The Mystery Shop Maven

Most mystery shoppers have been faced with the dilemma of trying to get quick answers from their mystery shopping providers. More often than not, such questions are related to assignments and mystery shoppers feel they need fast answers to their questions if they are to complete the assignments on time and accurately. When providers are not available when we need those fast answers, however, the result is that we can feel frustrated and even backed against a wall with few choices. However, there are some strategies that you can put to use to prevent this from happening in the first place and for getting those answers you need when the questions do crop up.

Prevention is Key. As with most issues and challenges in life, there are some steps that you can take to minimize last minute questions from cropping up on your assignments. You will want to carefully review all of your assignments as soon as they are awarded to you. With your experience on past assignments, you should be able to read between the lines on the requirements to find possible questions you may have. You should also take a look at the report as soon as possible to see what questions you have on that.

Contacting the Provider. Even when you take steps to prevent last minute questions from cropping up and slowing you down, inevitably there will be times when you still will have questions and will need to talk to your provider. Always bring along the phone number of your provider with you on site visits. Bring along the direct number of the scheduler as well as the main number for the provider’s office. The sooner you call once you know you have a question, the sooner you can expect to get an answer. You also want to try to contact the provider via email. In today’s world with email capabilities on cell phones, many people are more accessible via email than by trying to reach them at an office number. If you truly need to get a hold of your provider fast, leave your contact at the provider’s office a voice message at his or her desk and shoot him or her an email, too.

Forums. The online mystery shopper forums are a great resource for information. The fact is that many mystery shoppers have likely completed the same assignment that you have questions on now, and they may know the answer. You simply need to post a question on the forum and wait for the response. You really cannot control who reads the forums at what time, so it is best to post your question as soon as you have it so you can leave mystery shoppers the most time possible to see your question and post their response.

It is no doubt frustrating to need an answer fast and not be able to reach the person you need to speak with right away. Follow some of these strategies to prevent issues like this from arising. If they do arise, you can also use these strategies to get the answers you need.