EPMS has been hit or miss for me. First shop I did I missed the color of the agent's eyes and could not remember what the office looked like. Next time I didn't let the agent "lead" me through the apartment. Third time I couldn't reach anyone (it was an untargeted shop) even though I attempted to reach them for over 3 hours. Because that one was 75 miles from home base it was late in the afternoon when I would be unable to reach anyone, I went ahead and shopped it.
I got dinged on Shop 1, 2 and 3. Shop 4 - no problems. It's been a real learning curve for me. I just hate that they dinged me and in the case of Shop 3, I reported that no one answered the phone all afternoon as I thought that would certainly be something the client would want to know. Not so says EPMS editor, I was told someone from the EPMS office would have to call and do the telephone portion.
So on shop 4 I made sure I reached the agent, made sure I got her eye color, made sure I knew how the office was laid out and decorated, and left the agent lead me and guess what - no kick backs and no dings on my compensation.
So now I've just accepted 2 more targeted shops for next week. Guess I am a glutton or just plain greedy but they are paying $45 each so I couldn't pass them up. Now if only I don't do something wrong in the eyes of the editor . . ..