As a mystery shopper, with each assignment you put yourself into a situation that you simply cannot control. Your job is to follow the assignment requirements and perform your mystery shop as indicated. But there are any number of issues that can (and do!) come up during assignments. Everything from observant store staff to the curiosity of other regular shoppers at the store can throw you for a loop. When this happens, the simple task of completing your assignment can be thrown into limbo, and along with that goes your paycheck. Be prepared to think fast on your feet as a mystery shopper to prepare yourself for any situation and save your paycheck.
Plan Ahead. As you are reading through your mystery shopping assignment requirements, think outside the box and try to plan ahead for various scenarios. Determine if you can be yourself at the job site or if you will need to take on the role of a different person to complete the assignment properly. If you need to take on a role, think ahead to various questions the staff may ask of you and how you will respond.
If you are familiar with the layout of the job site, spend some time thinking about how you will walk through the store to complete the assignment. For instance, which display stands will you visit first, or which departments? What type of clothing will you try on? What item will you purchase? These are just a few of the questions you can ask yourself before your site visit to prepare yourself to the assignment. The more prepared you are, the better able you will be to handle any questions or situations that may arise.
When In Doubt, Play Dumb. If you’ve ever worked in a job that deals with the general public, you know that many people ask irrelevant questions and do questionable things in a store. It may be completely out of your normal character to say something “stupid” or do something unintelligent in public, but there are times when playing down your intelligence comes in handy on a mystery shopping assignment. For instance, a curious store clerk may ask why you are studying the store shelves and racks so intently and why you’ve visited the same rack of clothing three times. There aren’t many way to get out of that question besides saying something along the lines of, “I’m so scatterbrained today! It’s one of those days where I’m looking at the clothes but it’s just not registering what I’m looking at.” You may very well know exactly what you’re doing, but playing dumb is a great way to get out of situations such as this.
Use The Safe Zones. Safe zones for a mystery shoppers are locations in the store where you can find a few moments of privacy, such as a restroom or fitting room. If you ever get close to being caught in the act and can’t very quickly think of a way to get out of the situation, make a quick retreat to one of the job site’s safe zones so you can re-group and plan your course of action to save the assignment. Restrooms and fitting rooms are great spots for mystery shoppers to buy a little time in sticky situations.
When you think fast on your feet, you can get out of almost any situation that may arise while you are mystery shopping.
You must have been doing this a long time as you do have some good advice.Thank You
I know that this doesn’t pertain to the article, but need some help from you mystery shoppers out there. I performed a shop on the date that I was scheduled to. I contacted the scheduler at Kern via email. No response the next day, called her office, left a message. No call back. Sent 2 more emails to her. Then received an email that the job was canceled and I shouldn’t do it. Then another blanket email that mystery shoppers aren’t fulfilling their obligations. By now my blood was boiling and told her that I was going to spread the word that she didn’t have the courtesy to respond to my contacts to her. Finally she gave me an email to contact someone. Needless to say, she gave me the wrong email address. I finally found the correct address and sent an email to that person. Today I received an answer and it looks like I won’t get paid for the shop. Despite the fact I fulfilled my obligation. It’s like Lorri at Kern things mystery shoppers time isn’t worth anything, only her time.
My question is, should I have filled out the report even though this shop wasn’t participating in the promotion or tried to receive an answer to my question?
Thanks for your help in this matter.
My Girl Sno
I usually just fill in the report as best I can – and sometimes you may have to answer NO to questions that you really can’t answer, but at the end there is generally room for comments and that’s when I tell them the location isn’t participating.
“It’s like Lorri at Kern thinks mystery shoppers time isn’t worth anything, only her time.”
thanks for telling us Lorri email messages at Kern should be ignore.
Back to the topic at hand, There are many times when the “scatterbrained” line will save a shop.
For example, you were supposed to ask a certain question, or inquire about a particular item, but you missed it until you get to the car and start filling in your notes, I have no problem going back in and saying: “I’m sorry, I was so excited about the idea of finally getting a big screen TV, I can’t think straight. Can you explain to me again the difference between plasma and LCD?”
On another note, I have worked quite a bit with Lorri, at Kern, and never had a problem.
And yes, the shopper above should have entered a report.
Even if they refuse to allow you to conduct the shop, there is still generally a place to enter manager refusal on the report form.
A tip that may help in the future is to read the report form carefully before you do the shop. That way you will know if you have room on it to explain discrepancies.
JayTee has it! scatter-brained works. Reading the report form is a good idea. There are times that things are out of our control right? Could that not be true for schedulers too? Even with clear up to date communication, things can happen to cancel a job. Life happens! When a blanket email is sent out that obligations are not being met, a quick reply with a reminder that X assignment was indeed done on time and submitted, might elicite a positive response. But even if it doesn’t, keeping your cool, will do you well. It has been my experience in shops and in life in general that being understanding of other’s dilemas, putting myself in other’s shoes, usually brings rewards down the road. That works too!
I ran into the same problem with Kern on an assignment. I don’t believe the scheduler was Lorri, but I got the same response to a question about a required purchase-nothing. I wanted to know if a lay-a-way receipt would suffice for the purchase receipt. I sent the question twice, with no response, so just completed the shop with a full purchase, simply to ensure the shop wouldn’t be refused. Incidentally, I sent the same question to the company that Kern was scheduling for, and received no answer from them either. I don’t know if they thought it was a stupid question that didn’t need answering or what, but I was very disappointed with both companies. Some kind of response would have been appreciated. Good luck and God bless.
Simple directions are the best way to get the needed response from your scheduler. I know for a fact that most of them are scatter-brained themselves and are rather hesitant to deviate from the clients wishes so it’s not just them, its the person that will literally pay them in order for them to pay you. It’s just that simple they are the in-between that makes it happen for you so if what I said didn’t register maybe Mystery Shopping is not for you. They have to protect and comply with the guidelines of the shop so that you can’t change it one iota Perhaps it makes no sense although I have tried to do it a couple of times ( change the procedure to fit what I had whether it was the right receipt or business card instead of doing exactly what was asked of me) but it doesn’t wash at all. So back to what I said ‘Simple Directions from start to finish makes it all come out correctly~
So in-other-words do it right,the first time. No short-cuts.
Thanks you guys, all the information is so helpful. There is so much to learn, one thing in my favor I’ve been working with the public for 26 yrs. The PLAY DUMB works really well. Think fast and act quick// Great training, thanks.