With the New Year upon us, you may have already made a New Year’s resolution or two, but have you made any resolutions for your mystery shopping job? If you take a moment to pause and reflect back on the last year, you will find that there are likely a few things that you would like to change. Each mystery shopper likely has a few unique resolutions in mind, but there are a few resolutions that every mystery shopper should have for the coming year.
Work Smarter, Not Harder. Most mystery shoppers feel like they are underpaid and undervalued. While nobody can argue that mystery shoppers are paid what there time and efforts are truly worth, getting paid more is not entirely out of your control. The secret to making more money as a mystery shopper this year lies in working smarter. Spend time analyzing assignments to uncover their true value before you request them. This should take into account your time, travel time and expense, the expense and reimbursement of required purchases, bonus pay, and shop pay. As you can see from this list of factors that go into determining an assignment’s true value, if you are just looking at the shop pay, you are not looking at the true value of the assignment. When you analyze the true value of each assignment and then spend your time working on assignments that have the highest value, you will find that you can make more money in less time.
Clean House. You should also make it your goal for the year to analyze which providers are truly a thorn in your side and toss them to the curb. There are dozens and dozens of providers available that are all eager to work with you. If you feel that you have a provider who is consistently difficult to work with, offers bad assignments, doesn’t pay enough for your time, or other such negatives, switch them out with another provider. Working with providers who you are not happy with will only cause you to feel resentment about your job as a whole, and you will find that you are happier mystery shopping when you like the providers you work for.
Something New. For the new year, make an effort to get out of the routine of working on the same types of assignments and try something new. Maybe that means doing an audit or movie theater trailer check. Maybe it means doing an assignment at a car dealership, an airport parking garage, or a nightclub downtown. It’s really easy to fall into a comfortable routine as a mystery shopper and only request the assignments that you are used to doing. This can get boring after awhile, though, so make an effort to shake things up a bit this year. Spice up your mystery shopping assignments with a few different types of assignments to keep the excitement in your job.
When you are thinking about your resolutions for the coming year, be sure to include these on your list for a happier and more prosperous new year!