Mystery shopping may not be a widely prevalent job, and in fact some people don’t even think it is real but instead think of it as an urban myth of some kind. Yet those who have tried mystery shopping largely love it, and this is due in large part to the flexibility the job offers to earn money around your other commitments and responsibilities.
Some people use mystery shopping as a second source of income on top of a demanding full-time job, and others use it to make some money on the side while they go about their day as a stay-at-home mom, a college student, a retiree, and so forth. The ability to control your own schedule around your other commitments sure does come in handy!
Unfortunately, however, those who are most attracted to mystery shopping are often among the busiest, and so you have to make an effort to become a more efficient mystery shopper if you want to make more money at this job and also have time to enjoy all of those other things that are demanding of your time. Here are some strategies to improving your efficiency on the job:
Above and Beyond? It’s easy for some people to really want to go above and beyond the call of duty, but in the world of mystery shopping this can really waste your time in many different ways. You really don’t have to spend more time on the site visit making more observations than are required, nor do you have to write a novel with each report. In fact, in some cases, doing this will actually penalize you rather than reward you! So be sure to stick to the requirements, and focus your efforts on completing this requirements in the shortest amount of time possible.
Write It Down. It may some like writing down some extra notes on your various assignments would actually waste time rather than save it. If you have a crystal clear memory and great recall for things like names and times, by all means, skip writing notes down about your assignments. Most people, however, struggle with remembering multiple names and times of events as well as other such minute details. When it comes time to sit down and write your reports, the last thing you want to do is spend time trying to remember who was who and what happened at what time. You can save yourself a lot of time (as well as stress and hassle, too) by jotting down a few notes here and there as necessary.
Now, unless you are in a grocery store or other such venue and can act like you are jotting down notes on a grocery list, you may want to wait until you get back to your car to jot down notes on that particular assignment.
Schedule It. If you life is truly busy, as is the case with so many mystery shoppers, be sure to keep all of your commitments listed on a calendar. This will keep you from double-booking and over-committing yourself. However, it can also show you pretty clearly which days and times you have some free time available and can pick up some extra assignments to make some money.
You will find that these strategies truly can make you a more efficient mystery shopper, and ultimately a more profitable one, too!