The question seems to pop up at least once a month: Is Silver/Gold certification worth it? The response is typically varied as is the case with most general questions due to the very individual nature of mystery shopping. A few of the typical good responses I have seen in various threads:

-Some shoppers who signed up when they first began MSing feel like the certification was worthwhile as an education tool and feel like they probably benefitted with more or better shops. (Tough to tell on that last part for new MSers)

-Some experienced, uncertified shoppers express anecdotal No’s, feeling that they have plenty of good work without the certification. I put myself in this skeptic category. I have had plenty of great shop opportunities over the years and have even been assigned jobs listed as being for Gold shoppers only.

-Some certified and experienced shoppers feel the answer is No, they have received no or little benefit from being certified.

-And some certified shoppers feel the answer is a definite yes, with a few even able to point to specific jobs that certification landed them. (I seem to remember MDavisnowell providing an excellent example)

As I’ve been thinking about personal, professional, and mystery shopping goals for the new year I’ve been wondering if getting gold certification could help me meet a MS goal or two. Even considering myself a skeptic, I think I’m ready to take a gamble on it and am planning to get Gold Certification in 2015. As illustrated by the typical responses to this topic, I have no idea if it will be worth the expense to me personally so I’d like to at least use the experience to be able to provide a good data point for the community.

So my question is, how should I conduct the signup to evaluate whether the certification is worth it to me? My initial thought is to do the following steps, but how could that be tweaked to provide a better evaluation?

-By end of 2014, sign up for as many additional MSC’s as I can find time for. Currently signed up with 90, but if I can bump that up to 100-125 that could help provide a broader base of evaluation.

-First Quarter 2015: Keep close tabs on job boards, noting all shops of some interest to me and applying for more shops than I typically do. During this quarter, pursue Gold Certification and time it such that it can be applied at around the start of the second quarter.

-Second Quarter 2015: Continue to watch the job boards. Note any new opportunities via email or job board. Signup for any assignments I might have applied for in 1st Q but not been assigned.

I feel like the certification should pay off within the first quarter of use, though I suppose you never know when it might come in handy. Things that would make the certification definitely worth my expense:

-Finding an additional AAA 4* hotel shop in Hawaii that I hadn’t seen before. One personal goal is to shop or at least find out who shops all the AAA 4* and 5* resorts in Hawaii. There are still a handful I have no idea who performs the shops.

-Be accepted for a valuable shop previously unassigned to me. There are two high value shops with 2 sassie companies I have applied for multiple times and yet to be accepted to perform the shops. This is likely in part because I will not accept their lower end shops first. If gold Cert is enough to get me one of these shops without having to do the junk shops first, I’d value that at the price of certification.

Any suggestions on how to approach this to make it worthwhile as a data-point? And if the answer is that you could care less and wish I hadn’t cluttered up the forum with this novel, feel free to express that too!

UPDATE 1 (1/14/15)
- Received the videos and passed the first two test modules. I only watched about 10 minutes of the video before agreeing with the general consensus that experienced shoppers won't get much out of the video content. I can only assume for now that the rest of the videos would have been equally as basic, but if I get the chance I may go back and watch them. The tricky part was poking around enough to find the "secret passwords".
- Have been keeping track of shop availability on the job boards once a week to compare with that available after certification.
- Applied with and received jobs for two new-to-me companies as well as some of my regular MSC's. All requests thus far have resulted in receiving the assignment.

UPDATE 2 - JANUARY SUMMARY(2/4/15)

- 49 of the 110 MSCs I'm signed up with had local shops available at some point this month.
- Shopped with 4 new-to-me MSCs
- Received all assignments applied for (Only 8 total for the month, but 4x last year's monthly avg)
- Average Reimbursement - $48; Average Fee - $60 (Boosted by one shop with reimbursement of $128 & fee of $185)

UPDATE 3 - (2/12/15)

- Ok, I was too impatient to wait and went ahead and passed the certification test. Am mostly (1 exception) holding off on entering my gold certification number into my profiles.
- Did input my gold number into one Sassie company profile and was immediately rewarded with a fine dining lunch assignment I had been turned down on 2 previous applications. Contacted the scheduler and confirmed that my Gold status had been a determining factor in giving me the assignment. Timing was perfect on this as well with it being valentine's season and all!

UPDATE 4 - FEBRUARY SUMMARY(2/26/15)
- 50 of the 110 MSCs I'm signed up with had local shops available at some point this month.
- Shopped with 1 new-to-me MSC
- Received 7 of 10 assignments applied for (3 not accepted for are part of a package and probably weren't assigned to me due to travel requirement)
- Average Reimbursement - $75; Average Fee - $47 (Boosted by one shop with reimbursement of $87 & fee of $225)
- Two months into the year and I'm yet to see a single hotel shop available locally.

UPDATE 5 - MARCH SUMMARY (3/31/15)
- 49 of the 110 MSCs I'm signed up with had local shops available at some point this month.
- Shopped with 1 new-to-me MSC
- Received 6 of 6 assignments applied for
- Average Reimbursement - $6; Average Fee - $42.5

UPDATE 6 - April SUMMARY (5/2/15)
- 53 of the 110 MSCs I'm signed up with had local shops available at some point this month.
- Received 4 of 5 assignments applied for (The one I didn't get I was asked directly by a familiar scheduler if I could do and to submit a travel bid with a promise that she'd get right back to me... but she wound up ignoring all follow up emails)
- Average Reimbursement - $310; Average Fee - $15.5 (Boosted by a 1 night hotel stay with reimbursement of $1200)

UPDATE 7 - MAY SUMMARY (6/1/15)
- 54 of the 110 MSCs I'm signed up with had local shops available at some point this month.
- Received 5 of 5 assignments applied for
- Average Reimbursement - $5; Average Fee - $20

UPDATE 8 - June Summary (6/23/15)
- 55 of the 110 MSCs I'm signed up with had local shops available at some point this month.
- Received 7 of 7 assignments applied for (Two applications still outstanding for July shops)
- Average Reimbursement - $30; Average Fee - $13


General Data Summary:
- 62 of 110 MSC's have had at least 1 shop in my area YTD
- YTD Fees: ~1300 (Avg $36 per shop)
- YTD Reimbursement: ~2400 (Avg $65 per shop)
- YTD Assignments/Applications: 37/41 (Avg 6 per month vs 2 last year)
- Input MSPA Gold cert on following dates:
SPG: Feb 5th
BAI: 3/3
Everyone Else: 3/25

Value Gained from Gold Certification:
- Total of 1 shop I might not have been assigned otherwise. This was a great restaurant though, so let's say I got at least some value from this shop. No extra money in my pocket though. I wouldn't have paid $75 for the priviledge of doing this assignment, though I certainly would have paid $75+ for the meal if I didn't have to report on it.
- Essentially no value to me as an educational tool
- With the exception of one company's job board, i did not notice any new assignment types showing up on job boards or emails that I previously had not seen. Throughout the 6 months I kept tabs on every shop to show up on each job board at least once per week. The one exception (a prophet company) began showing hotel assignments scattered around the mainland as being "in my area" after I input my Gold cert. But at least locally, getting certified didn't let me see anything I hadn't seen before.

General thoughts:
- I would say I definitely did not learn a thing from the bit of the video training I watched, but I consider myself pretty experienced 10+ years into MSing. Tests were a breeze.
- MSPA NEVER sent me my gold certification number. Had to log into the website myself to check if I had passed.
- After registering my Gold cert with 5 or so companies, I started getting this message: "MSPA servers are unavailable to verify your certification code. Please try again later." Tried again the next day and had no further issues.
- Lost my day job at the beginning of April so cut down on shopping in April and May to pursue a new job (thankfully landed a new job within 3 weeks), and to focus all work energy on getting acclimated to new position. So wasn't as active as I meant to be on the shopping front. Unfortunately this meant passing up on a sweet island-hopping gig with great bonus money, but had to shift my focus to my new job.
- In 6 months I have nearly doubled the fees earned over last year, but I've only earned around a third of the total reimbursement I received last year. The drop in reimbursement value has been mostly attributed to a drop in local hotel shops available this year.

Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2015 09:16PM by saacman5033.

Saacman, unfortunately, I have no suggestions, since it sounds like you have a perfectly logical and well-thought-out approach. I personally can hardly wait to hear the results!

Good luck and please don't forget to report back, even if it's inconclusive.

(heart)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2014 08:24PM by stilllearning.

Any evaluation you do will be somewhat subjective since you really won't know with certainty that you would not have gotten any particular job without the cert. I think I would add to this: what was my average shop fee before Gold? what was my average "in my pocket" return before Gold? Maybe track how many hours you worked to get those amounts and come up with an hourly rate.

then evaluate after a few months of being on gold and see if you are getting more return for your time.

I see only one potential flaw with your logic. As with tests of a new medicine's effectiveness, where is the "Control group?" The only way I could see this being absolutely conclusive is to have two absolutely identical profiles, registered ideally within seconds of each other so that time/experience as a shopper is negligible. The only difference is that one profile with company X would not be certified while the second is. And, on some profiles, reverse the order as to which is certified and which isn't.

Unfortunately, performing this test would violate most of your ICAs as most prohibit multiple registrations. Just looking at it from the truly scientific side of things.

I understand what you are saying JB, however, since, as you pointed out, saacman is unable to go to those lengths to perform the test, in my opinion, he has built in sufficient controls to make the results more than merely anecdotal....which, I believe, is his goal and is better than what we've had to rely on in the past.

(heart)

Honestly just do it (or don't). Don't try to make a test of it or follow it. There are way to many variables. I scheduled briefly and have shopped for about 15 years now and can tell you that many different variables will affect your experience as a Gold shopper. As a former scheduler I can guarantee you that I was required to offer certain shops only to Gold shoppers (no ifs, ands or buts) and you as NOT A Gold shopper would never ever even seen the shop. I was encouraged by some companies to choose Gold shoppers BUT had the latitude not to if I had a personal relationship with a shopper (having a history of past work with them). Other companies didn't care one iota.

As a shopper I know I have done several Gold only shops that were well paid. Just this summer I did a thousand dollar project for one company and only Gold shoppers were contacted via email (so not on any boards) to apply for the project.

These are the things that you won't see.

I also don't think keeping track of your average will tell you either as things change year to year. Some years I am super picky and only take high paying shops because I don't want to mess a lot with shopping so my average would be really high that year. The next year I might have some expense that I want to eliminate so I take many shops that I might not ordinarily and that would bring my average down.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Liz

Traveliz just answered it for us...Gold certified shoppers do see shops others of us don't. So then it becomes a personal decision as to whether or not to invest in the Gold certification to help our shopping careers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2014 09:05PM by James Bond 007.5.

James Bond 007.5 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The only way I could
> see this being absolutely conclusive ...

You nailed it, there's no way to be absolutely conclusive on this. In addition to your control group suggestion, it might be useful to be able to compare one full year of uncertified results to one being certified to eliminate variations from Q1 to Q2, but that would make this more of a chore and less of an enjoyable curiosity. And even if I could prove anything, it might only be useful knowledge for a shopper fitting my profile and my location.

dspeakes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Any evaluation you do will be somewhat subjective
> since you really won't know with certainty that
> you would not have gotten any particular job
> without the cert. I think I would add to this:
> what was my average shop fee before Gold? what
> was my average "in my pocket" return before Gold?
> Maybe track how many hours you worked to get those
> amounts and come up with an hourly rate.
>
> then evaluate after a few months of being on gold
> and see if you are getting more return for your
> time.

Good points. As I mentioned, I would feel that getting one of the two "good" jobs I've targeted and been declined for in the past would make the cert worth it, but who's to say I wouldn't have gotten lucky and scored the job anyway after more attempts.

As for the average shop fee, it is something I can provide reference to as I track that currently, but I'm a very part-time shopper and my year-to-year fee/reimbursement average fluctuates wildly. Providing that data would be a whole lot more useful if I were a full-time shopper or one with set earning patterns. But I will certainly continue to track that data and see if there seem to be any correlation that way.

Traveliz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Honestly just do it (or don't). Don't try to make
> a test of it or follow it.

But I'm an engineer. I need numbers, I need proofs! But your point about not seeing shops without certification is exactly one of the questions I am trying to answer. If those type of shops are frequent enough that they pop up as part of my 3 month test, then that's great. If not, I'm not going to suggest that I've proven certification to be worthless for me, just inconclusive.

Saacman5033, you sound just like my dad...he was a mechanical engineer.

Perhaps a great article for the magazine?

stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Saacman, unfortunately, I have no suggestions,
> since it sounds like you have a perfectly logical
> and well-thought-out approach. I personally can
> hardly wait to hear the results!
>
> Good luck and please don't forget to report back,
> even if it's inconclusive.
>
> (heart)

I thought I read somewhere that the Gold is going to be dropped. Am I right that the Gold is offered by IMSC and not by MSPA anymore? I have a MSPA Silver and always wanted the Gold but never got around to it. If you are going to do this, I might as well do it, too. I also merchandise so I have little time and I no longer travel to the big city. I have a lot of work in small towns and sometimes get called to others at a distance for a bonus. Almost all my work comes from contact from schedulers but I have been looking around to see if there is anything else in this county. I could take a little more, especially if it pays better. I have certainly shown that I can do the work.

I've got the Gold CD's but haven't finished them. I had this fantasy about getting that finished up during my "down" time between tax seasons but that got filled up and i'm pretty much out of time. Maybe I can do it in the week between Christmas and New Year.

My experience with Silver was that I immediately saw higher-dollar shops I hadn't seen before. I expected the same would be true with Gold, and Traveliz just confirmed that.

I think Liz confirmed there are some shops offered to Gold shoppers only, not necessarily translating to high dollar. My average per shop has increased steadily each year for the last six years. My interest would be in the type of shop/report offered rather than the dollar amount. While I can write a narrative with the best of them, it doesn't mean I don't abhor heavy narrative shops.

A control group, even if a group of one, would be the best test. Saacman5033, I would suggest you ask your parents if perhaps there is a Saacman5044 who they gave up for adoption at birth and have them sign up as the control group. Short of that if you see new jobs that you did not see before, you could query the group of shoppers and ask if anyone has seen that particular shop and if they are gold. My other suggestion is to ask the scheduler if you land a job that you think you got due to Gold. Once you get the shop just shoot them an email and ask if you got it because of your gold.
And when and if you get those great new jobs, including a $1,000 one, you need to figure out if it is worth it based on the time and effort you had to put in to earn that $1,000.

Wondering if silver or gold will explode your potential....is like wondering if the ant farm was built from left to right....it does not really matter

Mercantile Systems schedules AAAA Hotel shops in Hawaii. We also have seafood/steak restaurant and golf resort shops in Hawaii!


saacman5033 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


> -Finding an additional AAA 4* hotel shop in Hawaii
> that I hadn’t seen before. One personal goal is
> to shop or at least find out who shops all the AAA
> 4* and 5* resorts in Hawaii. There are still a
> handful I have no idea who performs the shops.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think Liz confirmed there are some shops offered
> to Gold shoppers only, not necessarily translating
> to high dollar. My average per shop has increased
> steadily each year for the last six years. My
> interest would be in the type of shop/report
> offered rather than the dollar amount. While I can
> write a narrative with the best of them, it
> doesn't mean I don't abhor heavy narrative shops.

I would say the Gold shops I offered as a scheduler were slightly higher than the average shop but nothing that would make you go "WOW." I would say the Gold shops I have done as a shopper have been average, WOW (seriously like two questions and paid in two days), and "that was a lot of money but that was a lot of work too."

SchedulerDeva Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mercantile Systems schedules AAAA Hotel shops in
> Hawaii. We also have seafood/steak restaurant
> and golf resort shops in Hawaii!

Oh, I'm definitely aware of that! Your hotel client is one of the two shops I mentioned earlier where I have applied on more than one occasion and not yet been accepted (the other is not a hotel shop). And I planned on applying for one of your golf dining shops this last round, but couldn't make time. I even had certificates for free rounds of golf there that I had to give away due to just being too busy lately. Anyway, someday I'll get around to doing it. It is a great course to play and the food there is pretty good as well.

Sandra Sue,
The IMSC has NOTHING to fo with MSPA Gold Certifiation.

BUT, IMSC does offer training conferences, on-line training modules, and discounts of video equipment for members. The MSPA is apparently phasing out the MSPA Gold in favor of smaller specialty training modules. If you go back a few months there was quite a lengthy discussion of this and of the MSPA's new shopper-relations liason guy.

Also, remember that many very fine MSCs are not MSPA members, and so you will never meet any of their staff at MSPA conferences. IMSC conferences are run by and for shoppers, and any MSC that is shopper-approved (i.e., not currently being reported by shoppers for non-payment) can participate.

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The MSPA is apparently phasing out
> the MSPA Gold in favor of smaller specialty
> training modules. If you go back a few months
> there was quite a lengthy discussion of this and
> of the MSPA's new shopper-relations liason guy.

When this was discussed a few months ago, my understanding of things was that MSPA Gold as currently configured would no longer be offered, but a new and likely more expensive format for training (and presumably certification) would be offered. Also understood this to mean that Gold members certified under the previous system would continue to be recognized by MSPA companies as usual. I haven't read any official statements on the topic, just what was briefly discussed on one thread here.

This understanding (or perhaps misunderstanding) struck me at the time to being very similar to a change in certification I've seen in my professional career. In 2008 I was certified as LEED AP by the USGBC. The certification has been useful though not critical to my career. Anyway, in 2009, the USGBC revamped the LEED accredited professional program to include various "specialties". These included such things as Building Design & Construction, Homes, Interior Design, and others. With the new specialties, all individuals wanting to become LEED associated professionals had to select a track and be subject to a new requirement for a certain number of continuing education credits to be taken per year or loss of accreditation will occur. The amusing part is that at that time I received a long string of emails encouraging me to hurry and jump in on this exciting new change and register for a "specialty". Gee, I can keep my current recognition as LEED AP (which is still just as useful btw) and have no requirement for ongoing education or I can get a specialty and be subject to loss of accreditation if I don't "pay my dues". Not a hard choice to make at the time.

All that to say, I'm curious to see whether the new MSPA training/certification will be anything like what happened with the USGBC.

Walesmaven, I know that they are separate organizations. I had hoped that IMSC has a gold certification.

It would be easier if things were simple.

Merchantile: I loved your one great restaurant, where you gave gift cards as compensation

I have a very old Silver Cerification. I'd like to go for the Gold. Please, someone, give me an address or a connection.

IMHO, The value of a certification is that they know that they are getting a credible shopper that will complete the shop in proper form. Having said that, if you have a history of properly completing the shops that you accept, ... who needs a certification. The purpose of the certification is to show the your credibility to the shopping company. Your work history speaks for you more than anything else.
If I may use an example, a guy goes to formal classes to be a plumber and makes straight A grades. And there is another guy that has no certifications but works 8-10 hours a day being a plumber. Who would you choose? I would choose the guy that works the 8-19 hours a day and has actually done the work.
IMHO, the certs are not needed.

Don, Las Vegas and Memphis

Strevel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> IMHO, The value of a certification is that they
> know that they are getting a credible shopper that
> will complete the shop in proper form. Having
> said that, if you have a history of properly
> completing the shops that you accept, ... who
> needs a certification. The purpose of the
> certification is to show the your credibility to
> the shopping company. Your work history speaks
> for you more than anything else.
> If I may use an example, a guy goes to formal
> classes to be a plumber and makes straight A
> grades. And there is another guy that has no
> certifications but works 8-10 hours a day being a
> plumber. Who would you choose? I would choose
> the guy that works the 8-19 hours a day and has
> actually done the work.
> IMHO, the certs are not needed.
>
> Don, Las Vegas and Memphis

This is a valid point however there is no choice between GOLD and non gold when the scheduler is required by the company to choose Gold...and as I reported earlier that does happen. Now is it enough for you to think it's worth it or not...depends but you will not be offered the Gold shops period if that is what the clietn wants.

Liz

I think if you've put this much thought into it just do it and don't look back.

dspeakes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> My experience with Silver was that I immediately
> saw higher-dollar shops I hadn't seen before. I
> expected the same would be true with Gold, and
> Traveliz just confirmed that. <------------this was the exact same experience I had when I got Silver Certified. Traveliz's statements was my reason to go Gold last month. I wanted to expand my opportunities.

BTW, I love your signature line. I have tried to reason with my cat also, but she keeps telling me she "never got the memo." *sigh*

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, remember that many very fine MSCs are not
> MSPA members, and so you will never meet any of
> their staff at MSPA conferences. IMSC conferences
> are run by and for shoppers, and any MSC that is
> shopper-approved (i.e., not currently being
> reported by shoppers for non-payment) can
> participate.

I am not sure exactly what this paragraph has to do with certification. Perhaps in your mind it does as anytime someone mentions the MSPA in any way whatsoever you go on a mission to point out all facts, relevant or not, on why the IMSC is "better" and how horrible the MSPA is. However, I will say that there were nine (9), yes, a whopping NINE MSCs represented at the most recent IMSC conference in Vegas, all but 1 of which are MSPA members, so your insinuation that the IMSC conference is inherently better than the MSPA conference (which has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the actual topic of certification) simply because there will be companies represented that will not be invited to the MSPA conference is completely and totally incorrect.

And no, I'm not saying the IMSC conference wasn't worth it, or was worse or better than the MSPA conference (which I haven't been to), just saying lets play with a level playing field and not try to hit one or the other over the head with facts that insinuate things which just aren't true.

Edited to add:

Why can't there be people who are certified by the MSPA and go to the IMSC conferences? Such as me. It's not a one against the other thing. There is room for both.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2014 03:31AM by bgriffin.

Since the post you quoted was directed at one person who was not you and certainly was not incorrect, there was no reason to jump down wales throat, yet again. The MSPA was not portrayed as evil, the valid point was made that there are fine MSCs who are not members and would not be at those conferences while every MSC, member or not, is welcome at IMSC conferences as long as they do not have a history of non-payment. Since welcome doesn't mean required, it really was off topic for you to complain about so few companies attending the IMSC conference held just a few days before Thanksgiving.

It was not incorrect, the insinuation was incorrect. The phrase "many very fine MSCs are not MSPA members, and so you will never meet any of their staff at MSPA conferences" coupled with "IMSC conferences are run by and for shoppers, and any MSC that is shopper-approved ... can participate" insinuates that you would not find those many fine MSCs at the MSPA conference but you would find them at the IMSC conference. Which is absolutely positively not true. There was 1 (which is not plural) non-MSPA company at the most recent IMSC conference. 1 does not equal many.

I am sorry you feel like I jumped down's wales' throat again. I was simply replying to a point she made that I feel was unwarranted and made an unfair portrayal. My tone was not meant to be "jumping down her throat," and while I don't feel that it was I apologize if that's the way it comes across.

Also I was not complaining about the number of companies in attendance at the IMSC conference. I have, and I could, but that would be a topic for another thread. I was merely pointing out again that her insinuation that there would be many non-MSPA companies at the IMSC conferences was not true, as there weren't even many to start with and 1 non-IMSC company does not equal many.