David Price,
Thank you for posting. I'm going to respond in a bit different way than the others as not to repeat their great advice, but to hopefully augment it.
"Time, time, time, see what's become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please **"
I complete a range of 10-35 shops a month part-time around a full-time job and other responsibilities and many days I wonder where all the time went. I have signed up for more than 100 MSPs and get perhaps 60-100 emails daily and sometimes a text or phone call. I find time to search job boards and peruse the forums for information and sometimes give back there as well. But I sometimes wonder if MSPs /schedulers get it. Where does all my time go?
Why did I get 41 different emails on one day from the same scheduler about 41 different jobs for the same client in my area? That's where my time went. So, I sent an email to her superior and the emails got much less in frequency for a time, then bumped up to sometimes 10-20 a day. I then spent my time to create a filter so that all emails from that MSP now go to a folder I don't look at much, unless I have time, which is not often.
Why did I actually respond to an email that listed a job from a scheduling company listing a job I was interested in but the job board for the source MSP did not have it listed. I'll spend my time telling you don't use a scheduling company unless they have 100% control of the job board. That scheduling company's emails now go to my "Only if I have time" folder.
Why did I open an email that said, "$Bonus$," or "Quick and Easy shop," or, "Photo Guidelines have changed. They are now easier!" and discover there was no bonus, or the bonus was spread out amongst a dozen shops, or it really isn't quick and easy, or the photo guidelines are the same as they have been for more than a year. Am I really hard to please, or is it just that I don't have time in the day to do everything I want?
Why did I let a shop grade of 9 get to me? "Your shop for XYZ has been reviewed. You received a grade of 9 because of various spelling and grammatical errors." $)%&@!!! It was your website's imbedded spellchecker that failed to catch these spelling 'errors' and for those few sentences in the report, my grammar was probably just fine. A long time ago, I gave up reviewing the saved copy of the shop for such errors because I did not find the cited problems. If you want shoppers to improve, give them meaningful feedback. I'm aware different MSPs have different reporting requirements, but I am not able to read your minds. If you want me not to use contractions, tell me and I am glad to take the time to please.
Social media??? Yeah, sure. The lack of privacy there is exactly why I tell all my family, friends and co-workers that I mystery shop. So when I am out and meet someone who knows what I do they can go to the store employee and say, "Hey Sue! Do you you that guy? He is a mystery shopper. Do you think he is mystery shopping you right now?" Yeah. I trust everyone to keep their mouths shut. Especially the ones that are constantly gossiping about other people. Please tell me you recognize sarcasm.
As you can tell, most of what I am saying comes down to my time. Please recognize that your best shoppers are also the ones that take the time to become great shoppers. But they have only so much of it. Respect their time with communications. One email per day for any shop project is enough. Put the key details in the email header. For example, for a furniture store you might say, "Furniture store shops available due August 6-13." If the shop has variations, put it in the header. For example, restaurant shops could be lunch or dinner. Let me know in the header. If a bonus is available list the amount in the header. The more you make my time be more productive, the more likely I will see and respond to the message. If you waste too much of my time your emails get sent to my version of purgatory and rarely, if ever, get viewed.
David, thanks again for taking the time to be a better company by asking these questions here. My responses are a few that rise to the top of the list for me. If there is one or more of your questions that you want better responses to than folks provide in this thread you might consider re-posting them in individual threads.
** from A Hazy Shade Of Winter, Simon and Garfunkel.
Thank you for posting. I'm going to respond in a bit different way than the others as not to repeat their great advice, but to hopefully augment it.
"Time, time, time, see what's become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please **"
I complete a range of 10-35 shops a month part-time around a full-time job and other responsibilities and many days I wonder where all the time went. I have signed up for more than 100 MSPs and get perhaps 60-100 emails daily and sometimes a text or phone call. I find time to search job boards and peruse the forums for information and sometimes give back there as well. But I sometimes wonder if MSPs /schedulers get it. Where does all my time go?
Why did I get 41 different emails on one day from the same scheduler about 41 different jobs for the same client in my area? That's where my time went. So, I sent an email to her superior and the emails got much less in frequency for a time, then bumped up to sometimes 10-20 a day. I then spent my time to create a filter so that all emails from that MSP now go to a folder I don't look at much, unless I have time, which is not often.
Why did I actually respond to an email that listed a job from a scheduling company listing a job I was interested in but the job board for the source MSP did not have it listed. I'll spend my time telling you don't use a scheduling company unless they have 100% control of the job board. That scheduling company's emails now go to my "Only if I have time" folder.
Why did I open an email that said, "$Bonus$," or "Quick and Easy shop," or, "Photo Guidelines have changed. They are now easier!" and discover there was no bonus, or the bonus was spread out amongst a dozen shops, or it really isn't quick and easy, or the photo guidelines are the same as they have been for more than a year. Am I really hard to please, or is it just that I don't have time in the day to do everything I want?
Why did I let a shop grade of 9 get to me? "Your shop for XYZ has been reviewed. You received a grade of 9 because of various spelling and grammatical errors." $)%&@!!! It was your website's imbedded spellchecker that failed to catch these spelling 'errors' and for those few sentences in the report, my grammar was probably just fine. A long time ago, I gave up reviewing the saved copy of the shop for such errors because I did not find the cited problems. If you want shoppers to improve, give them meaningful feedback. I'm aware different MSPs have different reporting requirements, but I am not able to read your minds. If you want me not to use contractions, tell me and I am glad to take the time to please.
Social media??? Yeah, sure. The lack of privacy there is exactly why I tell all my family, friends and co-workers that I mystery shop. So when I am out and meet someone who knows what I do they can go to the store employee and say, "Hey Sue! Do you you that guy? He is a mystery shopper. Do you think he is mystery shopping you right now?" Yeah. I trust everyone to keep their mouths shut. Especially the ones that are constantly gossiping about other people. Please tell me you recognize sarcasm.
As you can tell, most of what I am saying comes down to my time. Please recognize that your best shoppers are also the ones that take the time to become great shoppers. But they have only so much of it. Respect their time with communications. One email per day for any shop project is enough. Put the key details in the email header. For example, for a furniture store you might say, "Furniture store shops available due August 6-13." If the shop has variations, put it in the header. For example, restaurant shops could be lunch or dinner. Let me know in the header. If a bonus is available list the amount in the header. The more you make my time be more productive, the more likely I will see and respond to the message. If you waste too much of my time your emails get sent to my version of purgatory and rarely, if ever, get viewed.
David, thanks again for taking the time to be a better company by asking these questions here. My responses are a few that rise to the top of the list for me. If there is one or more of your questions that you want better responses to than folks provide in this thread you might consider re-posting them in individual threads.
** from A Hazy Shade Of Winter, Simon and Garfunkel.
Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut