I'm curious to know how everyone plans ahead for note-takeing before, during, and after shops. I do lots of hotel and dining shops with timings and a good number of moving parts. Here is my current strategy. As I'm reading through the guidelines and survey in advance, I make notes of anything special that I need to do and that I need to watch for (not every little thing on the survey, just the stuff that is easy to forget). Then, I create a schedule for the order I'll do things in the shop. Finally, I make a note-taking template in the notes app on my phone (but I'm planning to migrate this to Google Docs as it worked so well to share with my partner on a recent shop.)

So, for a one night full-service hotel shop, my template would look like this:

Valet In (audio)
Time:
Name:
Notes:

Bellman (audio)
* Ask about hotel restaurant if he doesn't mention it.
Time:
Name:
Notes:

Check-in (audio)
Time:
Name:
Notes:

Room Arrival
* Pictures on arrival in room and bath.

Business Center
Time:
Notes:
Apps on comp?
Clean wastebasket?

Lounge (CASH)
* 2 identical rounds. Get check numbers!
Time:
Name:
Notes:
Upsell?

Etc., for like 20 other categories. You get the idea. On dining where there a lot of down-to-the-second timings, I set up my Timekeeper Memo App to help. and just paste the notes from there into this main document later.

What are your note-taking strategies? Any clever short-hand that you use?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2015 06:49PM by elynbeth.

That is waaay to much work for me! I haven't done hotels in a long time, but a pdf of the instructions and questionnaire were always on my thumb drive just in case I did not have an internet connection at the hotel (shows you how long ago I did hotels!). I usually did a guidelines printout of arrival, valet, bell person, front desk and escort to the room so that I could quickly review them a few blocks from the hotel to make sure I got everything. Once in the room it was automatically photos and 'white glove tests' before ever touching anything in the room. Then I could get my laptop up and running, put in the thumb drive, start typing up my observations thus far, then reviewing the next four or five items before taking a walk through the facilities to observe those areas, return to my room and make my phone calls to start service requests, reservations and service timings while I wrote up that next batch of observations and the services as they arrived. By then it was time to do the bar observations and move on to the dinner observations. Back in the room I would write up those observations and if there was more that could conveniently be observed, review the next batch of stuff and go do it.

Thanks for sharing your note taking process, that's helpful and I don't have a system yet. I turn my recorder on my phone and leave it in my purse during my shops. I will leave notes for myself by pretending that I'm talking on the phone if there's nobody standing real close by.

I just text myself. It records the timestamp. and the photographs also have a timestamp so I know what happened when.

It may sound dumb but I don't know this. How do you text yourself?

Teddybear, just send a text to your own phone number... Especially with iPhones, it works like a charm.

I usually pretend to be like many other people, so self involved in my phone in between talking to the staff, and will send to myself a message such as "Ordered drinks" right after ordering and then I can see later the time stamp of that message. Nobody would know that I'm talking to myself unless I showed them the messages.

@Kristie6923 wrote:

Thanks for sharing your note taking process, that's helpful and I don't have a system yet. I turn my recorder on my phone and leave it in my purse during my shops. I will leave notes for myself by pretending that I'm talking on the phone if there's nobody standing real close by.

I tend to record shops where the whole thing is going to take less than 10-15 minutes OR if there are really detailed questions on the form about everything the employee told me (I'm thinking of some appliance shopping ones I did where they had this huge list of features that I was supposed to remember if the employee mentioned).

@teddybearlover wrote:

It may sound dumb but I don't know this. How do you text yourself?

I don't text myself. I open a notes file on my phone (or Google Docs now) and have this template already in there. Then I just fill the details. It is like a little shop worksheet to do as I go along. So, the order is something like this: Open up my notes and mark the time. Start my voice recorder. Walk up to the concierge and have interaction. Walk away and stop the voice recorder and label it. Write down anything I need that isn't captured by the voice recording (employee physical appearance, name from tag, uniform, eye contact, etc.) For longer interactions where I'm not running the voice recorder (meals, etc.) I take more detailed notes.

I don't think this is a lot of work, I think of it as an organizational tool. It is part of reviewing my shop guidelines (which I have to do in advance anyway since I might have questions for the scheduler). So, I just make my notes file as I'm doing that and planning the trajectory of the shop. When I implement this note-taking process, I find it is so much easier to work the report because I'm not chasing after random slips of paper or trying to make sense of notes that I forgot to flesh out and clarify after taking them. Narrative becomes a breeze. With Google Docs, it makes sharing note-taking with a partner very easy. We don't duplicate efforts and we can see what has already been done and what needs to be done.

@jnoyolapicazzo wrote:

Teddybear, just send a text to your own phone number... Especially with iPhones, it works like a charm.

I usually pretend to be like many other people, so self involved in my phone in between talking to the staff, and will send to myself a message such as "Ordered drinks" right after ordering and then I can see later the time stamp of that message. Nobody would know that I'm talking to myself unless I showed them the messages.

I text myself too! And I've gotten required photos by taking "selfies" but with the camera in regular mode. Pretty sure they all think I'm self-absorbed and obsessed with my phone, which is fine as long as they don't think I'm the shopper!

Thanks Elynbeth for starting this post, this has been so helpful for me. I have only been shopper for 2 months and have a terrible memory so recording the interaction is helpful. However, time consuming having to go through the recording to find what I need. I like the strategies listed here and know how to use Google docs on my phone. I recently did a shop at a store looking for a laptap. I recorded the interaction and once I was done talking with the clerk I told him I needed to find my husband (in the store) to discuss. He wasn't actually in the store but I walked away to look through my scenario and see if I got all I needed. I then returned to the department and recorded notes by speaking into my phone as if I were talking on the phone and looking around as if I was looking for my husband. This is a great tool that would not have worked as well a few years ago. Like mentioned above, with society being so obsessed with their cell phones, it doesn't look weird at all. Next time I will still record the interaction so I can listen back if I missed how the clerk greeted me (exactly), for example, but will turn off the record when done with the clerk. Then I will talk into my phone to record notes in Google Docs recording the clerks name and such plus any other details I remember so I don't have to find them in the recording. While looking at my document of notes, for example, I will smile and laugh as if I am reading Facebook to make sure I don't look like I am making notes and am a mystery shopper. Also, for my scenario I had to observe how laptops were set up. How many Apple versus Microsoft, etc. so recording notes to myself regarding how the department was set up. I could not be a mystery shopper without a smartphone! (Forgive me if this message is less than grammatically perfect. I keep getting distracted and don't want to delete it and start over!)

I do not specifically recommend the following techniques; all shoppers have unique resources and learn by doing. I merely mention a few ideas for anyone who is in the boonies, out of range, far from charger, etc.

My best method is to do few shops, prepare well for each one, and not fuss or fiddle with phone or other props onsite. (When I was doing too much shopping, I needed props too often. Those props were distracting. I am best when I am like Flash's so-- noticing and building on available environmental clues for information and reminders.)


My favorite preparation is to print just enough information to describe the shop needs and add my notes and diagrams to the printed page/-s. My paper notes are always available before shops. I use the backs of pages to create ever terser and more cryptic notes. After a few of these reductions, a mere scribble may be worth a dozen or more pages of guidelines, lol. After shops, I take notes elsewhere and destroy my prep pages.


This is veeeerrry old school. It is kinetic, visual, spatial and, occasionally, auditory. But it works for me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2015 02:20PM by Shop-et-al.

I don't like to play with my phone at the table of a restaurant. (Call me old fashioned…) It annoys me when people text at the table and I don't like pretending to do that. I will have the phone nearby, ringer silent, with a clock face-up, and discreetly jot down timings as they happen. The paper is sometimes in my pocket, or part of something I am drawing with the kids, or as part of something my companion and I are "brainstorming." During trips to the loo I will write a few more detailed notes in the stall and tuck them into my pocket. Once out of the restaurant, in the car, I will add more details.

@heartlandcanuck wrote:

I don't like to play with my phone at the table of a restaurant. (Call me old fashioned…) It annoys me when people text at the table and I don't like pretending to do that.

I feel the same way. But, I realized that if the client and MSC are taking advantage of people being boorish jerks and taking a picture of every.single.thing.they.order. at the table, then they have to expect that the obnoxious girl who just took a picture of her onion rings will be posting it or texting it to her friends. Now I think of it as part of the character I'm pretending to be (even on the shops where I don't have to take as many photos) and it doesn't bother me as much. But I can absolutely see where you're coming from.

My husband will take cell phone pictures of food if we need them, and if we need lobby pic or anything like that he'll snap the kids, the snap around them, and people think we are just another obnoxious family who has the need to share every freakin' detail of our lives with facebook. You are right, with rudeness as the new norm, discretion is not needed any more.

To the OP, I do something similar to what you do, especially if there are a lot of areas to be covered during the shop. I get names and descriptions of the employees I interact with down in my notes along with direct quotes for those reports with a lot of narrative.

For short interactions, I just record them. For longer interactions or an entire meal with table service, I use the Shop-It app to record notes on my phone. I love it because it time stamps everything to the second, and if I don't have time to type something I can just tap the screen for a time stamp. You can add photos or recordings to it too but I don't really use that feature.

I use the ShopIt app to record my times. It looks like you are texting. I actually have texted a few people on a shop, my best friend and my daughter both know if they get a cryptic text it is most likely a note for me to read later. Once I sent this text to my daughter "Blond female, white, short blond hair 5' 5" to 5' 8", 18 - 21, no glasses" She sent a reply of shopping and I sent back No I want this for Christmas.

I find that trying to fumble around with electronic devices during the shop does not work well for me, i.e. I will turn the recorder off when I think I have turned it on, that sort of thing. I use the "organic computer," also known as my brain, to remember times and other details. I then jot down this information as soon as I can do so out of sight. As the years have passed, I have found that I need fewer and fewer notes to remember what I need to remember.

For the hotel shops, I do print out a copy of the report form before I leave home. That way I can start filling it out by hand if for some reason I am unable to access the hotel's wifi.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2015 01:56AM by alannajm.

I think I'm good at remembering details. Last week I had a bank shop and recorded the interaction like I usually do. I left thinking the associate missed many of the required items they were supposed to mention, but when I listened to the recording I was surprised to find out that some of the missing details WERE there. I just hadn't remembered them.

I have had a server walk up to the table and roll through all the required things they must say on the survey like they were the speed reader at the end of a car commercial. Then they go back to normal speed and just ask, "Do you know what you want to drink?" once they said the required things.

I took two casual dining restaurant revealed gift card give aways at places that are normally not shopped. I never gave away gift cards to a server before. This might be fun if the server says the magical words to unlock the prize. It's not high paying, but covers the meal and the shop seems easier than a FF shop.

I love to read,so i jot a few words on my paperback book cover or inside if I'm sitting and the book hidden in my lap. That way I have key words down.

@heartlandcanuck wrote:

During trips to the loo I will write a few more detailed notes in the stall and tuck them into my pocket.

Sooo much bathroom time. I also use this to make sure that I didn't miss anything (if it's a newer shop, or one I'm unfamiliar with).

i can write backwards

I can write with fries and ketchup on any brand of ff napkins. If I ever use the book idea, I might bring a bookmark and use page numbers and lines or paragraphs to indicate timings.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

I can write with fries and ketchup on any brand of ff napkins. If I ever use the book idea, I might bring a bookmark and use page numbers and lines or paragraphs to indicate timings.

That is how you send an​ unbreakable code to someone as long as you both have the same edition of the same book.

I am of the paper (ie old) school and like others use paper notes. As I do a lot of nicer restaurants this works well for me. I would not want to be constantly talking, texting etc in an upscale place. I use my one trip to the restroom towards the end where I review my one page condensed paper of required and may be forgotten by me items. I do use a discreet recorder, mostly for myself as I am in a two party state. Many of my shops want timings to the second and a server does not always leave the table immediately after putting a dish or drink down so my recorder helps me be precise with those.
The one thing I always forget to do is update my cheat sheet and take out the items they say they want and never ask about in the questionnaire. The most frequent I find is they say make sure to get the managers description or name and what he/she is doing etc. and then there are no questions at all about the manager. In my concentration to get the narratives done I always forget to cross those off my list on those jobs.
I cannot imagine the frustration it would cause me to be scrolling up and down looking for something to fill in or that I missed. On paper it is so much easier to see where there is a spot not filled in or a yes no not circled in just a glance.
We are a dying breed, us paper users! Literally and figuratively.

Trying to remember stuff was stressing me out by the time I did a few shops. I bought a Sony recording device and it's been so much better. I bought an omni-directional mic for it and wear it under my shirt. Picks up great. The software that comes with it shows me timing in between things, and I've become very good at talking under my breath to record a "note". I've done so many car dealerships where they leave me alone so long "checking with the manager" that I have plenty of time to chat with myself, lol!

I use the Shop It app on my iPhone.