choose from a variety of Mystery shopping programs to get an inside look at operations, employee integrity, merchandising, product quality and other areas. Mystery shopping allows companies to obtain a snapshot in time by trained shopping researchers.

Business owners and managers use shopper reports to:

• Enhance employee training materials
• Improve business operations
• Improve product quality
• Compare one location to another
Mystery Shopping programs are valuable to such a wide array of business owners because:
• Most customers who have unsatisfactory experiences will not complain. They simply never return.
• Dissatisfied customers are likely to tell others about their experience, who probably will avoid doing business with the merchant.
• The use of Mystery Shopping to provide impartial feedback reduces favoritism in incentive programs.
• Shopping programs can identify where employee training and incentive programs need improvement.
Forget manager’s reports or employee assessments. The best way to ascertain the real impact of your brand is through a carefully designed mystery shop – and not just one.

Objective mystery shopper reports create a clear picture of just where the store’s promotion is or is not working.Those reports are invaluable for the company who is serious about finding out what is working and what is not.

General Rules Of Thumb For Describing Customers and/or Employees

You may think you’re a whiz at completing reports, but did you know there are specific ways to state the obvious that can help you to write an even better report? What is the best way to describe common characteristics, and what kind of language should you avoid?

Height: This can only be an estimation, as it would generally be awkward to ask, “Hey, how tall are you?” It is most effectively done relative to your own and to whatever the person may be standing on, especially since you know your own height. For example, if you’re 6’0” and someone is the same height but standing on a one inch platform, assume they’re 6’0”.

Age: This is also difficult, but can be expressed in a range such as “in their twenties” or “mid thirties”.
Hair: Color, length, or style is more distinguishable, and whenever possible, should and can be described to the greatest detail.

Quantify: What you saw and experienced in numbers, figures and within the guidelines whenever possible. For example, don’t write, “We waited a long time”. Instead, write, “We waited 5 minutes.”

An Accurate Mystery Shop Report Helps Everyone

Many corporate decisions rest upon the data you provide on your report. So it is very important to remain objective, give as much detail as you can as accurately as you can, follow all instructions exactly as given to you, and fill out every line in the report to the best of your ability.

The mystery shop report is the most important document in the mystery shop process. Through it, you will objectively report the minute-by-minute details of your experience. Retailers of every type will determine where gaps may exist in the delivery of their customer experience philosophy. They will decide which frontline staff is able to deliver, and which do not seem all that interested in getting it right.

Just imagine the restaurant greeter who is a single working Mom, struggling to afford daily living expenses for herself and her children, but working as hard as she can to do so. She knows she has to greet and seat you in 3 minutes. But you’re not really watching the clock because of that cute waiter that just strolled by. So when filling out your report, you ‘guesstimate’ your wait time, and put down 4 minutes, or maybe 5. That seems reasonable to you. But to the store manager, it is completely unacceptable, and our single Mom could potentially lose her job because you didn’t follow instructions.