Critique on my report

March 09, 2010 08:36PM

Today I got crituqed on my report for a shoe store. The schedueler called up and said, and I quote; "You don't have to write such long comments every time..."

Oh what to say, what to say. I like explaining my markings

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2010 08:38PM by Experiencedmysteryshopper.

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March 09, 2010 09:01PM

As a rule of thumb, the extent of the narrative is related to the fee for the shop. Exceptions are the $4 phone shop they want a verbatim blow by blow on (??????) and the $50 shop that wants a 3-5 sentence overview after a short checklist. Truly difficult to figure out what these guys want sometimes, so I would much rather get a comment like yours than a complaint two weeks later asking me to describe in detail an interaction I have virtually forgotten.

March 09, 2010 09:03PM

Yea. It's hard to keep track of who wants what. One company wants extensive quotation. Another wants two lines between paragraphs and takes off points if you do not have that. Another wants no quotes, no back and forth of conversation. Another wants your opinion. And on it goes. We do the best we can.

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

March 09, 2010 09:18PM

Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As a rule of thumb, the extent of the narrative is
> related to the fee for the shop. Exceptions are
> the $4 phone shop they want a verbatim blow by
> blow on (??????) and the $50 shop that wants a 3-5
> sentence overview after a short checklist. Truly
> difficult to figure out what these guys want
> sometimes, so I would much rather get a comment
> like yours than a complaint two weeks later asking
> me to describe in detail an interaction I have
> virtually forgotten.

The reason I write comments is because sometimes a marking needs more explanation in my opinion. Ok, so if I am asked to check if the restroom is clean and the sink has some stains on it I mark it as "not clean". For that, the client will get a lesser score. However the rest of the room might be clean, so I figure the potential in the client doing better next time lies in what the client knows needs to be done.

And also...I write comments so I know what happend when they call to check a month later...*lol*

March 09, 2010 09:21PM

Definitely my approach as well. Yes/No and multiple choice do little to explain anything and sometimes explanations are in order.

March 10, 2010 03:15AM

I have heard this more than once (shorten your narratives, you do not need to be so detailed, etc. etc.).

March 10, 2010 03:34AM

I only heard that from CI. :-) Fine with me, makes theirs easier to write. :-)

March 10, 2010 04:15AM

Yeah, I love that......I just did a fine dining shop that requires extremely detailed narratives, but in one section they have a kind of checklist, where then they ask you to elaborate. It was my first shop for them, and I really wanted to do a good job, so I wrote complete sentences.
The feedback comes back "Only use six words or less." Well, excuuuuuse me, especially as the example they had to use as a guide used more than that!
i just chalk it up to, "can't please everybody....."

Kona Kathie

March 10, 2010 07:08AM

kathierost Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, I love that......I just did a fine dining
> shop that requires extremely detailed narratives,
> but in one section they have a kind of checklist,
> where then they ask you to elaborate. It was my
> first shop for them, and I really wanted to do a
> good job, so I wrote complete sentences.
> The feedback comes back "Only use six words or
> less." Well, excuuuuuse me, especially as the
> example they had to use as a guide used more than
> that!
> i just chalk it up to, "can't please
> everybody....."

That is mind-boggling. Simply unbelievable. What do you suppose the logic is for that one?

March 10, 2010 04:14PM

The logic behind that concept is to keep the narrative off the checklist and into the narrative section. Otherwise you will be repeating yourself a lot and we've all heard complaints about that. The comments are just to direct you to the narrative area that fully explains the problem.

I'm just not sure which MSC kathierost is referring to. Any hints Kathie?

I had initially thought it was the MSC I used to work for (fine dining/detailed narrative), but I made the examples they use, so I'm sure the comments are 4 words are less in the sample shop there.

March 11, 2010 05:52PM

Seems I'm always told detail, more detail...they can edit it out, but not add it in. I've gotten very detail oriented, and they seem to like that better. They want the scenerio to read as though they are there, you know, "paint a picture", so we can feel your experience (especially fine dining)

Live consciously....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2010 04:43PM by Irene_L.A..

March 17, 2010 05:02PM

I have been MS for the past several years and usually get 9's and 10's on my reports. I have a very difficult time with the editors for a particular company which does a certain steakhouse shop. They want blow by blow details and no matter how detailed and specific I am, they still want more. You can only say so much, unless they want you to make stuff up. In comparison, last year I did a very upscale steakhouse shop with a reimbursement of $160 and was scared to death fearing I would screw up. I got a 10 on that shop with a lot of compliments......go figure. I just can't seem to please these particular editors and for whatever reason my last shop wasn't even graded, but I was paid. Maybe they got tired of making the same comment about providing more details and descriptions.

March 17, 2010 05:31PM

There is indeed a whole lot of variation out there between companies and editors about what they want. I have some cheat sheets around for companies I don't work with that often. Certainly first shops, if they haven't provided a sample shop, gets my 'standard', which pretty much covers the whole visit and I'll go from there to see if they balk. As a shopper it is important to me to have shops sequence in an orderly fashion so that I can fall into 'standard' mode and get it done. I would much rather tell the tale from turning off the ignition in the car to turning it on again as a reasonably continuous narrative than jump around a normal visit. Most reports I've seen are fairly logical and move through the visit as it happens. I truly dislike those that want one to two specific sentences about a whole array of things and then want it all over again in an overall narrative. I just do the overall narrative first and then go back to play "Fill in the blanks".

March 17, 2010 06:14PM

When I first started doing narrative evaluations, I was frustrated with the reporting style of many MSCs. I felt the customer experience should be told in sequence from arrival to departure.

After working as an editor and dealing with clients, I understand the process better and it makes it easier for me to think like the client, and deliver the data in segregated components.

Though the chronological report does tell the customer experience more accurately, it's more difficult for a client to act upon and analyze. Breaking it up makes it less work for you in the end, since you don't have to put the information in two different places, and allows the client to quickly look at an area of interest in the report.

If a restaurant is having trouble with a host, they need to be able to quickly pinpoint that information and get it to someone who can influence the host's actions. Similarly, if there's a problem with the food, the kitchen manager does not need to read through 2 pages of service narrative to find out that your burger was cold.

March 17, 2010 06:27PM

I certainly understand the need for compartmentalization. I just find that I can retrieve better detail in a chronological revisitation of the experience. For example, you request dressing on the side. When I get to the "Were your meals correct?" the answer is "Yes" because the center of the plate items were correct. It is in the chronological replay I remember that the server forgot the salad dressing and returned with it later. So actually the answer should have been "No" with an explanation. When I do a piecemeal report I find I often need to go back and revise as I pull detail out of deteriorating gray matter.

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