I received an email directly from a scheduler asking me to do a $13 shop. I have zero relationship with this scheduler, have not completed many shops for his MSC, but the shops I've done have received the best possible rating. I have a full month of shops scheduled, and promised myself not to overdo it again this month; however, it's hard for me to turn down a paying job!

And, a relationship with a scheduler is a very good thing. I replied to his email that I would accept this shop, and asked if he had any others in the area to make it more worthwhile. He answered "yes", and that he would assign both of them to me for $17 each.

So, the initial job of $13, turned into two hours of work paying $34 for me. Plus, I've got a new friend!!

That's how to do it!

It is definitely the way to do it. I also tend to respond to a scheduler of a company I want to get on with but don't see things in my area when they send out a 'general plea' for somebody to go do a shop. Ok, so the shop they need done is 110 miles away and there is not a ghost of a chance they are paying enough to do it. So I am likely to respond thanking them for the offer, mentioning the distance and indicating that if/when they have something closer I would be pleased to help. I keep it short and upbeat because I don't want to waste their time but I do want to get known as 'the helpful sort'. I have had several respond and there have been some relationships form that eventually got me jobs.

Do you call or email in those cases?

I try to do everything by email. I personally dislike the telephone. When it rings it interrupts me involved in something else. When I call I know I am interrupting someone else. If it is a matter of some urgency, I will call. If it is just a "Thank you for asking me," it is an email. If/when the recipient has a moment to read the email they can answer if they choose. I have gotten a couple of snotty responses along the lines of "You shouldn't have answered if you weren't available to do the job." I find these are indicative of a scheduler's life outlook and am not enthusiastically looking forward to working with them in the future. My responses are brief enough they would take less than 30 seconds to read and they certainly neither request nor demand a response that would waste a scheduler's time.

I can't believe the timing on this - a few days ago I received an email desperate to book a shop and offering a bonus, total $10. That's almost an immediate discard for me, plus it was for a location 145 miles away. I replied via email thanks, but no thanks.

I'm sure assignments can be doled out on a basis of first come first serve, seniority, past performance, reliability, etc. What can a shopper do to move up the ladder?

While each company and each shopper is different, the general consensus is to

1) In your first year or so sign up with every company you can find

Ok, so not every company shops your area and you sure don't want to spend your days signing up and checking job boards for companies that are currently useless to you. Get started with companies that Jobslinger.com shows have jobs in your area and once you decide you want to pursue shopping, THEN take the time to start signing up with everyone. But give it a little time so you can honestly indicate on your applications that you have shopped for 3-6 months or more.

2) Although you may have a good notion of the minimum fee necessary to get you to take a job, often as a new shopper to a company all you will see is cheap shops that are beneath anything reasonable. Take a couple of them anyway to begin building a reputation with the company and hopefully get you on their radar. If a handful of these doesn't get you some better looking offers or acceptances, check the forums to see whether other shoppers are seeing better stuff. I think of these as my 'rites of passage' shops with a new MSP. If there is nothing on the other side but more cheap shops, forget it.

3) Get to know your companies so you can figure out what works for them. This is often as simple as reading through their sample shops so that you can emulate the writing style they want. It may also be observing that a particular company never bonuses. You see shops that are marginally in your shopping area but you are not going to be anywhere them until two days after their due date. You will identify fairly quickly over the months the jobs and areas they have difficulty filling. Drop them an email indicating that you will be near that area on a specific date and indicate that if they can extend the deadline you would be pleased to do the shop for them on that date.

4) Perform, perform, perform. Do the shop when, where and how you have contracted for. Be timely and complete with your reports. If you have a problem, contact them. But cancel only if it is a disaster, attempt to reschedule whenever possible because of a problem, avoid rescheduling just to meet your convenience.

5) Respond well to requests for clarification in a courteous, complete manner. If they have re-released a shop to you to repair, do so quickly and drop them a 'Thanks. I overlooked that. Sorry. It is fixed now!' type note. THEN you can rant on about the idiocy of it all to whomever it is that you rant to when you can't really dump directly on the perpetrating idiot.

6) Always at least keep up the appearance of being helpful. 'Gosh I would love to do that septic tank inspection job for you in the sticks for $3, but it is 450 miles away from me and I won't be going near there until 2011. If you have one then, please do keep me in mind.' (NOTE: If they call back in 2011, 'Oops, there was a change of plans and I was there in 2010. But I do expect to go back in 2014.')

On my personal agenda is that every six months or so I visit the profile page of every company I am signed up with to update it. This I feel sure gets recorded on most of their systems as a sign that I am still 'alive and shopping' even if I have never yet found a shop from them in my area. My usual updates are small demographic changes such as how long I have shopped or available equipment or current vehicles available. Sometimes I will update a sample narrative if I have a current sample that meets the category that I like better.

I try to find a dozen new-to-me companies to sign up with each year. These I check weekly for jobs for about 3 months and if nothing appears, I just have to assume they are either inactive, schedule by direct contact or just currently don't have anything in my area. Often you can check jobs in other areas to see if the company shops clients with a presence in your area. If they produce nothing in 3 months, they get put with the companies that get checked monthly and profiles updated 2X per year.

Bend over backwards for your 'regulars'. During the normal course of a year there are about 30-40 companies that I work with. Of these, probably 10 account for 2/3 of my jobs and income. For these guys I will always go the extra mile. But I am always trying to develop the other 20-30 into becoming among my top 10 companies.

There are other things you can try. One year I found a really neat yet religiously neutral electronic Christmas card I sent to schedulers I had worked with during the year. I got a nice response from some but would hesitate to repeat that considering that there are currently legitimate virus concerns about the "go to a website and collect your greeting" type emails.

I liked the suggestion of one member that you include your phone number with outgoing emails to schedulers as part of the signature. I don't know that it has done any good, but at least in theory it makes contact easier.

I try very hard not to waste a scheduler's or company's time by asking questions that I can possibly find answers for myself. I have wasted a whole lot of my time going through the fine print of instructions, invoice information, shop information, website information etc. trying to find the answer before contacting them. For example I did a shop yesterday that collecting a business card was required. Ok, so I have the card and have entered the name in the report, but how do I transmit the card??? Mail?, email?, fax? Eventually I found a note in the assignment email indicating to retain the card and paperwork for a given period of time. Ok, I can do that. Would have been nice if they had included that tidbit in the 4 pages of instructions! Perhaps right next to any one of the three times they stated the absolute requirement of collecting the card would have been helpful.

Great suggestions coming in on this thread. Thanks, everyone!

FLASH U R THE BEST!!!!! I love reading your posts.I have pretty much followed your suggestions to a T...yes it takes alot of time to get yourself out there w/ all the companies but it will start paying off and yes take the less paying jobs and do take the calls where they are frantic and need someone NOW-they will remember you.

ok alittle pet peeve....I understand companies may have 3-5 people all working on the same project but I find it very irrating when I get e-mails from each person asking the same question...example-did a demo job on saturday, by staurday evening report was submitted via computer & fax and enevolpe ready to be mailed monday morning...by 9 monday morning I recieved e-mails asking where my reports were, one even saying they hadn't recieved my mail copy yet....grrrr
dee
cedar city ut.

I really hope you all stay on track, better than me, and keep sharing your tips and thoughts, which I so appreciate.

But here I go on a pet peeve tangent. I don't like being treated as less than honest and conscientious. Things like "Warning, you are being videotaped . . ." why then, do they need us, why not review the tapes they threaten us with? Or that small print about the business card that Flash had to spend much time finding. Probably, the assumption was that if a shopper saw that too easily, she may feel no need to actually get the card or even go to the location. Or, "your times must match to the second, or else".

Of course, there are shoppers lacking integrity, but I'm not one of them. I would think the slackers could be weeded out, so the rest of us could be given the benefit of the doubt, without the ultimatums.

I don't check job boards as much as I should, because I get so much work from the emails that I get. Am I missing out on opportunities. Do any of you know which companies do not send emails?

One can hope (though it is difficult to keep your fingers crossed and type at the same time) that enough schedulers and folks associated with companies in other ways as well, will visit forums and see the stuff that is truly annoying to shoppers. Yes, we want to be trusted to have some modicum of intelligence as well as honesty.

There are head games I play with myself about all the stuff that could be so readily read first and foremost as a statement of distrust of shoppers by companies. When I read 'you will be videotaped', in my mind I flip that to 'I will be protected in case somebody screws up my shop in editing'. If I have a wretched experience and report it, my face is going to show an unhappy customer in the videotape as well. If somebody turns my report (for whatever reason) into a delighted customer, the tape will show that was NOT the case. If there is ever a question about timings, I save my DVR audio files that I can readily reconfirm timings in case I screwed them up with a typo.

When I get repeated warnings in the same shop NOT to do a particular thing, in my mind that flips to 'they really need to get an instructions writer who proof reads their material so it is not repetitively wasting my time and theirs in addition to extra paper and ink.'

When I get multiple requests from different folks for the same thing, it just tells me the level of chaos reigning at the MSP. I try not to look as though I am a total idiot and would hope that my 'employers' do so as well. There is only a certain amount of idiocy I will put up with from a company that is not paying unusually well. Overall I find that companies in chaos have trouble giving clear instructions about what they want, have reporting issues of one sort or other, have report processing issues of one sort or other and eventually are likely to have issues about getting my payments to me in a timely fashion. Meanwhile, they tend to take an adversarial role with shoppers because they constantly feel under attack from inside their company as well as from shoppers' questions and complaints. Life is too short to spend much time on this nonsense.

There are intelligent schedulers out there. There are companies that produce logical and systematic instructions for gathering information that leads to reports that could actually be meaningful for the client in improving their business. There are companies that operate reliable websites for obtaining and reporting shop information. There are companies that are thoughtful in their requests for additional information. There are companies that pay like clockwork. I only wish there were enough of these that I could never even consider working with the companies in chaos.

We all come at a specific job either as a newbie, having done it before, or having done it many times. I have faith and confidence in a company that can put out a set of instructions that are organized and complete enough that they can handle any level of shopper. I appreciate greatly when they put a date on their instructions that shows the latest revision and highlights the last several revisions. As a first time performer of a shop, I recognize that these are NOT the priorities of the shop but rather information that has recently changed or been modified. As a frequent performer of the shop, I know that these are things I may need to refresh on.

I love when a company systematically organizes their information so that I know where to look based on experience with jobs from their other clients. I love when the company presents their instruction information in a logical and coherent way with proper headings and do not include redundant information. (Redundancy often fails to clarify but rather raise questions: "Walk 3 steps and turn around twice" is not the same as "Turn around twice and walk 3 steps") It is logical to present a quick overview, basic instructions, specific helps, reporting requirements (timing, materials submission method and itemization) contact information for pre-shop items, reporting issues, and payment follow up with a statement of when payment can be expected.

While some companies scatter this information between training, email, website, specific job report and client instructions, my personal preference is to see one complete client instruction sheet and a printable report that shows date(s), location and questions. My preference is to duplicate contact information and reporting requirements in the instructions and on the specific report so if I am in the field and have a problem I can phone in for how it should be handled without compromising the data and observations. I find myself concerned at how many times I have seen on forums the question, "Does anybody have a phone number for ____?" I look and low and behold there is none on the website or in instructions and often not in the emails I have received either.

We are expected to conduct ourselves professionally. It would be nice if our 'employers' did so as well. But back to topic. Even when our 'employers' show their lack of professionalism, our survival as shoppers depends on treating them professionally.

Okay, lots of good points Flash, but I feel somewhat chastised!

It was certainly not my intent to do so! Some companies make themselves difficult and unpleasant to deal with. I just try not to let their rudeness bother me--though often that is difficult.

I did not feeel chastised. I felt as though some un-nmed companies were!

Kudos !

Triciacus, the best jobs get snapped up immediately. I've gotten some of the better assignments by checking the job boards. The job can be gone before you get the email, particularly if you're in a competitive area. If time permits, I'll check my favorite MSPs once or twice a day.

Flash's keyboard has a life of its own.

How do you get higher paying jobs?

Marlene

That varies from company to company. With some it is a matter of getting to their job board first to self assign them. With others where you request jobs from their job board, you are more likely to be awarded the jobs when you have a history with the company for successfully performing jobs. With other companies you will only see higher paying or more complex jobs after you have established a reputation with the company and they have entitled you to see them.

Flash, I do put my phone number(s) on my emails, and indicate if I won't be answering during a certain time that day. I think it has helped. I certainly started getting more responses when I did that. I also put my MSPA certification on the email. I've noticed that some companies put in big type, "Don't respond to this email!!!!!" So I don't. Occasionally, I've given out a name in an area distant from me.

Mert, while I get too busy to check the job boards all of the time, I've found that when I do, if I search for a radius a little farther than I want to travel, I find other assignments. One time, I drove two counties over to do an assignment because I found a one-time job that pays very well. I won't be doing that job again because of its nature, but it was a help to me and my disposition when I was still doing the $4 gas station assignments.

Most of the time, I rely on emails and phone calls to get assignments. Of the companies I keep on my 3-1/2-page "Quick Chart", 33 of them send emails. (I also keep a complete "Company Registrations" list that runs over 100 pages; it includes highly recommended ones that I haven't signed up with yet.) I don't know whether that means the others don't. Perhaps, when I do my every-six-month update for my profiles, I should look to see whether I have checked the option on the website to receive emails. I do have a couple of companies that seem to call only, and a few do both.

What about shops offered directly to the shopper (me), that are so low-paying it isn't worth my time. $3 and $5 shops. Do you decline and state that the reason is that it pays only a pittance, or bow out more gracefully?

If it is via email I just ignore the email mostly. If it is by phone I will likely tell them what it would take in terms of $$$ to have me do the job. My price is generally on the high side of what I would settle for, but not obscenely so.

My sense is that when a scheduler calls they make a note of your response. I have gotten a call with an offer of a bank at $15 with the scheduler saying, "It says here you won't do banks for less than $15." I agreed that generally that was true but that the bank they needed done was a platform about 35 miles away in an area I don't normally shop, so if they really needed me to do it I would need to see $X because it would be 70 miles on my vehicle as an orphan shop.

My point here is that I try to be enabling even for jobs I really don't want to do. It falls into that category of 'be fair with me and I will be fair with you'.

There is a good chance that my record at this company now reads that, "Shopper will not do banks for less than $X." While that is not absolutely true, it is true for orphan shops 35 miles away.

If the phone solicitation is from a company I don't want to deal with or for a job I would not consider doing for less than a king's ransom, I politely am, "Too heavily scheduled at the moment to consider it, but thank you for asking me."

I need help to get started.When do we get paid, how do we get paid?

Payment cycles depend on the companies you sign up with and method also varies. Many pay by PayPal, some by direct deposit to your bank account, some pay by check and one recently has been paying with gift cards (for the same client you shopped that you can use on a return visit). Payment times vary but generally are 30-60 days after the shop report is complete and the proofs of visit submitted.

Go to the New Mystery Shopper section for threads on getting started.