I wanted to post here because I know Dave personally. You will not meet another company owner that cares about his business and his shoppers as much as Dave does!
I was talking to him on the phone the other day and I said, "Dave. I sometimes wish shoppers could listen in on our conversations sometimes." You might not expect it, but we were talking about shoppers being underpaid in the industry. Dave and I have BOTH passed up business because, for whatever reason, we would not be able to pay shoppers a fair rate for what the clients were willing to pay. And then we see the shops offered by other companies for less than we would have paid. If you do a good job and are a nice person (i.e. not bashing companies on the board), Dave will go to bat for you!
While the tests may be a pain in the you-know-what, they are for your protection also. Most clients will not accept shops if instructions weren't followed. We don't want the shoppers to spend money out of pocket, only to have your shop rejected. Plus, we actually LOSE money on shops we cannot use. We usually have to pay an editor, even if the shop couldn't be used for whatever reason (since they still had to work on it). When we have to reject a shop, it also doubles our scheduling expenses. We also have to keep them in the system for future reference so we still have to pay ShopMetrics their reporting fees per visit. We would much rather have a usable shop than have to reschedule.
Being a company owner is tough. It really is. Between trying to keep clients happy, trying to keep shoppers happy and trying to deal with all the deadlines and flakes, it is really stressful! But I think the worst part of it is having to do "damage control" because someone you give your business to gets mad or doesn't like your pay methods and starts posting the boards. And it hurts. I don't know about Dave, but I take it personal (I know....I shouldn't take things personal because it is business). One thing I do want shoppers to remember is that mystery shopping company owners are actually your clients, just like the stores you shop are our clients. I'm not saying not to post about companies but.....we would never post about xyz restaurant client and how awful they are to have as a client. lol. Just some food for thought!
Okay, that's my 2 cents!
I appreciate you all. And I don't mean to sound grumpy. But it's the end of the month and we are all a little grumpy this time of the month. I had 7 shops dropped back in my lap tonight.
Have a good evening everyone!
Julie Simbro
ACE Mystery Shopping
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2017 01:05AM by JulieACE.