I too, just completed my training for the Client this past Thursday, and picked up a shop that another mystery shopper could not/did not complete on Friday. Compared to many shoping reports, I did NOT find this report to be long and difficult. Redundant, yes. Difficult, no.

As previously mentioned, the Ardent trainer encouraged us to copy/paste any narrative from other areas of the report into the longer required narrative at the end of the report. Easy peasy! My report was written in 30 minutes, and that was with extra (not required) positive narrative for behavior I thought warranted comment.

I've already communicated frequently with my scheduler, Michelle, and she's becoming one of my favorite schedulers. Both the people I met at the Client, during the training, and the three Ardent personnel I've dealt with are easy going, good communicators, have a sense of humor, and are real people. The fact that a training exists for this particular Client, says a lot. I like knowing exactly what is expected of me, rather than being given a poorly written (sometimes inaccurate) test, and an incomplete or contradictory set of guidelines/requirements.

I think I'm going to enjoy shopping for Ardent!

KatLovesToShop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I too, just completed my training for the Client
> this past Thursday, and picked up a shop that
> another mystery shopper could not/did not complete
> on Friday. Compared to many shoping reports, I
> did NOT find this report to be long and difficult.
> Redundant, yes. Difficult, no.
>
> As previously mentioned, the Ardent trainer
> encouraged us to copy/paste any narrative from
> other areas of the report into the longer required
> narrative at the end of the report. Easy peasy!
> My report was written in 30 minutes, and that was
> with extra (not required) positive narrative for
> behavior I thought warranted comment.
>
> I've already communicated frequently with my
> scheduler, Michelle, and she's becoming one of my
> favorite schedulers. Both the people I met at the
> Client, during the training, and the three Ardent
> personnel I've dealt with are easy going, good
> communicators, have a sense of humor, and are real
> people. The fact that a training exists for this
> particular Client, says a lot. I like knowing
> exactly what is expected of me, rather than being
> given a poorly written (sometimes inaccurate)
> test, and an incomplete or contradictory set of
> guidelines/requirements.
>
> I think I'm going to enjoy shopping for Ardent!


I had all of the same experiences and agree completely. (Except I completed my training on Friday .)

I completed my training this week and have my first shop coming up this week (and another next week). I am pretty excited about it. I am wondering if i might be able to import the sample report into something like Google Drive to fill out thr food stuff from my phone (subtly) in the dining room. Has anyone successfully used an electronic "cheat sheet"? I was also planning on crafting my narrative in Word when I got home and then pasting from there into the required fields. Our trainer suggestd filling out the top then copying down but it seems more practical, to me at least, to return from the shop and write first and then copy/paste. I am hoping some of the more experienced Ardent shoppers may have some tricks or tips. I have read through this and all the other threads before I even went to training, but until I actually saw the report and had training, it was hard to conceive.

You absolutely will not be able to easily fill the report out from your phone during the shop. There are a lot of observations to make and it's best to stay alert to what's going on in the restaurant.

Really, I would go with the the trainer said. It is easier to write the sections and then cut and paste the relevant ones into the Team Evaluations at the bottom. You don't have to cut and paste everything, only certain sections. You'll find yourself referencing your "Notes for Shoppers" a lot for ratings determinations, so keep it handy.

If you get tripped up, Ardent people are really accessible and will answer any questions you may have (not sure who your scheduler is). Make sure about a week after your shops you go in a check out the "Report Feedback" section as the editors will provide a lot of good information there for your future reports.

I was thinking more like notes for myself, not filling out the actual report, while I was eating - of course not while in line or in view. Our trainer said that he fills out the majority of his report information on his phone while he's in the dining room, so I was going by that information. I figured making a little doc and ticking G/OK/N from my table after I've made my observations may make it easier when I'm sitting down in front of the report later.

That's fine. I use my phone for notes, it just looks like I am texting. You pretty much have to take notes as, like I said, there are a lot of observations to make (particularly with crew member descriptions and activities). I developed a sort of shorthand for the notes as I am sure many do.

Well, it's done and in! I'm actually looking forward to feedback, since there was so much to observe and report. Having done it, I'm even more appreciative of the training.

And I had a tatoo laden server one time and mentioned this. The editor wrote me back telling me that in future I should identify where the tatoos were on the body. I guess I will need my xray vision in addition to all else next time (tomorrow?) I do their shop. On almost all my shops I have 4-5 servers /cashiers of the same height, hair color, length and style, and age range. Throw in a male or two sometimes with similar description but shorter hair and a few inches taller. It doesn't vary much in the locations I shop.

To all you mystery shoppers who have lost your reports with Ardent or any other company, please make a .pdf copy of your report. You can do this with Adobe Reader. It will save your time and energy and you at least have the report in a .pdf. You can then e-mail it to your scheduler and tell them that you spent the 2.5 hours working on the report. Once your save the report as a .pdf, then print it out and you will have the hard copy as well as the .pdf. Be certain you create a folder for your mystery shops. I have been doing mystery shops for over 11 years. It is important you you have back-up copies of your work. Make friends with your schedulers and they will respond to you.

Sandy, you really only need to identify the gender, hair color if anything other than brown or black, and then things like facial hair, tattoos, piercings other than the standard ear, and style of shirt if it was anything other than a t-shirt. You do not have to identify age, height, etc.

Any insight on when feedback is generally posted? I had my first shop last Monday (eetered report same day) and think all went well but am hoping ton get feedback before my second shop (Wednesday this week) so that, in the event there is constructive criticism, I don't make the same mistakes twice!

Sometimes they are very slow with their feedback. I guess the editors get backed up. I did a Dec. shop last week as well and still do not have feedback. I would just do your next shop as scheduled and incorporate their feedback into the next shop. They are very nice and always constructive, so don't worry about it too much. Even their corrections are worded so nicely, I wish other MSC's would take a hint. You can say the same thing in so many ways and so many MSCs opt to word it harshly, just don't understand why.

I let Michelle know I was hoping to receive feedback on my first shop before I took a second one. The editors were backed up, but I did get the feedback in time. YMMV, but it can't hurt to ask.

Feedback depends when you did your shop and how backed up they are. Often, it can be a few weeks. If any of you are on Facebook, I encourage you to joing the Ardent group they have. There's a lot of helpful information, and very open dialog between shoppers, editors and Ardents reps.

Ardent reports are released (and you receive your feedback) about a week after the shop. The reason for this I believe is in order to space out the time between you doing the shop and the restaurant receiving the report. Makes it less likely that you will be identified as the shopper.

I've waited well over a week to get feedback. It really depends on the editor's workload.

LOL they must have read my mind (or this board)! Got my feedback tonight. Good to go for shop #2.

Glad you got it in time for the second shop! I have a feeling they may also try to expedite reviewing reports from new shoppers. Their feedback is especially helpful when you're a newbie, but that said, it never stops being helpful!

Has anyone done the DLS/Online scenario in the past? I'm not sure if the report still asks for the food item reviews and, if so, how you'd get those observations since you don't go through the ordering line for the scenario. Does the report exclude those sections (or do you hit N/A for everything if that's even an option)? I can't see the report yet so I'm not sure and a little nervous that I won't make all the required observations! If this isn't a regular scenario, I'm happy to contact my scheduler - I just figured if this is a common scenario, experienced Ardent shoppers would know how the report sets up with this scenario. Thanks!

The report form is the same. You should be able to see a sample report form after you log in to the reporting site.

I have done DSL/online scenarios before but I don't know if yours is the same as mine were. The best place to ask these questions, IMO, is in the Facebook group.

When I did mine, I reported on the food items that were in my order. I also reported any item on the food line I could see.

I have sent the appropriate requests but haven't been added to the FB group. My scheduler just confirmed that I should only report on the food in my order as well. Thank you for the response. She also said it's OK to use the restaurant's iPhone app in case anyone was wondering.

ETA to remove client name - I didn't realize I'd put it in there!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2013 07:30PM by tsk.

Please make sure for the DSL scenario you are still making the line crew observations, including how the crew member at the tortilla warmer was greeting customers and how items were being offered, as well as crew member demeanor and descriptions for all crew members on the line. If needed, sit near the line once you have received your order, or stand near the line when you arrive or depart, pretending to look over the menu board.

Ardent was always great when I worked for them. But I hated hated hated the reports. For me, they never seemed to get easier. For a while, I was the only auditor in the metro area & I got so burned out doing 7 shops a month.

The pay was generous and the food was good. But, the reports took me such a very long time to complete. I never knew that I could cut & paste, though. That would have been good to know.

Still, Ardent is a good company. The client has great food. The reports...horrible.

I've only done a few shops but I've found that doing my Y/OK/N type notes for each food, and notes about personnel, right away then writing a several-paragraph narrative has been the best way for me, personally, to "download" the shop and then I back-fill that information into the appropriate parts of the form. I re-format as necessary for the shop report requirements and never copy/past from one report to the next, but I find that I can maintain a clearer picture of the entire interaction if I draft it all in Word or something and then use that language up in the individual sections.

I've been shopping this client for a while and do many shops each month. Here's my in-restaurant note-taking tip: I use the voice memo feature of my cell phone and talk to myself. Doesn't look any different than other customers. I speak the crew member descriptions, customer counts, my food notes and the initial dining room conditions as soon as I sit down to eat.