*scratch that*....just adding them up I still have 7 reports to write.. *bangs head on desk*

37 reports for one company, thankfully only telephone calls!
8 shops for another company - still have 6 reports to write, and one reschedule!
2 telephone shops for another - 1 report left to write!
1 3 hour shop for one company this morning - have that report to write...
1 Bar Integrity -
2 Retail
2 FF

Plus, over the weekend I had to go on two of DH's shops because he was supposed to have a partner in crime!

My house is disaster, it needs cleaned. My full-time job is wondering where I've disappeared to (I use to work 7 days a week at it), and the dogs are cuddled up under my chair begging me to STAY HOME!

FESS UP!

What's YOUR "Whirlwind"?

I whirled plenty one day with 17 shops and none of them were stay-at-home phone shops. Each one had 5-7 narratives. Fortunately I was once a reporter and used to writing articles on tight deadlines with screaming editors howling at me.

How on earth did you manage to get 17 done in a day? Were they all located in the same block of the city? LOL!


Cettie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I whirled plenty one day with 17 shops and none of
> them were stay-at-home phone shops. Each one had
> 5-7 narratives. Fortunately I was once a reporter
> and used to writing articles on tight deadlines
> with screaming editors howling at me.

My head is spinning just reading all of this. How in the world do you do it?

My whirlwind is more like a gentle breeze...

@Gigi- I take pleasure in knowing that normally the last week of the month is my "rest from shopping" - and then it starts all over again. The telephone shops, I've done over 150 of them so far. It's actually email & telephone + a website visit. There's 5 narratives on each report, but I've gotten so accustomed to them now, I could do them in my sleep. I know what to write, where it goes and when to write it.

I also get up at 3:30 in the morning every day.

I'm having a lot of fun doing the shops, but there are some days I get showered and dressed and look in the mirror and say, "Why on EARTH did I schedule these shops today?" LOL!

I've still got 6 scheduled for Wednesday, a focus group 2 hours away on Thursday (hoping to pick up some shops in that city), then this weekend, I actually have NO shops on Saturday - but 6 on Sunday. I don't have anything for next week, wait, I just got a phone call with a nice bonus to pick up a flake next week. LOL.. but I'm hoping I get another 25-30 of those website/email/telephone shops before the end of the month.

I know there are others out there who do whirlwind mega-shops in a day or two, I'd love to hear how they manage!

Wow! Most I've done in 1 day is 11...with twins in tow!

Luckily they all were fairly quick and not too bad.

Props to you all for being able to manage it! The most I have done in a day is 6. I'd like to be able to do more. I never find enough in my area to do that many in one day. I have 4 scheduled for Wednesday. That is pretty good for me!

klhofbauer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How on earth did you manage to get 17 done in a
> day? Were they all located in the same block of
> the city? LOL!
>
>
> Cettie Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I whirled plenty one day with 17 shops and none
> of
> > them were stay-at-home phone shops. Each one
> had
> > 5-7 narratives. Fortunately I was once a
> reporter
> > and used to writing articles on tight deadlines
> > with screaming editors howling at me.




This is a rural area with towns far apart. I managed to hit three towns that day with numerous shops in and between each place. I don't have fancy equipment like a laptop or small voice recorder, I use clothes pins to hold the proofs/receipts/literature together and as I get these items I toss them into an empty flat rate box from the post office that I put on the car floor. My "system" is a small yellow legal and pen. I can remember quotes, physical descriptions, departments and times and write them up into succinct coherent prose.

The day I did 17 I had everything from Starbucks to retail stores, banks and car dealerships, also a couple of gas audits with photos. Once I got home I threw dinner in the oven and began writing like a machine. Had the shops reported and finished by midnight.

*tips hat*

does having 3 in one day count?
1 gas
1 pharmacy
1 electronics store

plus a meeting...

lol

actually i didnt do the electronics store... i saw it wasnt due until thurs and decided to... "take it" um... easier?... ;P

My whirlwind was one day when I left the house at 7:05 AM (kiddo left on bus) hauled butt an hour, ten minutes away, did 17 shops, hauled butt home and pulled into the drive way at 3:10 PM (just as the kiddo got off the bus.) It took me two weeks to recover and catch up from that day!

Two days 27 shops. I had already worked Monday through Wednesday, including a one-day road trip on Tuesday. This one was an overnight. The fun thing for me was out of two 8 hour days the jobs probably took less than 7 hours and the rest was driving. In fact I left home about 8:30 on the first day, stopped for breakfast and was still right on time for happy hour that evening Total time for reports was right in the 4 hour range. Come Monday, I was right back at it with another mini road trip, LOL!

klhofbauer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FESS UP!
>
> What's YOUR "Whirlwind"?

I don't remember any longer. I think it was around 40 in a couple days but that included about 20 SUPER easy shops where I had to see if the Sub of the Month was on display in the windows of various Subways. It was a yes/no and what was did the posters promote? Loved them but the company never did them again.

I don't remember exactly how you worded it on another thread (can't find it anymore!) but this is definitely NOT one of those times where everything including the kitchen sink should be thrown into the report. LOL

For the next 48 hours, stay off EVERY MSP website or risk burnout.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2012 09:17AM by AlwaysAngie.

@Steffi - how on EARTH did you manage that many shops in that little bit of time? I had 8 shops yesterday, round trip 78.5 miles, 33.7 was from home & back home. I left at 11:15, and pulled into the driveway at 5:29. Three of my shops were 45+ minutes, thank heavens the others were in and out, 15 minutes max.

@Lisa - 27 shops and only 4 hours for the reports? Okay, I'm doing something wrong. It doesn't take me long to do them, but there's no way I could get that many reports done in 4 hours!

@Angie - But, but, I LOVE tossing the kitchen sink in the mix! *stomps foot & pouts in corner*

I have no jobs scheduled after the 22nd up thru the end of the month, so I have no clue what I will do with myself... (except maybe my FT job, clean the house, open up a month's worth of mail, pay bills... LOL)

My average for reports was 10 minutes or less. 26 of the 27 shops were gas stations which if open only required 2 photos and no real narrative other than a sentence for any no answers and the same for the overall. The closed and/or debranded stations had shorter reports and only required 4 photos. For those I didn't even have to get out of my car A route of identical shops is different because you get into such a rhythm both for the on-site and when doing the reports. By the time I did this route I'd already been shopping heavily for a couple of years and these were not jobs which were new to me in anyway. There is always a method to my madness

I can't touch 51, but my period of insanity was 34 in 3 days. 29 were gas station photo audits. 411 miles. $441 of pre-tax profit. Well worth it.

Since we now have 24/7 stores and 24/7 Internet, it seems that some clients/MSP's think we should be 24/7 people. I don't mind getting an assignment in in 12 hours. I do mind getting numerous shops in as soon as humanly possible and getting fussed at because one is two hours late. I do mind rushing so much that I forgot to mention a detail, so the next day when I have another whirlwind, I wake up to find questions about my shop(s). I really, really don't like it when the question(s) are about something that I really did answer. Maybe the editors have whirlwinds, too.

Cettie Wrote:

>
> This is a rural area with towns far apart. I
> managed to hit three towns that day with numerous
> shops in and between each place. I don't have
> fancy equipment like a laptop or small voice
> recorder, I use clothes pins to hold the
> proofs/receipts/literature together and as I get
> these items I toss them into an empty flat rate
> box from the post office that I put on the car
> floor. My "system" is a small yellow legal and
> pen. I can remember quotes, physical
> descriptions, departments and times and write them
> up into succinct coherent prose.

Cettie, not to highjack this thread, but just to toss in this: I, too, live in a rural area and am wifi-challenged. However, a small item, I picked up at an office supply store when doing the "$1.00 reimburse" ink and paper audit, has proven to be a virtual miracle for my organizing:

Report Covers with Swing Clips. Not only do they hold all the paperwork for each shop, it's so convenient to add each receipt to each set. I think I paid $1.99 for a pack of 3, and another time $3.19 for a pack of 5. A sample, not advertising nor the ones I bought can be seen here: [goo.gl]

As for whirlwinds... I don't know how anyone does it. Those reports take forever, especially naming, resizing and uploading those myriad of pictures for the gas stations.

With repetition comes speed. You also need to find a program which will allow you to rename and resize as a batch. Individually is a nightmare!

I upload the photos and have a small legal tablet in had and just write the name of each photo in order. I made note of which pictures came out best and in just a few minutes I've sorted and uploaded everything.

WOW is all I can say

klhofbauer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @Gigi- I take pleasure in knowing that normally
> the last week of the month is my "rest from
> shopping" - and then it starts all over again.
> The telephone shops, I've done over 150 of them so
> far. It's actually email & telephone + a website
> visit. There's 5 narratives on each report, but
> I've gotten so accustomed to them now, I could do
> them in my sleep. I know what to write, where it
> goes and when to write it.
>
> I also get up at 3:30 in the morning every day.
>
> I'm having a lot of fun doing the shops, but there
> are some days I get showered and dressed and look
> in the mirror and say, "Why on EARTH did I
> schedule these shops today?" LOL!
>
> I've still got 6 scheduled for Wednesday, a focus
> group 2 hours away on Thursday (hoping to pick up
> some shops in that city), then this weekend, I
> actually have NO shops on Saturday - but 6 on
> Sunday. I don't have anything for next week,
> wait, I just got a phone call with a nice bonus to
> pick up a flake next week. LOL.. but I'm hoping
> I get another 25-30 of those
> website/email/telephone shops before the end of
> the month.
>
> I know there are others out there who do whirlwind
> mega-shops in a day or two, I'd love to hear how
> they manage!

If I do six shops in a day I think I've had a hard day. No way I am ever going to try for a dozen or more.

I think twelve or thirteen is the highest number of done in one day.

I commend you. I can't do that many shops in 1 day. My reports suffer and I like to be as detailed as possible. What company allowed you to do that many phone shops if you don't mind me asking. Usually they limit you on those types of shops due to rotation. The companies I shop for do anyways. Also, I have to clean my house every day just to stay on top of it. You must have the energy is all I must say. Good for you!

My record as of now is 12 shops in one day!

Not technically a whirlwind, but nerve wracking still....

Oil change shop in the afternoon
casual restaurant for dinner.

had an accident in the parking lot, went to the emergency room, had two broken ribs and a fractured hip and hand.

Got home at midnight and still did the reports early the next morning. Got a 9 for each of them.

As far as I'm concerned you should have gotten a 10 just for completing them

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As far as I'm concerned you should have gotten a
> 10 just for completing them


DITTO !!
Definitely above and beyond the call of duty.