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.

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.

Three Unlikely Candidates For Mystery Shops and How To Be Successful

When you think of mystery shopping, you probably think of a department store or clothing retailer as being the typical client. Today, however, more unusual types of retailers are discovering the unique benefits of mystery shopping. Here are three good examples:

Restaurant Shops

Many restaurants gauge their success on their busiest or weakest hours, so don’t miss the timeframe in which this shop must be done.

Digital recorders, stopwatches and timers can be indispensable in both timing how prompt the restaurant is and the chronological order of events for purposes of your written report.

Frequently, you will be required to take someone with you and order a certain dish or appetizers, or sit at the bar and order a drink to assess the bartenders and standard bar practices.

Some shoppers use their cell phones to record notes, or they call themselves, pretend to be on the phone, and leave a message for themselves with details of the shop. The way people use their cell phones today, it’s unlikely that this would arouse suspicion. Of course, you will want to excuse yourself to talk so servers and other staff do not overhear you.

If possible, download the menu or obtain it beforehand, and compare it to the guidelines. If you’re required to bring one person, bring only one person. If you’re told to go to the bar first, do just that. As always, take the guidelines literally – but never bring them into the establishment.

Ways To Sabotage Your New Career As A Mystery Shopper

Being a valued mystery shopper means that you will get more and better assignments. Doing things that make life more difficult for schedulers, editors and others will mean that you get fewer assignments. (Avoid these behaviors if you want to be a valued and successful shopper.)

Dozens of schedulers, mystery shopping company owners and managers agree, these are their biggest pet peeves:

• Not reading and following shop guidelines.

• Accepting assignments, then disappearing and not completing them.

• Not communicating questions or problems.

• Inconsistency in report answers and comments.

• Rushing through shops and reports.

• Poor grammar and spelling.

• Not telling the truth. NEVER falsify a shop report.

• Speaking badly of any of the companies you work for.

• Failing to admit mistakes.

• Submitting late reports.

• Revealing how much you are paid for an assignment.

Mystery shopping, while much more difficult than it might seem at first, is not rocket science. After you learn how to properly observe and complete reports, the rest of your assignment is mostly common sense, a love of people and a flexible schedule. Don’t be intimidated by all the do’s and don’t’s. Many people never reach their goals because they spend their whole lives “getting ready to get ready.” If you think mystery shopping is for you, jump in with both feet and give it a try. You’ll soon know for sure if this is the type of work you’re suited for.

How Do I Get Paid?

An important issue for mystery shoppers is getting paid. Generally speaking, each mystery shopping company will explain their pay structure to you when you are accepted as an independent contractor. Some pay right away after you submit your report. Others require an invoice. In an event, if the information you submit does not follow the company’s guidelines exactly, you won’t get paid, so be sure to do exactly as they ask. Mystery shopping companies cannot invoice their clients for mystery shopping reports that are not exactly what the client has asked for. Something as innocent as showing up for the shop on the wrong day could mean you are not paid or paid a partial fee. Follow the guidelines and submit a complete report, and you should have no problems.

Pay cycles vary from one company to another. The average pay cycle is three to six weeks after you’ve completed the shop. This is another good reason why you’ll want to have access to many assignments to earn steady income and why you want to stay organized with your spreadsheet and folders. With many weeks between submitting your report and being paid, it could become very confusing.

Payment may be by check, direct deposit or even Paypal. If you are not familiar with it, Paypal is an online payment system. Paypal can even accept credit and debit card payments. Visit www.PayPal.com to learn more.

Some use a program called PeachTree, accounting software that can be customized around any business. It calculates everything from basic expenses, invoices, taxes and even does equipment depreciation. Many similar programs, such as Quicken, can generate and print the invoices for you for easy mailing.

As you apply with various companies to perform mystery shopping, be sure to ask what payment method you can expect.

Additional Help To Keep Your PC Running Smoothly

In order to ensure your machine functions correctly, programs alone aren’t sufficient. Fortunately, Windows comes with necessary tools to correct and prevent PC malfunction. You should first go to Control Panel, then to Internet Options, and click on the “advanced” tab. Scroll down to “security” and uncheck the following boxes –

1 Allow active content from CDs to run on my computer
2 Allow active content to run from files on my computer
3 Allow software to run or install even if the signature is invalid

Check the following boxes –

1 Check for publisher’s certificate revocation
2 Check for server’s certificate revocation
3 Do not save encrypted pages to disk (your virus program will miss those)
4 Check for signatures on downloaded programs
5 Empty temporary internet files folder when browser is closed

You should also go to “Control Panel”, then “Internet Properties” and click on the “security” tab. Click on the “custom level” button. You’ll see a drop down menu to the immediate left of the “reset…” button. Pull the menu down and select “high”.

You should also defragment your hard drive on a regular basis. This can be done by going to “Start”, then to “All programs”, then “accessories”, then “system tools”, then “disk defragmenter”. When the tool loads, go to the “action” menu and select “defragment”.

While it may seem like just more work, imagine what would happen if you sat down eagerly to begin your latest report and your computer crashed. If this has never happened to you, it’s a huge hassle that can often be avoided with simple and regular computer maintenance.

So for the few minutes it takes to do this extra ‘work’, you can be reviewing your notes or doing something worthwhile while your computer is maintaining itself. Taking time to do these necessary things increases your professionalism and your dedication to your job.

Other Ways To Conduct Secret Shopping Business

Telephone

Frequently, telephone mystery shops are conducted to evaluate the ability of firms such as airlines or insurance companies to test how well they know and can provide the product. Many companies will provide a number to call, which activates a recording device. The number will then patch you through to the client to be mystery shopped.

During a telephone shop, you will be asked questions such as:

1) How long did it take to get someone on the phone?
2) Was there an automated message?
3) Were you able to order the product? How easily?
4) Did the employee know the product?
5) Was the employee polite?
6) Could the employee answer the question you were assigned to ask?

E-mail

Email mystery shops are becoming more common as commerce moves online. This trend is becoming far more prevalent, so much so that the online community’s Black Monday is rivaling the Black Friday of conventional retail outlets. These assignments are similar in nature to telephone and in person shops and the questions are of a similar nature. You are testing product knowledge, delivery and customer service via email.

As mystery shopping becomes an increasingly popular and valuable option for retailers, expect to see many other types of services emerge that will allow you to expand your skills and increase your business.

What Mystery Shopping Has in Common with Cake

If you thought mystery shopping was a piece of cake, by now you know it’s not. Some people are shocked when they see the work that goes into shopping undercover and writing reports.

Here are a few tips many established mystery shoppers wish they would have known earlier in their careers:

• You Might Not Be Able to Bring Your Children With You
Some companies do not want you bringing your children because children can be distracting when you are supposed to be working. Be clear about the terms of the company and the terms of each job because this is an important thing to know. Some of the jobs will allow children, but if it is a lengthy survey that needs to be completed or requires you to do a lot of interacting with the salespeople you may want to choose to leave your child at home so you can do a good job on your assignment.

• Meticulous Recordkeeping
When you apply to hundreds of companies, it’s best to have one file that lists every thing you may need—companies you’ve shopped for, zip codes and area codes where you are willing to shop, passwords and user identifications, and a description of your best shopping experience, and a description of your worst shopping experience.

How To Prepare and Complete A Successful Secret Shop

Preparing for the Shop

Ideally, the report should be set up before the mystery shop to the greatest extent possible. Any written material can be setup beforehand in a word document with subheadings that reflect the issues to be discussed as outlined within the guidelines. This will help you to organize your thoughts, and refresh your memory as you recall your secret shop. Ideally, this should be done as close to the time of the shop itself.

If you are completing consecutive mystery shops, make some time in between to write notes under the subheadings you’ve already made in the word documents. This will free up some of your own personal memory to be refreshed for the next secret shop. When doing this as a profession, expect to write down your immediate thoughts in the interim in order to be able to go back and write the report later.

Before every shop, review the guidelines and the questionnaire. Again, and as discussed, this will refresh your mind on what it is you will be looking for upon arrival in the store.