I began shopping back in August and I mentioned in a post that my evaluations/reports were taking hours to complete and that I believed that once I had some experience it wouldn’t take me as long.
Well here it is November - 40 shops later - and I still need 60 – 90 minutes to complete an evaluation with narrative.
I get great comments. All except 4 of my 40 are 10s - two 9s, one 8 and the abhorrent one I received because of technical difficulties.
But DUDE! Every single report is like writing a mother forking AP English essay and I get tired of thinking of ways to truly convey my experience in neutral terms.
Here are my questions:
Am I still a beginner and, as such, I should expect my writing to “improve”?
Do experienced shoppers get scores of 10 for 90% of their shops?
How the heck do I dumb down/stop overthinking/write without a bloody thesaurus
and still get a 10? Or is a score of 8 or 9 still acceptable?
Are there other questions I should be asking?....
Thanks for your input, HB

It's the shops you're choosing. I write slowly. Even with decades of MS experience behind me, it still takes me 4x as long as the scheduler tells me it will ;-). Different companies have different scales. Ann Michaels almost always scores a 10; Confero rarely does. Don't sweat it (easier said than done!).

If you don't enjoy being back in school, try some of the Medicare or shipping shops. Do a search on this forum for 'narrative' and you'll see what shops have little and which require a thesis.

@pinkonlypink wrote:

I began shopping back in August and I mentioned in a post that my evaluations/reports were taking hours to complete and that I believed that once I had some experience it wouldn’t take me as long.
Well here it is November - 40 shops later - and I still need 60 – 90 minutes to complete an evaluation with narrative.
I get great comments. All except 4 of my 40 are 10s - two 9s, one 8 and the abhorrent one I received because of technical difficulties.
But DUDE! Every single report is like writing a mother forking AP English essay and I get tired of thinking of ways to truly convey my experience in neutral terms.

(I pulled your questions from your quote)

Here are my questions:
Am I still a beginner and, as such, I should expect my writing to “improve”?
I think that with time, you know how to write what is needed. It is not necessarily "better."

Do experienced shoppers get scores of 10 for 90% of their shops?
Yes, at least 90% of my shops are 10's, except Confero of course.

How the heck do I dumb down/stop overthinking/write without a bloody thesaurus
and still get a 10? Or is a score of 8 or 9 still acceptable?
A 9 is OK. I don't get a lot of 8's. Some companies give examples of a narrative for their shops (Service Check does this, so does Coyle). Follow the format. Don't make it harder than it needs to be. I have never done one in almost 20 years, but I have heard that apartment shops have long narratives and pay around $25. That's too much work for me for that amount of pay.

Good luck

First, 40 shops is not a lot in that time period.
Second, when you do the 3rd report of the same shop (same client, same guidelines) you should see a real drop in the time needed to achieve your high standard for reporting. When you are constantly doing new-to-you shops (client and guideline are new to you) of course, you are not going to get to the "economies" that come with repetition.

Third: 10s are NOT essential; 9s are excellent and a couple of 8s really will not hurt a well established shopper. Yes, 90+ percent of my shop grades at 9 or 10.

Third, you do not need a new way of saying some things for each report!!! It is okay to use the following over and over, with adjustments for the circumstances:
"As I approached the attendant/SA/cashier/valet made good (fleeting) eye contact, smiled and greeted me in a pleasant manner, saying, 'blah, blah, blah.'" Or, "The cashier processed the transaction accurately and efficiently. He provided correct change and a receipt as he thanked me and bid me a good day. " Or, "The entire area, including floors, fixtures and displays was clean, tidy and well maintained. The displays were colorful, attractive and well lit. All signage was professional and easy to read."

Those formulaic statements are all taken from reports that consistently earn ratings of 10. No, I do not have them set up as Macros! I could type the needed look up something on a long list of Macros.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

It's the shops you're choosing. I write slowly. Even with decades of MS experience behind me, it still takes me 4x as long as the scheduler tells me it will.

I whole heartedly agree. For this reason, I despise long narrative heavy reports. I love my main companies I work for that don't have a lot of narrative. Thankfully, most are based in Canada and I usually do at least something every month for all of them. I'm about a year and a half in, and the ones I did when I first started still take me almost just as long. So I don't do those.

Just keep signing up for new companies, and try out how new shops fit you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2016 03:14PM by Kakita987.

Good advice from SCM and walesmaven above. You are still new at this, so give it some time to develop.

Also, I don't think fast typing is a necessity these days. Find the best way to make technology work for you. I create almost all narrative that's longer than 1 or 2 sentences in a word processor, and have started to once more lean heavily on text-to-speak software for lengthy narratives.

Copy and paste can be your friend without necessarily being plagiaristic. If the question on a form reads, "Did the server present the food in open position," and a YES answer requires one sentence to confirm, I find it quicker to copy the text of the question, paste it in, remove the first 4 letters, add a Capital "T" at the front and the letters "ed" at the end of the word "present". That yields an approved required answer in 5 keystrokes and a few mouse movements, rather than 45 keystrokes required to write the full sentence out (The server presented the food in open position).

OP, yes you are still a newbie. As a former perfectionist, I have learned that being a perfectionist is a waste of time. It is good to be careful while writing reports but trying to be perfect all the time is useless.

BTW, I type about 25 WPM. I am not a fan of huge naratives. I am also a fan of cut and paste.

Sometimes, I will forward my notes from my iPhone notepad to my computer, paste it into word and then "write around" my notes to make complete thoughts.

What you need to be giving them is what they need. Anything else is a waste of time. That's all you need to know, and if I were to go on with this comment it would be a waste of my time and your time. See?

I've been doing this for years, and I still overthink and work too hard. It's faster for me to type 45 keystrokes than to try to cut and paste 5 characters (yes, really; I've been typing for 50 years!). It STILL takes me an hour to do a report that other shoppers SWEAR can be done in 10-15 minutes. I find the USPS shops' reports to be quick - 10, 15 minutes, including downloading (?) the photo and receipt. Cinnabon, about the same. I find reports take longer to do than the shops! I think I spent 3 hours on a bank shop report last week, and only an hour with the banker. The MSC sent me a "Nicely done!" but didn't send a grade or point system.

With About Face, I have 100%. That's how they grade, %. Intellishop, 9's and 10's. The Source just says I'm doing a terrific job, no grade. Maritz says I suck. Marketforce says I suck, but they don't have any other shoppers, so they keep reactivating me (um, that's a joke).

Some companies have shorter reports, no narratives, no dreadful 8 hour deadlines, and pay fairly. Some companies have longer reports, complicated shops, and pay poorly.

Lots of questions you COULD be asking -- you should be asking yourself: do you take time to sign up with one new company two or three times a week? If you do, you'll discover some with reasonable shops, reasonable reports, and fair pay. If you sign up with two new companies a week, in a year, you'll be signed up with 100+.

And I'll tell you right off, without you having to ask, those companies that grade with 9's and 10's -- if you're regularly making the 9's and 10's. your reports will be adequate for other companies, too. And many companies do giving writing samples/guidelines: follow them, and you can't go wrong.

You are, indeed, new. If you've done 40 shops, if each shop took an hour and each report took an hour, that's 80 hours -- you're just two weeks on a new job!

Best of luck.

It's probably the shops you are choosing. With experience and the more MSCs you sign up for you will see which ones are worth the amount of work for the shop fee. I used to do a lot of narrative shops but I hate doing those now. I stick to little or no narratives and bonused shops.

@walesmaven wrote:

"As I approached the attendant/SA/cashier/valet made good (fleeting) eye contact, smiled and greeted me in a pleasant manner, saying, 'blah, blah, blah.'" .

-1 for each occurrence, depending upon whether your report was edited in-house or outsourced -- you didn't use a descriptive word for the smile. ;-) I have unfortunately had that comment.

I've noticed several MSCs show concerns over similar narratives every time. Though I save copies of every narrative, I am no longer following them as a hard template. I am spending some extra time, using what I have learned over the years, to write new narratives from scratch. Looking back at my old narratives, I see how I have improved and discover the issues the editors had to fix.

@isaiah58 wrote:

I've noticed several MSCs show concerns over similar narratives every time. Though I save copies of every narrative, I am no longer following them as a hard template. I am spending some extra time, using what I have learned over the years, to write new narratives from scratch. Looking back at my old narratives, I see how I have improved and discover the issues the editors had to fix.

Do you fix the old ones, so you have "good" examples to look back on?

@Kakita987 wrote:

@isaiah58 wrote:

I've noticed several MSCs show concerns over similar narratives every time. Though I save copies of every narrative, I am no longer following them as a hard template. I am spending some extra time, using what I have learned over the years, to write new narratives from scratch. Looking back at my old narratives, I see how I have improved and discover the issues the editors had to fix.

Do you fix the old ones, so you have "good" examples to look back on?

Don't need to, I reference the newer ones now.

@SoCalMama wrote:

@pinkonlypink wrote:

I began shopping back in August and I mentioned in a post that my evaluations/reports were taking hours to complete and that I believed that once I had some experience it wouldn’t take me as long.
Well here it is November - 40 shops later - and I still need 60 – 90 minutes to complete an evaluation with narrative.
I get great comments. All except 4 of my 40 are 10s - two 9s, one 8 and the abhorrent one I received because of technical difficulties.
But DUDE! Every single report is like writing a mother forking AP English essay and I get tired of thinking of ways to truly convey my experience in neutral terms.

(I pulled your questions from your quote)

Here are my questions:
Am I still a beginner and, as such, I should expect my writing to “improve”?
I think that with time, you know how to write what is needed. It is not necessarily "better."

Do experienced shoppers get scores of 10 for 90% of their shops?
Yes, at least 90% of my shops are 10's, except Confero of course.

How the heck do I dumb down/stop overthinking/write without a bloody thesaurus
and still get a 10? Or is a score of 8 or 9 still acceptable?
A 9 is OK. I don't get a lot of 8's. Some companies give examples of a narrative for their shops (Service Check does this, so does Coyle). Follow the format. Don't make it harder than it needs to be. I have never done one in almost 20 years, but I have heard that apartment shops have long narratives and pay around $25. That's too much work for me for that amount of pay.

Good luck

Apartment shops are a big bite. The easiest way is to write the narrative in word as you listen to the audio. Even after I figured this out, they weren't worth it with some great bonuses.

OP, been there and understand your frustration. It gets easier.

Don't remember the movie, but the line was something like this...the facts mam, just the facts. The only time I get a reprimand is when I deviate from that line.

I only have around 1000 shops and I'm no where near being an expert conducting or reporting a shop. Every shop with the same company can be and is usually different.

Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Do your best. Do your work on time. MSC's want dependable and objective shoppers.

It still takes me a long time for some reports - even the same shop. I am old school and must excel. I have been doing MS for 16 years. I do not do as many as I once did but I tend to pick the lengthy reports. You will learn what is worth your time as you go along.

I'm have been mystery shopping for a few years now and am signed up with about 70 companies. After several fits and starts, and a handful of non-payments I have definite preferences for the type of shops I'm good at. Even if I'm experienced with a company and a client I always have to check and recheck the paperwork for each shop to make sure I'm hitting all the required points of the shop. Today for example I had to let a shop go undone because I wasn't going to make it to the location in time. If you are struggling with writing you may want to seriously consider taking a writing course at a local college or Adult School. It may help. I like to think I'm a good writer, but one company slammed me by saying my writing was terrible, and I was not a candidate to work for them, based upon a quick e-mail I dashed to them when I was on a break from my "day" job. After working at this for a while, you will surely find the right shops for you. I have and make pretty good money each month in my "spare" time.

That's right! You have to weed out the bad, poor paying, companies that expect you to write a two hour report for $20. It's just wrong.

In 11+ years I have never had a deduction based on not using a descriptive word for a smile. I have never even heard of such a thing before, but do not doubt that some MSC or client has such a requirement.

As for repeating a sort of formulaic way of describing a common thing, since I do not cut and paste those, there is always some variation. Instead of getting negative comments, if I get any at all about that, I get editor and/or scheduler feedback about what one called "solid, economical, narratives."

@MA Smith wrote:

Don't remember the movie, but the line was something like this...the facts mam, just the facts.

"Dragnet." Advice from that 1950's TV classic's has been good for at least 50 years. Unless the MSC wants excruciating detail, give 'em the facts based on the great notes you will learn to take.

I love this idea!

I am in good company! Huzzah!

At least one other poster is a recovering perfectionist, at least one has improved in writing and thinking about writing about shops, and at least one has wondered about the possibility of hope for improvement.

About that writing and narrative: you might like this more as time passes and you have more opportunities to write. For now, you could change up your shops so that you have more time for the narratives and can try a larger variety of shops.

Someone posted here that certain hotel, dining, resort, and cruise shops require extensive narratives. These shops also yield points for miles and whatever else your credit card features. If this sounds good to you, keep in mind that your writing might lead to tremendous benefits for you in future.

Enjoy!

I'm new to MS as well, but I've quickly found it to be similar to my trained work (which requires a lot of narrative notes too). Writing well in this field is less about quality in terms of creativity but more about presenting the basic facts in a sequential, succinct, and easy to understand manner. I have a lot of 'gimpy phrases' I repeat from each report (and sometimes even in the same report) and have created some descriptive word lists that I can easily glance at to keep it from being to sterile or repetitive. I also stick with the W's/H's as a rubric. And there are a lot of sentences starting with "Then...", "Next...", "After that..." etc.

I also agree with the above as to what reports are "worth" a narrative for me. A fancy dinner or hotel stay is worth the time (IMO). Most retail jobs are not.

I keep a list of descriptive words to use; arrived ,concise, observed, upbeat, friendly, responded, effervescent, stated, replied explained, mentioned, throughout, positive, listened, commented, initiated, assured , and lots more. I try to use different wording so I'm not boring the editor. Never use the word very. Be objective. No opinions.
Just answer every question in order, all yes and no answers. I have been shopping for about 10 years now. Most of my ratings are 10s.