This is a guest post written by KSSJudith, a member of MysteryShopForum.com. Thank you Judith!
-Make sure that the information in your profile on the site is complete and has proper spelling and capitalization. Many clients require that we read those, and I can’t tell you how many different ways I have seen “detail oriented” spelled in shopper profiles. Also, if you were a scheduler and you had three people who have no shop history to chose from, which of these three would you choose?
1. Easter Bunny
2. EASTER BUNNY
3. easter bunny
4. easter b
Since all other things are equal, shopper 1 appears to be the most detail oriented of the three. I’m not going to assign a shop to a person who won’t give their last name, ever. Give yourself every edge possible!
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- If there are questions on a shop application, be sure that you answer them. Leaving them blank will automatically put you dead last in the running. Here’s an example. Say I am scheduling a project for Easter Bunny Bank. The person that does the shop must have a savings account at the bank. I also am required to assign the shopper to one specific day for the visit.
My application question might say, “1. Please confirm that you have an account with Easter Bunny Bank. 2. What day can you conduct this shop?”
Here are my applicants:
1. I have a savings account with Easter Bunny Bank, and I can shop on 4/15.
2. -blank_
3. yes
Now, if everything else is equal, guess who gets the shop? I have had shoppers answer questions with things that have nothing to do with the question at all. I remember one time I asked, “What day can you do the shop” and the shopper wrote in, “Dodge Durango.” I have asked, “What year is your vehicle” and gotten, “1/31″ as an answer. The questions are important, and have a function.
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Make your communications with your scheduler thorough. Shoppers have to reschedule shops. It’s just part of the business. But which email below do you think leaves me with the feeling that I just dealt with a professional?
Email 1: Judith, I just opened the guidelines for my shop that you assigned last week and found that there is a telephone call due the day before the visit. Since the shop is due today, I can’t do that. What do I do?
Email 2: Reschedule
Email 3: Why would you assign a shop to me that is due in only 5 days? That’s a lot to ask of someone and the location is 30 miles away and my kids are in school so it is really inconvenient. (why did you apply?)
Email 4: Judith, something unavoidable has come up and I have to ask for an extension. I can do the shop first thing tomorrow and submit the report before 5 pm. Would that be ok? (I don’t recommend this on the due date of a project- but things do come up).
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Anyway, schedulers are people too, and most of us were just shoppers who turned into schedulers. We’re nice people, promise! I hope these examples have given you a smile and a peek into what our lives are like every day and how you can set yourself apart as a super shopper.