Gold Certification

I've started working towards Gold Certification and am reviewing the disks from MSPA now. I have 2 questions:

1. They refer to a workbook in the beginning but none was sent to me. Do I need that workbook?

2. When I take the test am I limited to one pass for the test or can it be taken more than once if I should, God forbid, fail the first attempt?

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Please disregard No. 2 above as I see I am allowed 3 attempts. I am almost tempted to try it before listening to the 2 disks!
Not to hijack ya but when searching for a question I had I came across your post, perhaps you know.. How long does a silver membership last? It says on website 20$ for membership, then when signing up it gives you the option to auto renew when membership expires, but I see nothing about if its a year membership or what?
Silver certification is something you only need to do once. When you get the Silver Cert you get a year's membership, which is usually $20. At the end of the year, although membership expires, your Silver Certificate is still valid.
ahh, so alright so I can count on paying for it monthly then. Thanks for the info
Well, I've passed the first two modules and now I have the written report to do. I must say after viewing the video shops that I fail to see why anyone would think video shopping is going to take over the shopping business. One of the shops was OK but the second shop video was terrible and that's the one I have to write a narrative about. I am sure I'll be watching it several times to try to pick up what was being said.
plmcct,
If that video shop had been submitted, the shopper probably probably would not have been paid for the video/audio. She/he might have been paid a partial payment for the written report. The industry standard is for clear, crisp audio and having the target well framed (torso and head) 75-90% of the time (not counting times when you are in a car or walking side-by-side).

Many video MSCs are not MSPA members, partly becasue there are strong opponents to video shopping involved at the highest levels of that organization. While video shopping had grown exponentially in the past 8 years, those are the voices who will publically maintain that "We can't markty video; the clients won't pay for it." They remind me of the time, in the early 1990s, when the president of a huge real estate firm gave an interview in which he decried the burgeoning use of computers by the more advanced RE firms, stating, "They are just trying to bankrupt us by making us think that we need to spend a ton of money on computers to compete. And while I'm at it, let me tell you that we will never have fax machines in our officse. If our agents want to order 'take out' lunch, they will just have to use the phone." Obviously, that is not a direct quote, but his words were very much like that.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Silver/Gold Certification, major waste of time and your money. That certification does nothing ! You don't need it for anything. Over 5 years, 3,000 + shops. Don't waste your time and money.
"They are just trying to bankrupt us by making us think that we need to spend a ton of money on computers to compete. And while I'm at it, let me tell you that we will never have fax machines in our officse. If our agents want to order 'take out' lunch, they will just have to use the phone."

A true visionary! Bet he didn't cotton ta none of them horseless carriages neither.
When I was a newer shopper I did the silver and gold certifications and both of them helped me make more connections. I don't have any way of knowing why someone would say it's not helpful. That wouldn't mean anything to me unless they had actually silver and gold certified and discovered it didn't do a thing for them. If they haven't certified at both levels, they really can't know what happens. If they have certified and noticed no difference that would be really interesting because it certainly was not my experience. Could the programs be better? Sure. So could I.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Got it for free for 1 month, pass a test(super easy) , Gold !!! Job slinger did more when starting out in 2008.
I do believe being Silver has helped me and I have gotten referrals from being an MSPA member. I've heard all the pros and cons of the certification but I wanted to see for myself if it did make a difference.

claabe - What are you talking about "Got it for free for 1 month, pass a test(super easy) , Gold !!! Job slinger did more when starting out in 2008"?

What did you get for free and what test did you pass? Are you Silver or Gold certified? If so, which one or both?
That's the first I've heard about a one month free deal on the gold. I started in 2009 so I can see how I missed that. I can also see if they were giving it away free that the MSPs would have known that was a special one month freebie and may have discounted it. Did you get the workbooks and discs to prepare for the test? Did you do a detailed evaluation of a video shop? I'm really curious about that one month freebie and exactly what they offered. And if you certified, why was it only for a month? Could you have paid for the program and extended it for life?

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Free "silver" membership for one month. I took some test on the website and passed mystery shopping (whatever they called it) and was "gold". Now, I do believe they kept trying to have me buy something else for $50 +(please remember this was 2008 and I really don't remember all the details). I didn't do anything and then I had a half price offer, etc. I just moved on from it. Like I said before, JOB SLINGER was more helpful in the beginning of my shopping career with retaining shops.
To clarify, neither silver or gold. Did not need either for shops. To me, it is just a gimmick and only sassie shops asked for it.
Plus, putting down none never slowed me down from gaining shops.(once again, 5 years/3,000+ shops).
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