It is easy to isolate yourself from your fellow mystery shoppers. In fact, in most cases, you actually have to go out of your way to get to know other mystery shoppers. After all, you cannot exactly sit down and chat with them over a cup of coffee in the break room, as is the case with professional colleagues in other lines of work. Unless you make an effort to get to know them and to communicate with them, you very likely will be isolated from them. The fact is that communicating regularly with your fellow mystery shoppers is important for a variety of reasons. Consider these points.
Scams
One of the most important reasons to communicate with mystery shoppers regularly is to learn about scams that are targeting mystery shoppers. Mystery shoppers are unfortunately plagued by scam artists’ attempts to take away our money, and scam artists are always trying out some new stunt or ploy to see who nibbles at their bait. If you are aware of these scams, you will be far less likely to fall for their ploys. You can most easily learn about potential scams by communicating with mystery shoppers on online mystery shopping forums.
Tricks of the Trade
Just when you think you know everything about mystery shopping, some new drama or issue arises that reminds you that there is still more to learn. Of course, you can learn everything the hard way, and this is by learning through your own personal experiences. A better way to learn, and a way that may save you a considerable amount of time and grief, is to learn from others’ experiences. Many mystery shoppers love to share their stories from the trenches with other mystery shoppers, and these are stories that you can learn from.
Provider Tips
If you are having issues with one of your mystery shopping providers, you are not alone. There are constantly issues with providers that are causing turmoil in the lives of mystery shoppers. Some are paying their mystery shoppers to slowly, and some are asking them to alter their mystery shopping reports, as examples. These and other issues may cause you to wonder if you are alone in experiencing these things with a provider or if the issue is more widespread. If the issue is widespread, you may consider switching providers. However, you won’t know what experiences other mystery shoppers are having if you don’t reach out and communicate with them.
It really is easy to go about your work day as a mystery shopper without giving a second thought to the masses of other mystery shoppers who are out there doing the same thing you are doing. However, the fact is that these mystery shoppers can provide you with some incredible benefits if you only take the time to reach out and communicate with them. Mystery shopping forums provide you with a rather anonymous but convenient way to communicate with other mystery shoppers. If you are not already using a forum, head to MysteryShopForum.com and check out the community.
It is subscriptions like “The Mystery Shop Maven” that helps me to stay on point and on the cutting edge of what is going on in the world of mystery shopping. I do enjoy the forums like Mystery Shopping Forum and Video Shopping Forum to keep me in touch with the jobs and mystery shopping companies to apply with and stay away from. Most of it has to be taken with a grain of salt. It is like, eat the meat and spit out the bones. You get my drift.