So can you guys tell me what the proper procedure is, if there is such a thing, or how you handle it, if you are doing an audit and you are done with your physical work but have to ask a bunch of questions and the customers just won't quit coming in the store? Is it proper to go in front of the customers in line to do an audit? I am at a place right now and there were 4 customers here when I got here and they just won't quit coming in.. they have all been waiting a while... I feel funny making them continue to wait while I ask a bunch of questions. And I'm mad at myself for not being more assertive, and I'm mad that I've been sitting here for 45 minutes and the customers won't give me a break.

Is this a revealed audit? One where when you walk in and say Hi, I'm XXXX and I am here to do your audit for XXXX. If it is, they are being really crappy by not acknowledging you and taking care of you in a reasonable time. Did you come at rush hour for them? Are they short handed? Usually a manager type will want to get you out the door as fast as possible.

I did 2 huge 4 hour audits today. I did have to let paying customers play through, but the manager did come back to me as fast as he could. I always try to not do my work during their peak times.

Customers always come first, no matter what you are doing. It's a pain, but, what can you do. Unless you want to play the crazy card...... Find a magazine, get a refreshing beverage, see if there is any other paperwork you can get done in the mean time.
Sorry you are not having a good day. We all have them sometimes. If you would like me to, I'll call and tell them to get on the stick!

Can't add anything to what Cindy said.

Yes, it's a revealed one, and this particular place didn't have any management, period... said they are searching for a manager. I didn't think it would be peak time... I would have thought peak time was maybe noon at lunch and after work at 4-5. I got there about 1:45 pm. But it was just SO BUSY. I sat there for over an hour then when one guy went out to his car to get something I jumped in and said, "Hey, can I ask you a few questions while he's in his car?" but didn't have time for them all... and then I still had to wait and wait to get the rest of it done. :/ That happened in quite a few of these audits where I had to wait for customers, and unfortunately I had committed to a circuit of 6 so I couldn't even back out.

I did another revealed audit after that - this one was checking for pricing for 50 items, they said at the max 2 hours - but the way the stupid log is set up, you're only supposed to put the item # on and then IF IT'S WRONG you fill in the rest, including what the item is. I put the price in the margin in pencil because that's supposed to be left blank if it's accurate as well, so I could go ahead and erase after I verified. So I went through and did all 50 items, then the associate was quite nice in typing them in to see if they were priced accurately or not, but it didn't occur to me that the ones that were wrong I was going to have to go FIGURE OUT WHAT THE PRODUCT WAS to fill in all the rest of it because I'm not supposed to have any of that done if it's accurate. I guess that was my fault not thinking ahead but I used the form provided. Now maybe I did it wrong but what they said was a max of 2 hours took me 3, and it was only $20. NO MORE AUDITS, EVER, FOR THIS CHICK!!!

I like doing the revealed audits but ran into a busy store last week. The manager was not in yet, the contact information was wrong, so I had to wait. I wound up being there for a little over an hour rather than 35 -40 minutes. I don't do a whole bunch in one day yet so it did not effect me that much , but time is money no matter what assignment.

I have to admit that I often call ahead and ask when the manager will be there. I tell them that I will be doing an audit, and ask what will be the best time for me to come in. I'm doing places that certain ones are open 24 hours, so I have a real advantage of going in early AM. After bar time and robbery time, but, before the bulk of the customers start coming in to shoplift. I make a copy of my paperwork before I go in. I use one as my scribble copy, then copy all my correct information to my official copy. Double the writing,(14 pages of questions, single spaced, but, all check yes or no answers) but it looks way better than my chicken scratching all over the paperwork.
If the paperwork does not say, do not call ahead, you can bet I will be. It can really help. I am doing 4 hour audits in 2-2 1/2 hours, even with waiting for people to get out of the way for all the pictures.

These particular ones don't require management, any employee can sign off on it, and most of the stores were open 9-7 but I'm not allowed to be there the first or last hours.... I wasted way too many hours between most of these waiting for customers. I will just never do audits again.

I feel the same about movie trailer/ audience counts. Nevermore

I love audits, even the ones where you have to count inventory. I don't mind, they pay more. I find once you do one, the other ones of the same type are much easier to complete. By the way, most of the audits I do are all close ended questions unless there is something extremely that fails health and safety standards.

Of course how you do the shop is dependent on the guidelines but I usually start by introducing myself, what I'm there to do and I present the letter from the company giving me permission to conduct the audit. "Hello, I'm ____ here on behalf of ____ to conduct an _____ audit. Here is my permission letter." No employee so far has denied me access or so much as questioned my authority to be there.

If you haven't done the shop before, I'd say to avoid the high peak times (or atleast learn from them for the future). I've done audits in the wee hours where the morning rush hour is just starting. I noticed when I did the rush hour audits that my first one ever was longer because it was unfamiliar. If you can, try to visit the location before you have to do the audit so you can get an understand for where everything is that you need to look at. Also, I'm sure you've tried this but skip to the next section and do something you CAN do without the employee's assistance.

Personally I never call the location because the whole point of an audit is to see what's going on when they don't know when you are coming. I've observed some pretty disgusting things when I just showed up vs phoning which gives the employee the chance to cover it up for now. None of the audits I do are more than 30 minutes long. Easy peasy in and out even in the peak times. You just have to find a flow that works for you or forget audits altogether. Like I said, I think they are easier because you can reveal yourself and can carry your checklist around compared to mystery shops that require a lot of memory.

My audits are compliance issues. Wrong date, non compliant. There's nothing they can quick fix. By the time I call, it's too late to fix anything. No personnel evaluations. Just measuring, checking. Non stress is great. I hand them the score, non debatable. No " why can't you" ..,' but it's only off by'...and the world famous,' but the other auditor'.... That's why the other auditor no longer has a job.
I have a great memory, it's just really short. I'm old, what can I say.
I would probably show up for a mystery shop that needs counts with an abacus.

I like audits also. I haven't had one where I had to talk to a manager. Any employee is fine, and none have made me feel unwelcome.
I've had to wait for customers quite a bit and I do spend more time than the money's worth at the ones I do. But it is so much less stressful for me than worrying if I'm remembering every detail on a mystery shop.
I don't have to make a purchase, and the reports are usually easy.
Wish I could find more audits. Today I forgot to get a receipt at DQ!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2013 03:46AM by prince.

dixiewhiskey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> If you haven't done the shop before, I'd say to
> avoid the high peak times (or atleast learn from
> them for the future). I've done audits in the wee
> hours where the morning rush hour is just
> starting. I noticed when I did the rush hour
> audits that my first one ever was longer because
> it was unfamiliar. If you can, try to visit the
> location before you have to do the audit so you
> can get an understand for where everything is that
> you need to look at. Also, I'm sure you've tried
> this but skip to the next section and do something
> you CAN do without the employee's assistance.
>

This is a retail store, no food involved. Typical hours are 9-7 but I'm not allowed to be there in the first or last hour. I was never there at lunch time, or right after work... but there were still multiple customers waiting, and sometimes each customer is meeting with the employee for 15-30 minutes. The audit part was done and I am just stuck there hanging around waiting for a free second to jump in with the questions. Paraphrasing and generalizing here, but the questions are something like this "What type of warranty do you offer? Who is your payment processing company? Who is your vendor for [certain type of service]." And as I said earlier, when there are customers who have been patiently waiting there for over half an hour, I didn't feel right jumping in to ask questions. I was also required to show the employee each photo I took and explain why I took it, average is a dozen photos, before they could sign off on my verification form, so it's not something I can do in 90 seconds and be out of their hair. If it weren't for the issue of waiting for the customers I would have liked these, but it was so frustrating just being stuck there waiting for an employee to have a lull in business.

The 50 item pricing audit on the other hand... yeah, that was just a PIA for me. For either a little less or the same amount I can do a bank shop, and I like those, quick and easy! With my routes I don't hit the same city or area much.

I think I've done the same audit that you're referring to...I'm not aware of a requirement to explain each photo, just give them the opportunity to go through the ones I took. I have done enough (about 7) that I can now get them done in 10 to 15 minutes, and I only need to ask the employee 3 to 4 questions. I've only had one instance where I had to wait because customers were there, but the stores I visited didn't seem to ever be too busy anyways. My advice would be streamline your questioning to the minimum amount needed, and get the rest done while they're meeting with customers. Or wait until those audits are bonused (if they're locations that are tough to get people to do, like mine are), so that you make more money for your time!!

Some audits, in some stores are just doomed to failure. There are several stores in the area, that no matter what time you go in, there is going to be a problem. Too busy, too incompetent, under staffed are all good reasons to stay the heck away from them. I turn down certain chains automatically . There is nothing you can offer me to step foot in one of these beauties again to do anything. I get what cgruning is saying when she says that she's done with them. Get stung hard enough, that is it. Those of us that like audits, have one that we won't do either, I bet. I won't do grocery pricing. The store that always is trying to get filled is next to a huge senior complex on one side, and low income housing on the other. The little rascals, and power chairs are zooming down the aisles non stop. If you are in that store, you will be getting things constantly from the upper shelves for them. I don't mind when I am on my own time, I'll even offer to reach something for them. When I am trying to make the pay rate, after about the 8th or 9th time in 10 min, it gets old. When the stores opens, it is the older folks, noon it's the workers, afternoon it's the low income residents. There isn't a less busy time at this store.

Cindy, you're right, I'm not *required* to explain the photos, and it's only an extra 2 seconds, "This is a picture of xyz" - it seems stupid to say, "Here, count these pictures and sign off on this." Several of the stores I had gone in had 3 or 4 people waiting when I got there and they just kept coming in.

There were more in a rural area, a big cluster, that they had trouble filling, and they all got bonused, so I decided to go ahead and do them. After paying the babysitter and for my gas I'm still going to make $120 for the day, plus I found a lunch and a dinner fast food.

I came up with a game plan to make these easier: as soon as I walk in and announce myself and give the authorization form I'm going to say something along the lines of, "When you're finished with this customer I need a few minutes to ask you some questions, please," which will hopefully make it easier. I am also bringing my laptop inside the store and filling out the report right then and there. I have an Android and am uploading all the pics from each store into a separate folder on Google Docs so downloading to my laptop will be quite easy, so afterwards it will just take a few minutes to upload the pics.

I just did a series of these this past weekend. One store took me an hour because of customers, another took me 19 minutes because it was dead. I won't cut a customer off, but these employees always would see me waiting and try to take care of me quickly before helping the next, so it was no problem.

I guess it just depends on the employees that are working at the time. I personally love how they go around and straighten all of their products when I arrive. Makes it look nicer for my pictures I suppose

You just need to do them often and learn. So far the only audits where I have to ask questions are Verizon and ATT. I ask the questions as soon as I see an employee free. When he is busy I go back to the store audit and pictures. One employee free? I stop what I am doing and I ask a question.

Doing the same audits over and over will let know what you need and thus you can jump from question 1 to 9 to 2 to 3 to 12 to 19....and so on. You will learn were they keep their policies posted so you actually do not need to ask...it all comes with experience.

Hey cgruning, I'm glad you found your stride, way to go! Great days pay too.

I've never done an audit yet, but been thinking about picking one up to try it. Any suggestions?

As a first audit I would go with ATT or Verizon. Very few pictures and few details to report.

Thanks italiano; been doing mystery shopping since March, but always shied away from audits; my curiosity is definitely piqued though.

So I haven't done any audits or revealed shops yet, but I was checking the boards and found a CORI gas audit that's in the mid 30's and I'm having lunch literally around the corner on Thursday. Is this one to get my feet wet on? I'm actually kind of nervous about doing anything revealed but it's an hour away so that makes it a little better.

Absolutely! That's an awesome price for any of their GS audits. Cori GS shops were my first GS shops and are by far my favorites. Since you said it's revealed, if it's one that requires an every pump photo, you'll be on site 17-30 minutes, and will report in 15-30 minutes, depending on first-time learning curve and the number of pumps. If it's one that requires just one pump photo, you'll be on site 15-20 minutes and report in 15-30 minutes first time out.
As far as revealed, no biggie. Go in with confidence, respect, a smile and your LOA. Let us know how it goes.

You talked me into it! Just picked up a couple of $25 cell phone shops literally between lunch and here. .8 Miles, $110. I wonder if that's better or worse than $1/mile?

Purely subjective.