Personally, I want to hear back from shoppers even if they can't do the shop. That shows me they are a good communicator.
Sometimes people just say no and that is fine with me. They responded and may be interested in other shops another time.
If I'm looking for a route shopper and send emails out to a 50 mile radius and I hear back from a shopper with a snarky response then that attitude tells me I probably don't want them to shop for me.
More often then not, serious shoppers will ask if I have other shops out that way to make it worth their while or tell me that they don't have shops out that way. They are someone I will be in touch with again.
When a shopper responds with, that's to far. What else do you have near me? I usually suggest they log in to the website and look because I live in a different state and I'm not familiar with the geography near you. I realize the shopper doesn't know I live on the other side of the country.
Communication is so very important.
Also, I am one scheduler working on one project. There are a dozen other schedulers working for the same ms company on different projects and they may have shops in your area that I know nothing about. Just because I don't have shops in your area, doesn't mean there are no shops near you. Log into your favorite ms company sites on a regular basis. That is key to getting more work.
Sometimes shoppers keep extending their shop dates with feasible requests then flake and stop communicating. "I can't get it done on Tuesday. I can do the shop on Wednesday. I'm sorry, my husband got called into work. Can I go on Friday? Oh, I forgot, my son's basketball game is Friday. I can do this on Saturday."
Now it's Sunday and the shop is not done. I know life happens. Now it's a week later and the shopper dropped of the face of the earth and this shop was tied up for for a week.
I realized all ms companies are different. They post their shops differently, they have different pay rates, different whatever. If a shopper doesn't understand something, they should ask their scheduler directly. Hopefully, you will have a scheduler who is responsive and will answer you.
I have shoppers who will get an email from me and pick up the phone and call me instead of responding to an email. I LOVE that. I will work to make sure they get the next open shop if they missed the shop they called me about.
One thing I really feel bad about: If I'm working a location and calling/texting shoppers, I'll schedule the shop at the first yes. Then I get four or five more yes responses. I hate it when that happens because I have to disappoint shoppers and tell them I have already scheduled the shop. The thing is, if I'm calling shoppers then an email has been sent out a few times with notifications about this shop and location and I haven't been able to fill it.
Season shoppers understand. New shoppers think, oh, you didn't really have a shop. Your a scam. (head desk)
Something I do understand, but dislike at times, is when shoppers read an email from a scheduler and pick up the phone and call their contact at the ms company directly to schedule the shop, bypassing the scheduler completely.
A shopper may have a rapport with a contact at the ms company. Now, The ms company needs help and hires schedulers to scheduler their shops. When a shopper calls their contact at the ms company, (I get it, you have a rapport and that's great) the scheduler looses out on scheduling that shop.
At the end of the month, the scheduler didn't schedule 100% of their shops. The bottom line is that looks bad.
One thing I do really dislike that seasoned shoppers do, is ask me to hold their hand. I'll call or text them and ask them to take a shop. They say yes, then ask me to send them information. I respond that they need to log into the website and review the instructions. Okay, what it the link? (You've done this shop 5 times and you've been shopping for this company for years. You know how to log in) They respond back, is the shop the same as last month? Question this, question that...
I love a great communicator. I want to talk with you. But you have to read and and review the information yourself. I don't want to make the mistake of leaving something out. You can't be prepared for a shop based on a quick text/phone call conversation alone.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2014 03:40PM by SallyEmpireScheduling.