We are hearing lots of doom and gloom about the economy, but what can we really expect in the coming year?
Things will get better–they always do–but it will not happen overnight.
As mystery shoppers there are two major things that will affect us.
- First, some clients will go out of business and others will cut back on their mystery shopping programs.
- Second, more people will be looking for ways to make extra money and will turn to mystery shopping.
Those two factors add up to more competition for fewer mystery shopper jobs.
So does that mean you should forget about mystery shopping?
Not at all. Yes, some clients will disappear or reduce the number of shops they do. But there will be increased competition in the retail and service sectors to attract and retain customers, as well as increasing the value of each customer. Mystery shopping is one of the tools that can help clients do those things.
Mystery shopping verifies that the service standards that customers expect are upheld, as well as making sure that sales procedures are followed properly. If employees are not upselling every customer, they are leaving dollars on the table. And that is something that businesses can not afford to do. That means that many companies will maintain or expand their mystery shopping programs, and some companies that have never used mystery shopping will start.
And all of those new mystery shoppers? Most of them will not last long. A large percentage of the people who think they want to be mystery shoppers fail to stick with it when they learn that it involves more than just shopping and offering their opinions.
What we need to do as mystery shoppers is to make sure that we always provide value to the mystery shopping companies and their clients. If you can be relied upon to do your shops correctly and completely, you will be valuable and will continue to receive assignments.
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