Name One Quality That a Mystery Shopper Needs

We have all had to list our qualities and qualifications on the MSP applications we've completed. If you had to choose one quality that you've leaned on the most often, what would it be? Just name one. (This will also help newbies fill out their apps.)

Schedulers and editors: PLEASE feel free to contribute also!

Mine is: adaptability. . .(turning lemons into lemonade when a shop starts to fall apart)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2008 05:46AM by JoanG.

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objective . . . reporting what you saw or heard, not your personal reaction to it.

Lack of money.

Amen Sneakers. Mine would be availability for all of the last minute shops. The schedulers remember this.

From one of the MSP websites:

* Observant
* Reliable
* Detail-oriented
* Thorough
* Organized
* Flexible
* Honest
* Responsive
* Accurate
* A good writer
* Ability to remember details
* Computer proficient-- Internet, email, word processing, sometimes
spreadsheet

If you're not honest, you can lie about the others.

I saw one site the other day that mentioned "compassionate" and reminded shoppers that the folks we observe are doing their jobs to feed their families. And it struck me that since they had just mentioned honest,accurate and thorough and all that stuff, just which side of the mouth would they like us to report out of.

One thing that I am learning as I get older is to know where the bathroom is located at every shop. This is very important for every shopper.

You've done it again, Mo! Bathroom radar?

I found the bathroom in gas station last week, but didn't want to use it. Luckily I wasn't required to do so.

I went into 11 gas station restrooms this weekend. Oops, sorry maybe only 9. One didn't have one for the public and the other was out of order.

Charlene

You did 11 gas shops in one week? Did you buy one gallon at each?

Off Topic--
After I revealed myself to a gas station owner last week, we were talking. He said Sunoco charges him $50/month for the mystery shopping service. Like they can't afford to absorb it! What a ripoff!

Yes, a little more than one gallon. I had to buy a five gallon gas container to do the last 4 shops. Sometimes the gas was $3.50 a gallon.

My husband drives me to my shops. This way I can fill out the questionaires in between shops and put my notes down while its still fresh in my mind.

I'm 61 going on 62. My husband is 72.

I'm so glad I found this forum. I don't feel all alone anymore. I'm getting some terrific information.

I just started MSing last November and have been steadily working. It helps pay some bills.

How about you?

I started in January, and have educated myself very fast. There are 2 other forums, and I also met someone here who's been my guru.

I use a small digital voice recorder, and it's priceless.

Gas is over 3.50 here, probably because NY gas taxes are so high.

Where do you live, Charlene?

I live outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in Denham Springs. So I'm around a lot of small cities or towns. Some of my MS companies will add a gas bonus for me. They need to get these done. I don't mind traveling. My husband does the driving.

Whose your guru? But if it wasn't for ShadowShopper I wouldn't have known how or where to begin. I got a lot of great shops off of there. I only signed up for 3 months at a time, about what I could afford. It's due again. I'm wondering if I should renew it or not. I like the automatic sending of available shops. I don't have to job search as much. The jobs posts are sent to me. But I don't like the cost of the membership. Since I found this forum and Jacob gives us a list of Mystery shops maybe I shouldn't renew. You have to register with each one anyway. But I already paid for the upgraded membership. It was a one time deal.

You put the gas in a 5-gallon can??!! Funny!! You're really dedicated!! That's illegal here, too dangerous to store.

My guru is Flash and we've become good friends, too. She's terribly experienced, and funny as heck. When she gets her tax work cleaned up, I hope she'll rejoin us. Meanwhile, as an introduction to this wild and crazy person, read the 2 threads "The Lost Business Card," and "Hilarious reasons one misses a shop."

I've never used ShadowShopper. I started at the MSPA site and Jobslinger, took company name from the forums, Jacob's list, and the list at Volition. And it grew. I'm registered at about 140 companies now. I have accessibility problems in the NYC metro area, so I'm trying to make it up in the quantity of MSP's.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2008 06:15PM by sneakers.

The gas prices are getting worse daily. This morning I filled up my gas tank and it cost me $82.00. It was $3.86 a gallon. I have to make a trip tomorrow and train a new rep. It is 82 miles away from home and it takes me about 2 hours to drive. I end up making so little, it is no longer worth it. I drive an SUV so I am careful with my drive time.

One Quality That a Mystery Shopper Needs:
A car that's good on gas.

I don't have one. My car is 13 years old.

I got rid of the gas quick. After the last shop, we stopped at my stepson's mother's home. We let them have it. I wasn't about to carry it around in my trunk any longer. I already had a full tank of gas. The scheduler suggested this. She said it helped her many times when she had to bring her children to school and didn't get gas the night before. This was on hand. I imagine on short trips, when you're not driving around for long periods of time, it would
be okay. I got the container from WalMart.

I have a small economical car. It costs me $40.00 now to fill it up. It used to be only $20.00.

Unfortunately for the farm I need my pickup truck to haul rolls of hay etc. I filled it today for $75 and felt horrendous guilt at the waste. The truck only gets 18-20 mpg. On the other hand, the other family car is a Honda Civic Hybrid that the last tank we averaged 51.6 mpg. Needless to say we use the hybrid as much as possible.

Unless the shop specifies otherwise, I always use a gas can on shops. My reason is that it is unreasonable and unlikely that a person would purchase $1 or 1 or 2 gallons of gas and pay for it with a credit card. Perhaps they would do it with pocket change or cash, but with a credit card is not likely. If I can use a gas can I am likely to drive the hybrid to the shop. Most of the gas shops here are at places that have posted that their gas MAY include 10% ethanol. My objections to ethanol could fill a book, but the simplest is that my hybrid gets about 15% lower mileage with gas with ethanol than with regular gasoline so I won't put it in the hybrid again. The gas can is then used for the mowers or tractor or the truck. If I must put gas directly into the vehicle (required on some shops) I take the truck which is much more forgiving.

Wow, that's awesome, Flash, that you live on a farm. That's a lot of hard work, I'm sure. And you do Mystery Shopping to add to your income? That's one quality that a Mystery Shopper needs, is to be a hard worker.

Charlene, meet Flash. Flash, meet Charlene. (Did they greet, smile and say "thank you"?)

Nope. Mine is a "vest pocket" farm that is relatively little work. We've got goats mostly to keep down the weeds and for the agricultural exemption (and because they are cute in their own wacky way), geese for the eggs and because I find African Gray geese are beautiful, a few guinea hens because a friend insisted and they are indeed entertaining. We've got a large field that is leased out as a weaning lot for calves 'cause I like baby animals and keep close track on "my girls" as they grow up. We've got a bunch of fruit trees we have put in over the years--various citrus, figs, mango, macadamia nut, custard apple--but it isn't farm to try to make a living off of.

Mystery shopping is to supplement retirement money through fees and useful reimbursements and for the tax advantages of having your own business.

I just thought of that. If you bought small amounts, Charlene, didn't that arouse suspicion? And did you make much profit if you gave 5 gallons away?

Giving away the gas has a profit of gratitude.

I also hate to use a credit card for a $1 or 1 gallon purchase anyway because the transaction fees to the station and processing are not cheap. And sure the brand is authorizing this and the pumps need to be checked that the credit cards process and etc. etc. etc., but often it is a little independent operator that is working with the brand. I appreciated a series of shops I did for one brand where I could use a brand debit/gift card that apparently carried no processing fees. The first shop I purchased the gift card as my "inside" purchase and then just used pieces of it to do the remaining shops.

I had an interesting gas shop last week. After the reveal, the owner-cashier and I were talking, and he said Sunoco charges him $50/month for the MS service. Yuck.

And also, I had intended to buy only 2 donuts inside, but he asked me to try a sample of his soup, giving me a whole coffee cup full. I ended up with a qt of homemade lentil soup for $3. Nice people, he and his wife. Where the report asked if the cashier was friendly, I said "Yes, he gave me a cup of soup to sample." Hey, he makes only 5 cents on each gallon of gas. He's better off filling up your tank with lentil soup at $12/gallon.

I may go down this week just to buy his soup.

For both me and the car.

And the service station owner also told me that car repairs are way down because the newer cars don't need as many repairs. So he'd be better off opening a little grocery. He can hire me to work behind the counter, hawking his homemade soups from his grandmother's recipes. I have great plans for us.

Flash, your gas shop takes the prize. I've never seen a service station that bad. Was he repairing cars in that mess?

Oops, I think I'm on the wrong thread. No matter. We're all family here. Why aren't you in bed after your long trip to Taxland?

A shopper needs a lot of patience. Not all shops run smmothly. I have had weeks where everything that could go wrong did. Could not meet with the target, did not receive a receipt, lost paperwork and could not input my shop because the computer was down. I have sat on my computer for hours because the site was down and I could not input my shop. Then there are the times when everything runs quite smoothly. This is the time I look forward to.

Yes, it is very sweet when it all flows. And a shopper needs self-forgiveness when a shop goes awry. There will be those that happen and when they do you need to get over it quickly so that it doesn't have bad effects on the next shop you do. Sometimes the screw up is yours, own it and move on. Sometimes the screw up is beyond your control, deal with it and move on. There is little point in ruining your day over an $8 shop and less point in jeopardizing the shops that come after it.

Hi Flash, sorry I missed our introduction from Sneakers. I had to crash for awhile. I'll get back with ya'll tonight. I've got some shopping to do today in another town. I'll let you know how they went.

Most important quality of a mystery shopper:
The ability to read and follow instructions.

Instructions:
"If you had to choose one quality that you've leaned on the most often, what would it be? Just name one."

You guys are FIRED.

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