Mystery Shopper's Manual

The McDonald’s Receipt Hack

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A former McDonald’s employee says you should always ask for a receipt. According to Kamran Adnan, who says he worked at a London McDonald’s for a year, “In the UK we have 2 periods which are known as Gapbuster Times. Basically between 12-2 and 5pm-7pm workers have to be extra careful because that is when gapbusters (mystery shoppers), who are paid, visit McDonald’s restaurants and rate their experience.”

According to Adnan, “It is easy to spot a gapbuster because they always ask for a receipt (so they can get their food costs reimbursed by the company employing them). So, if you ask for a receipt in that time everyone will be immediately alert that you could be a potential gapbuster and they’ll make sure to serve you the freshest burger and fries and give you priority over everyone else.”
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Your Mystery Shopping Staycation

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Lots of people are cutting expenses, but still want to have a summer adventure. They may be choosing a “staycation” and having fun without leaving town, over a vacation involving trips far away from home. Mystery shopping can help you have a fun and rewarding staycation.

A mystery shopping staycation means working during your adventure—there are observations to make and reports to write—and you have to take your mystery shopping assignments seriously, even if you are thinking vacation. But you can have fun you might not be easily able to afford without mystery shopping. Here are a few ideas.Continue Reading

Mystery Shopping Basics

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mystery-shopping-basics

What is Mystery Shopping?

Mystery shoppers evaluate customer service, cleanliness and quality at all kinds of businesses. The mystery shopper reports are used by businesses to recognize star performers, determine training needs, monitor whether procedures are being followed, identify missed sales opportunities and even, in some cases, as one factor in determining raises and bonuses.Continue Reading

Mystery Shopping from Coast to Coast

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People are doing more traveling this summer, jumping in the car to visit Grandma, taking a family vacation to a favorite theme park or heading to a new destination. According to USA Today, one of the reasons for this rise in travel is a drop in gas prices. On May 15, 2015 they reported that this will be the cheapest driving season in 6 years. Further, they indicate that the typical American household will spend $675 less for gas this year as opposed to last year, an additional financial incentive to travel. But what if one plans yet another way to make vacation time more affordable?

Jancyn Evaluation Shops suggests that cash-strapped families use mystery shopping to subsidize their travels. According to Vicki Dempsey, Vice President of Jancyn, “Mystery shopping as you travel is a great way to earn some extra cash as you make your way across the USA. Our Project Coordinators are experts in assisting shoppers to create mystery shopping routes to fit their travel plans.”

Ms. Dempsey continues, “Most shoppers sign up with several companies in order to increase their chances at having multiple projects to choose from and to find projects that best fit their personal needs. The MSPA maintains a list of member companies you can be sure are qualified and reputable. When it comes to incorporating mystery shopping into a family vacation experience, get the kids involved too! Asking them to help look for key project details, such as the name of their server or the cleanliness of a restroom, hones their observation skills and turns it into a fun spy game! Not all shopping assignments allow children, but many do.”

Many companies, including Jancyn, offer self-assign job boards where shoppers can select assignments along their planned route. Depending on the mystery shopping company, shoppers may find assignments that will reimburse for meals, gasoline, attractions and activities, hotels and more.

To get the most opportunities, apply to as many companies as you can. Refer to my list of 200 legitimate mystery shopping companies. Contact any schedulers you have relationships with to let them know you want assignments you can do while you travel. You may be able to pick up some shops that they are having trouble filling, and that will make you one of their favorite shoppers. You may even be able to work out a bonus or two.

Incorporating a bit of mystery shopping into your vacation can stretch your budget and make vacationing more affordable. Of course, if you spend all of your time mystery shopping it isn’t really a vacation; however,  you can certainly work in a few shops to help cover your meals, hotel and other expenses. Have fun!

Get Your First (or Next) Mystery Shopper Job

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mystery shopper jobsQuestion from a shopper:

I have been applying to mystery shopping companies, but I never get any jobs. What am I doing wrong? Should I give up?

Whether you are a brand new shopper trying to get started, or an experienced shopper looking for more assignments, there are several possible reasons you are not getting as many assignments as you would like. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Did you submit a complete application?
Make sure that you answered every question on the application. If they ask demographic questions (e.g., age, marital status, race, income, etc.) answer them. They are not asking those questions to discriminate against you. They ask because they have clients who need shoppers with certain characteristics. Answer every question on the application to be considered when shops with specific requirements come up.
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When Customer Service Attacks

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customer service attacksThis is a humorous work of fiction that was inspired by an actual experience of overly-attentive staff. I am sharing it here with the writer’s permission. No mystery shoppers were harmed in the making of this story.

Everything was normal at Zmart until someone heard a rumor that the corporate office was going to check in on them soon and that a mystery shopper was coming any day.  Of course the point of mystery shoppers is that they are supposed to be anonymous and thus treated like a normal customer, but rumors had a way of spreading.  And it didn’t matter if those rumors turned out to be false, if they happened to be true, the store needed to be ready.

Greg knew nothing of the secret shopper rumors when he walked into Zmart.  It wasn’t like the store could unfurl a banner that said “Welcome Secret Shoppers!”  There wasn’t anything else about the appearance of the store that gave him any indication that something was going on.  But it didn’t take him long to realize that something was definitely different from his usual trips to Zmart.Continue Reading

When Is It OK to Cancel a Shop?

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When a mystery shopper accepts an assignment, that is a commitment to follow through and do the shop. A shopper who doesn’t complete an assignment as agreed risks being deactivated from the mystery shopping company’s data base and receiving no future jobs from them.

Schedulers get frustrated when shoppers cancel at the last minute or just fail to do a shop. It happens more than you might think. In fact, it happens often enough that we have an industry term for it: It is called “flaking” on a shop.

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Secret Shopping Guide – 7 Tips to Be a Great Secret Shopper

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Being a great secret shopper is simple, but that does not mean that it is easy. Secret shopping is a business, and successful secret shoppers are professionals who take their work seriously. The tips in this article will make you a great secret shopper and help you get more and better secret shopper jobs.

Doing these seven things will make you a better—and a more successful—secret shopper.
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Why Use Mystery Shopping?

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Why should businesses use mystery shopping? This video explains what mystery shopping is all about and how businesses benefit.

Should you tell your employees they will be mystery shopped? How are mystery shoppers selected and screened? How much does mystery shopping cost? These questions and more are answered in this video from MSNBC.

It includes interviews with employees and management of a grocery store that uses mystery shopping, as well as Judi Hess of Customer Perspectives and Jeff Hall of Second to None.

Be Quiet and Let Them Talk

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Human beings seem to have an aversion to quiet. Too often, we rush to fill up any silence with a stream of words. When you are mystery shopping, that can be a mistake.

As mystery shoppers, we are there to observe and report, not to influence the outcome of the shop. One of the best ways to do that is by talking no more than is necessary.

Obviously, we need to speak on mystery shops. There are questions that need to be asked or answered, and appropriate conversations to hold. Saying too little is almost as bad as saying too much. But saying too much can affect the outcome of the mystery shop.

Here are some ways that talking too much on a mystery shop can make the shop go wrong.Continue Reading