Hi,

Sometimes phone mystery shopping slows down. Even when I check all the common job boards my schedule is not as full as I want. I learned in accounting that your mailing lists are assets to a company. For each and every email communication I keep a contact list. Most of my names are from schedulers who assign me shops. I also note some of the clients they assign. I decided to contact all of them who I have not heard from in some time.

The end result is I have more shops. Even better is that they are slightly higher paying. Best yet is the quality of the shop is better. This project only enhanced and optimized the phone mystery shops I received. I am booking 15% less shops for the same money. Although the reporting requirements are slightly more difficult.

I am always looking for ways to utilize the information I collect to make my business better. This is why I share this with you. Do you do anything with your MSC or scheduler list to make more money?

Anyway, Good Luck!

I have always advocated that MSers can use scheduler contacts as opportunities to expand their businesses, Whereas we might use business cards if we were meeting a "real world" contact in person, our sig lines in emails are the business cards of the electronic world. If you do not have a prepared, automatic sig line promoting your MS business, now is the time to add one.

Example:
Mary Brown, shopping the --------- area and beyond since ---------
Certifications (IMSC, MSPA, Video, etc) if any
Motto
phone number

If you are a route shopper, this is also the place to emphsize it. And/or add, "I love .......(types of shops).

At all costs, avoid the following in your sig line (and your email address):
political or religious messages
cutesy names ("honeybunch, sexy daddy", etc.)


Another way of cultivating schedulers is to call them or email them with GOOD news. Now, this may irritate some schedulers, especially those that work for MSCs that cultivate a big, impersonal aura. So skip them for this one. BUT, let's say you land a targeted shop and have had to ask for permission to ask for the target after several failed phone attempts. When you either catch the target or discover that she/he no longer works there, email the scheduler:
Sample 1 "Great News, got our target!
Sample 2 "Bummer, target no long works there." (Shows that you are above playing a blame game about who is responsible for this wild goose chase! It's over, sigh, but life goes on. Ask, nicely, for the next untargeted one to make up for lost time!)

Or: Something hilarious happened on your hotel/apartment/assisted living shop.
Sample one: "Would you believe?"
Sample two "Thought you would love this!"
A good laugh shared goes a long way when it comes to making you memorable!

Thank you walesmaven. I am going to put I am a phone mystery shopper in my signature line. That is an excellent suggestion.

I am proactive in my shopping. If I am heading somewhere or just have a particular shop location or venue I am interested, I will text or email a scheduler and ask if there is something open and describe exactly what I am looking for. This has enabled me to plan full weekend dates with my family, and easily. Schedulers are receptive to this almost as a rule. They also contact me when they are having difficulty because we have name recognition.

Signature line? How do you do that? And how do you make it NOT attach to other, personal e-mails?

I use AOL. There is a place at the foot of the email screen that opens to let you edit as many sig lines as you want and name each. When I am ready to send an email I see the list of sig lines and select the one that I want for that email (or none at all). I click on what I want and it attaches to that one email.

I expect that most email systems have a similar system.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2016 12:15PM by walesmaven.

I have sent boxes of Girl Scout cookies across country to schedulers I enjoy working with or want to develop more business with. Definately was appreciated and beneficial. I also wrote it off as business development expense.

ceasesmith - pm me with the email system that you use and I will see if I can help you. Typically, it is different for different systems.

@ceasesmith wrote:

Signature line? How do you do that? And how do you make it NOT attach to other, personal e-mails?

Having a dedicated email account and address for your shopping business will help. As others have pointed out, you do not want business email going out from honeysdaddynmommy@future.com.

Awesome suggestion!! At the end of the day, we are business owners and most sometimes get our own work!! If, of course you choose to do MS this way and not only once in a while!!

@CureMS wrote:

ceasesmith - pm me with the email system that you use and I will see if I can help you. Typically, it is different for different systems.

In your mailbox. Many thanks!