How many of you do video shops? I'm contemplating making an investment in the equipment and wondering if you like it or not? Are the evaluation forms shorter since you have the whole interaction on video?

It is a whole 'nother world. I suggest that to get a ton of responses, including info on what NOT to buy and what training might be best for you,etc., do a "search" of the forums, with "video" for the past year. Then, when you have more questions, hop right back here and a lot of us who video shops will be happy to answer. We are not shoppers who are afraid to share!

I tried that and got a bunch of results that weren't really relevant. I'll try again and try to narrow it down!

Some video shops have virtually no reports, others have the exact same report as a non-video shop.

I strongly recommend that before any shopper takes up video shopping they master similar non-video shops. So, for apartments, do a dozen non-video shops before even thinking about doing them video. Remember, everything that you do or say is on the audio from that video shop. So, master the type of shop and the types of aliases, back-stories, and follow-up unique phone numbers and emails that you need to remain undetected in long, complex interactions before doing them "on tape." Of course, for the 5 minute videos that some do with Talon, this may not pertain. But most video shoppers are doing things like new car shops, complete with road test, new homes (60-120 minutes on site), apartments (20-60 minutes on site), assisted or independent senior living (1-3+ hours on site) that require a lot of planning and scenario-building to do successfully. The technology is the easy part these days.

Also please consider that these long interactions mean that you are doing "one and done" for that location and for that SA if they move to another site. So, you may have to travel to avoid running into very sharp SAs who remember you from a shops 3 or more years ago. New home builders tend to keep their best SAs for many years, even decades, so you need to keep a detailed list of who and when you shopped new homes, just as an example. I think that I have shopped every subdivision where a certain homebuilder has operated, from NJ to NC since 2005. And, not only did my target meet me on those shops, so did other SAs at that site, the receptionist, the assistant and, often, the project manager and chief cook and bottle washer. So, I have to be ready if I run into any of those who were NOT earlier targets and they "seem to remember" me. Fortunately, they do not remember what alias I used the last time they saw me.

In short, the long interaction shops are the graduate course in MS. Think of learning them without recording every word that YOU said before tackling they with video and audio.

My experience with video is quite different from wales'. We have had this discussion several times. The differences are related to geography, travel availability, and personality. Much like with traditional shoppers some prefer short lower pay shops and some prefer longer higher paying ones. I prefer short shops. Retail, food, service, etc. The problem with that is they are not as thick on the ground so require more travel, and the companies who have large amounts of those types of shops are much harder to get in to. The plus side is because they are higher volume establishments you can do them over and over. In fact tomorrow i am doing a retail shop that i did just 2 or 3 weeks ago. As for the forms, new home shops generally have short forms. Almost every apartment shop I have done has had the exact same form as the written version. I will say that wales' assertation that you need to do written shops of the type you want to perform before doing the video version is one thing she and I disagree on. I have never done a written new home or apartment shop and have done numerous video. For SOME people this would be a problem. It depends on your personality. I had a background in IT and I am naturally unafraid of new experiences. I was significantly more concerned about remembering details than I was worried about the video equipment. For me, having video on my first new home shop made me more comfortable as I only had to deal with my back story. Had I done the same shop non video I would have been so stressed trying to remember both the details of the shop and my back story that I would have ended up screwing up both. If you are the type that would stress over the video, which many people are, then wales' advice is spot on.

As for running a video shopping business, it is quite different than traditional shopping. For one, across the board MSCs treat you like an important part of their business. The good ones are not shy in saying that they would not be in business if it wasn't for professional shoppers. Many traditional MSCs have just the opposite opinion. Because of this, though, relationships are significantly more important in the video world. If you are not interested in proactively building relationships then you will not be a successful video shopper. I received a phone call from a scheduler the other day. After I answered he started laughing and made the comment he had never heard me sound like I'm having a bad day. I just laughed it off and thought to myself "you're my client you're never going to hear me sound like I'm having a bad day." Of course it helps that I actually like the guy and like working for him.

bg,
You and I have chatted at length about these things and we most cordially disagree, but only in part, I think. You are the exceptional shopper who was, and is, ready to tackle almost anything, right out of the box. I am the missionary, trying to talk very hesitant folks into trying something and urging them to try it in a relatively safe way before committing to the expense of special equipment. Because you and I both took to video like a duck to water (My first apartment shop, actually 3 in one day, was also video. So was my first new home shop.) does not mean that the industry does not want and need to encourage people to try video. If many will succeed only if they learn the shop scenario first, then I am willing to strongly encourage them to do so.

Looking forward to a long chat, and a drink or two in LV!

I have been secret shopping for 3 years and I am loving it. I bough a POS camera from China to do a video shops. The video quality was subpar but when the shop required quality sound...I lost that shop. I am in the market for a good camera that will get the job done. I have been talking with Dan at greyhawkgear.com. He has a Lawmate L3 dvr w/button hole camera and a Lawmate EVO dvr for about $125 more. I don't want to buy the wrong equipment again, but I don't need top of the line either. I am just a weekend warrior looking to supplement my income and have some fun. And advice would be appreciated.

I have the L3 and the EVO both. The L3 works great and I love it, but the EVO had a feature that I needed for a specific shop. I would suggest the L3 would work for you.

Dan is also a professional MSer and he works with all of the major video MS companies. You can trust him to sell you the appropriate starter kit that will meet industry standards, at a fair price. He really stands behind everything that he sells and offers help and tweaking by phone or on line to keep everything going smoothly. Many of us would not buy from anyone else.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2017 11:03AM by walesmaven.

@walesmaven wrote:

Many of us would not buy from anyone else.

Most definitely. I've given him close to $1000 this year.

And he has earned it!

@ShoppergirlAZ wrote:

I have been secret shopping for 3 years and I am loving it. I bough a POS camera from China to do a video shops. The video quality was subpar but when the shop required quality sound...I lost that shop. I am in the market for a good camera that will get the job done. I have been talking with Dan at greyhawkgear.com. He has a Lawmate L3 dvr w/button hole camera and a Lawmate EVO dvr for about $125 more. I don't want to buy the wrong equipment again, but I don't need top of the line either. I am just a weekend warrior looking to supplement my income and have some fun. And advice would be appreciated.

I have used both the EVO and the L3. I would never go back to the L3. I love my EVO. The quality on the EVO blows away the L3.

@bgriffin wrote:

@walesmaven wrote:

Many of us would not buy from anyone else.

Most definitely. I've given him close to $1000 this year.

I would never buy from anyone but Dan at GreyHawk.