Does any experienced shpper have a guesstimate of how much an MSC makes on a typical shop? An MSC scheduler told me that the McD's can only go as high as $30 and a AT&T only as high as $25. If this is true do you think the MSC charges $60 for a McD shop? $50 for an AT&T? I negotiate with the schedulers and it would help me to know what their ceiling is, so knowing how much the MSC charges the client for a shop helps me to know where the ceiling is. After reading a job posting by an MSC hiring schedulers I learned that part of the scheduler's job is to keep the pay down for the shops. Got another $80 from a scheduler at another MSC for a July shop, but only $50 from a different scheduler at the same MSC for the same type of shop. Any insight to how this works?



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2014 03:00PM by aggiejim72.

keep saying no until you get what you want.
works for me.

Though I have a significant advantage over
schedulers in most areas since I know the
locations better than they do.

it doesnt matter what they pay per a shop.
They will lose money on some locations just
to hit their 100% overall completion target.

My first advice is don't believe what the scheduler tells you is the max bonus. I have completed shops for one of those clients at double the figure quoted you. There are a number of factors in play. MSCs and schedulers also get bonuses although theirs are based on completion. That means they will sometimes be willing to actually lose money on one shop rather than lose the monthly or quarterly completion bonus. I've never heard anything said about how it works for keeping the fees down, whether that increases their bonus or is an attempt to keep more money in the fee pool for harder to fill locations or if they just get brownie points with the boss

My concern is not what the MSC charges the client or how much or little they make. I have my expenses and profit margins to consider and set my fees based on them. Naturally there are some exceptions. Those would be companies who end up supplying a substantial amount of my income and whose reps I can trust completely. For them I will sometimes make the decision to accept less or "help" them out.

Tech is correct that bonuses aren't based on what they are paid per shop. Bonuses are based on whatever it takes to get the job done and complete the entire project. That's something that can only be judged with experience and you'll never know the maximum they would have paid. What they are willing to pay is not the issue. The issue is what you are willing to accept. Set your own price and if they are not agreeable, walk away. You know what you need to make a profit. If you don't feel enthusiasm when they make their offer, it's not enough money. It is not your job to run up and down the road cleaning up their outlying shops at bargain rates and if you fall for their tragic sad stories you'll be the low bidder every time. In that case, congratulations, you lose again.

Mercy, I'm snarky today. Sorry, sort of.

Nah, just being a realist.

That's why we love you MDavisnowell.

Mdavis is right. Decide for yourself what it is worth to you. Ask for that amount. Have a good reason to back it up. "It's X number of miles away and will take Y hours to get there and there's nothing else in the area I can shop on the same trip to help with the travel costs." Make it sound like a huge ordeal. Do not ask for more than you want, figuring to come down if they counteroffer. If you do that, you will teach them that you're just fishing. Pick a price and stick to it. You want them to agree, not counteroffer.

I will only back off my first request if I actually do acquire another target in the area with bonus money. Then I might say, "I had asked for $50 the other day (and the MSC declined it) but I picked up another shop in the area so I could do it for $40." And I'll mention that the other shop is really not that close to the one I'm negotiating, just so they don't think they might get a freebie if I'm going there anyway. Some people ask for more if the MSC doesn't agree with their first offer. "Sorry, the price was $50 last week, but it's not as convenient now so it would take $60 to get me to go there now."


I know someone who gets paid $100 for a certain McD's on a fairly regular basis. But it's in a remote town where there are no shoppers and few shops. I've been paid as much to go to that town, but the bonus was spread over 3 shops for one MSC. You never know what they might offer to meet a quota if they have one unit that they can't get covered.

Ask what you think you require and take note of how quickly they agree to it. If they agree quickly, the next time they need it done, add 25 or 50% more.

I agree with the others. You need to ask them for what it is worth to you. I originally was simply happy to have the job, but soon realized that there was quite a bit of money left on the table. So I read through the advice everyone gave and have been able to sign up for two shops tomorrow for a total of $135 and they only take 15 minutes each, (4 hours driving). It will be my best day ever.

Also working on a mattress shop with a big bonus on the way to push it to my first $200 day.

Try what they are saying and be willing to walk away. You don't have to take a dog of a job just because they ask.

Update....what I was willing to do today for $50, but they couldn't decide in time is now $65 for tomorrow. I will have my first $200 day with only three shops!

I really like month end....lol

I don't spend time justifying why my fee is what it is, don't understand why others feel compelled to and don't recommend it. When was the last time the plumber or electrician did that for you?

And don't be afraid to ask for more than you want or need, that is negotiation. Your willingness to drop it a few bucks and their willingness to raise it a few bucks makes everyone feel like a winner.

MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> you'll never
> know the maximum they would have paid.

Not true. I once asked for an admittedly ridiculous fee for 30ish or so hard to complete gas audits. After a couple of emails and a 30 minute wait the scheduler finally replied that they had to go to the boss's boss to get it approved but they did. In that instance, I'm fairly certain that was as high as they would go.

999 time out of 1000 though, you're absolutely right. You rarely know if they would have gone higher or not.

I usually aim really high on a shop if I don't want
to do it and know they won't accept it. Until they prove
me wrong and pay me 200 to do a single 10-minute shop.
Then of course I did the shop I really did not want to do.
And ended up adding a few others just for good measure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2014 01:34AM by techman01.

I can usually negotiate a good fee when I am contacted for a shop , I have been refused , only to be called back and scheduled for a higher fee, go figure.

Thanks for the advice--please let me know if or how I could have better handled the following real-life scenario:

So I was negotiating with an MSC today. They've promised me $12 + $80 for two home-improvement shops that I completed. Then a few weeks ago a scheduler from the MSC called me (they call often, more than other MSCs it seems) and he gave me an $80 bonus for another one. So the other day when I was offered yet another one of these shops I asked for $80 and I was told by a different scheduler: "I have to get authorization" and then she called back saying they could offer $50. Today a different scheduler called and offered me 3 more of these home improvement shops. So I said I'd do them if there was an $80 bonus. The scheduler said: "I see you did one for $50--I have to get authorization." And I haven't heard back. If they call back and say $50 or less, I'll take the advice offered here and tell them its $80 so thanks but no thanks. Apparently I'm being under-bid by other shoppers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2014 01:31AM by aggiejim72.

There is something of a tension for me in asking for what I need to do a shop vs. asking for the most that I think I can get for the shop. If it's an unfamiliar location, I'll ask for the former. If it's one that I know is tough to fill, I shoot for the latter. I won't negotiate on the former, I will on the latter. I also almost never accept a job for less than what I was paid last time, and usually ask for a little more, trying to find their ceiling price over time.

Jim, the home improvement bonuses seem to be all over the map. I haven't seen any in my area over $40. I think it depends on where you are and how desperate they are to get the job done. I could get enthusiastic over an offer of $50 and I could get ecstatic over an offer of $80. They may or may not have another shopper underbidding you. It's possible they can't get authorization to pay $80 on all of them, or it's possible since you took one at $50 they want to nail you to the wall with that and never pay you $80 again. If they were offering $50 on an outlying shop too far for the money, I wouldn't have a problem with saying sorry. But if I really could make money at $50 but I'd rather have $80, I'd have to ask myself the Dirty Harry Q: Do I feel lucky today?

We cross posted, aggiejim72. You may be being underbid, or the locations that you're asking $80 for may be easier to fill than the ones you've already received $80 for.

Aggiejim72, the same thing happened to me. They told me that the email they sent out was a one-time attempt to get as many of them scheduled as possible to see how it would work.

They were asking me to do one of my $52-locations a second time, so I said that I wanted the same fee, but they only offered $25 after checking with the supervisor. I told them I was going to have to pass, but once they really get desperate, I'm sure I can get more than $52.

I don't know a ton about this company, but I was negotiating on some gas shops the other day and had 4 locations. We talked about each location and the scheduler had a number that the station was "worth." I think they have some formula that calculates based on how many shoppers they have in the area, how remote it was, etc. One that was near a large metro area was the cheapest.

I can offer up some fresh data from today and yesterday. I'd be curious to know what others are getting. Here is the information presented in a random way.

Yesterday a scheduler for this company told me that the shops for this round had to be completed by July 5th--they were up against a deadline to finish this round by then. That's why I thought I could get $80.

Last week a scheduler called me and he gave me the big bonus for the home improvement store, but this one is to be shopped after that July 5th deadline I was told about. Seems that they are going to keep offering these big bonuses after the July 5 deadline.

I've requested several of these shops and been told that they found a shopper already. Today I was told some of these were available again. Okay, so I'll take the $80 bonus please. Then crickets can be heard.

Also, the scheduler that gave me the $80 bonus first offered me $30, then gave me $80 like I asked. But he didn't say "I have to check with the person who approves the bonus requests." I've noticed that they are all saying this to me now. Guess they are shopping the shoppers because the shops are in high-demand. These shops are worth it for the bonus if you can get them.

Wish I had signed up for 50 of these the night I got that email. I remember being online and I opened that email seconds after it arrived. But I was reluctant to schedule dozens (which I could have) because when I selected the shops the bonus didn't show up. So I missed out on about $2000 because I would have covered all of east Texas for that money and built a route around them.

b, you are absolutely right. I'm in DFW and getting a good bonus is like pulling out fingernails. They know they have a ton of shoppers and if they keep looking they'll find someone to do it for their price. I tried to negotiate for a number of stations at the end of this month and I had to walk away from nine, that's 9, N-I-N-E, that were around my area (somewhat) and I thought I made a reasonable offer on every one of them. They counter offered half of what I asked, no way, I may as well send them a check. I did get one great route that was a super long day (over 300 miles and over $300) so I was happy about that. The good part about being here is that there's a huge amount of work and the bad part is that there's a huge number of shoppers.

dspeakes wrote: "Ask what you think you require and take note of how quickly they agree to it. If they agree quickly, the next time they need it done, add 25 or 50% more."

Don't do that with Marketforce. I have had this conversation with a few of their schedulers, and they have told me that it's a no-no to ask for more if you have already done the shop for a certain fee one or two times previously. They don't care if it was right down the street from somewhere else you are doing a shop and it was convenient for you to pick it up, it's the fact that you did it for that particular amount previously so you should not expect more than that. And this isn't the opinion of the schedulers, it's the opinion of their supervisors (who need to approve the larger fees before the shops are assigned).

However, this tactic works quite well with a few other companies.

I get really frustrated with the "wheeling and dealing" of negotiating bonuses. I decided a long time ago to start limiting my availability to MSC's that were in to this practice. I set a base level I was willing to work for to reach my goal "per hour", started paying attention to the amount of time it took me to complete a shop from the preparation to the submission of the report, and then stopped applying for jobs that would not help me meet that level. At the same time, when MSC's I'd worked for in the past, but who weren't paying enough for me to work for them now, started calling me to get me to accept jobs they were having trouble placing, I would tell them why I wasn't applying for their shops any more. I told them how much the base fee (not counting any reimbursement) would have to be in order for me to work for them. A portion of these companies became willing to meet my requirements, and I now work for them again. Those who didn't meet what I needed, don't call any more. I don't consider them a great loss. Now, other MSC's hear about me from the MSC's I work for and I receive solicitations for my services from companies who are serious and respect me as a professional by compensating me for the work I do at an acceptable or better level. Rather than losing business by setting limits, I have found my business increasing.

Also become frustrated with this MSCs wheeling-and-dealing on bonuses. From now on when they ask what I need to do the shop, I'll do what car-salesmen buying cars do. They make the seller give a price first. I'll let this MSC tell me what they'll pay because there was way too much back and forth on negotiating bonuses. If they can pay $80 for 3 shops, and then want to start paying $25 for the same shop--it leaves a bad feeling.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2014 11:56PM by aggiejim72.