Every relationship is based on trust, and this includes a mystery shopper’s relationship with his or her providers. Trust is a two-way street, and in mystery shopping, both the provider and the mystery shopper have to trust each other to have a truly prosperous relationship. When you take the time to develop a trusting relationship with each of the providers you work with, you will find mystery shopping to be a more profitable venture.
Making Yourself Trustworthy. Mystery shopping providers need to be able to rely on you as a mystery shopper to give them accurate and timely reports, and to complete the assignments in a manner outlined by the requirements. Many mystery shopping providers use a “shopper rating”, which is a scale of 1 to 10, to rank shoppers. The ranking is based on how well you perform on each of your assignments, thereby giving schedulers an idea of your trustworthiness as a mystery shopper. The shopper rating is used to determine if you are qualified to complete future assignments with the provider.
Those providers who don’t use a shopper rating typically have an internal system of classification they use, and many schedulers also keep track of your trustworthiness as as mystery shopper as well. With this in mind, you can see that how you perform as a mystery shopper is directly tied to your paycheck. If a mystery shopping provider can trust you to complete your assignments in the manner outlined by the job requirements, you will get more assignments and earn more money as a mystery shopper.
Find Providers Worthy Of Your Trust. Mystery shoppers need to be able to trust their providers as well. Mystery shoppers want to know that their reports won’t be scrutinized to death, that their paychecks will arrive promptly and in full, and that the schedulers are reasonable and friendly to work with. Providers that fail to prove themselves trustworthy in these areas typically find it harder to get their assignments filled. With one bad experience with a provider, that mystery shopper may opt not to work with that provider any more. On top of that, that mystery shopper may share his or her experiences with the mystery shopping community via the on-line forums. Mystery shoppers will shy away from working with providers who have proven themselves untrustworthy.
If you want to make the most money as possible as a mystery shopper, you can grow your independent business by first making yourself as trustworthy as possible by completing your best work with each and every assignment. Then take time to narrow down the list of providers you work with to include only those providers who have proven they are worthy of your trust by paying fully and promptly, and being courteous and professional to you at all times.
If you haven’t done so recently, take some time to think about how trustworthy you appear to be to your providers and how trustworthy they have proven to be to you over time. You will find yourself becoming a more profitable mystery shopper when you work on developing trust in your mystery shopping relationships with your providers.
Hello,
I have a problem with trust with one of my schedulers.She change my report to what the company wanted to hear from what really happened.Now I’m uneasy everytime I do a shop for her. Why didn’t she just write. the report herself Sometimes I think in these economic times their afraid of losing the companies business. There’s a fine line in this business.
In view of what happened to Cheryl, I recommend ‘printing’ and ‘digitally saving’ ALL completed reports, whether mail in or on-line reports. If a report is questioned subsequent to your submitting it, you have back up, especially if it has been changed. The change would thus be revealed. One cannot control what others may do. You can, however, control whether you do assignments for such a scheduler in the future. Such a provider could really blow it! They need the shoppers or they are out of business!