6 things that you don't know about mystery shopping (yet!)

Mystery shopping is exactly what it says in the tin - large parts of it remain a mystery. There are six key things that you don't know about mystery shopping. You need to know these before you set out to be a mystery shopper-

6- It can be tough to get started

Mystery shopping companies have to look out for their clients. They only want their best shoppers working for Thor top customers. Because of this you have to start from the bottom and prove yourself. Many mystery shop companies will only allow you to do one or two jobs a month to begin with as you build up your profile. This means or can be hard to get established as a mystery shopper.

5- There can be more costs than just the purchase

Although the mystery shopping company will reimburse your purchase (up to a point) and often pay you a few there are other costs to take into account. You will need to factor in in the cost of travelling to the location and any parking costs as well. You will find that many mystery shoppers try to carry out many mystery shops in one location to minimise this cost. You will also find that your average mystery shopper is an expert on all the free places to park in their local area.

4- You are self-employed

You won't be employed by a mystery shopping company. You will be a contractor that carries out work for them on an ad hoc basis. This has the benefit that you can work for many different mystery shopping companies at once. But it also means that you are self-employed and responsible for your relationship with the tax man.

3- Mystery shopping companies do more than mystery shopping

You will find other opportunities on the job pages of your mystery shopping companies. Audits snd exit interviews are common ones that I have seen. It does give you a bit of variety if that is what you are looking for. But beware when you are selecting an assignment that you have read the notes thoroughly and you know what is expected of you.

2- Get it wrong and you may not get paid

Mystery shopping companies will only get paid if the report you produce can be sent through to their client. Make sure you read all the notes carefully so you totally understand the expectations. For example, you may be required to purchase a particular product. If you fail to carry out the assignment correctly then you may very well not get paid, and be out of pocket.

1- You have to speculate to accumulate

With mystery shopping you pay out for the required purchases but it can be some time Becker you get the reimbursement back in your bank account. Many UK mystery shopping companies pay twice a month but with others it can be up to 90 days. Factor this in when you look at becoming s mystery shopper and you won't get s y nasty surprises.

If you are thinking about becoming a mystery shopper then my Amazon Kindle book is a great pace to start. It gives great advice like that found above and also talks you through step by step the way to become a mystery shopper-

I've not prepared for my mystery shop. What should I do?

I've got a mystery shop set up for today but I'm not really ready for it. It's at a national clothing and footwear retailer and I've not done the research, read the brief or made my notes. In short, I'm pretty much 100% unprepared.

So what can I do?

There are a few options and I'll take a look at them now. It is helpful to know what to so if you are ever in this situation.

Wing it

This is an option that I know some other shoppers have tried in the past. That's the only reason that I've included it here. I could probably give it a go as I've shopped this retailer many times before. The job notes do sometimes change for this but the theme is always the same.

Verdict: not a great idea.

Quickly check the notes and give it a go

Obviously in the day of mobile internet and wi-fi hotspots you can check out and pick up the notes at any stage. I haven't got my smartphone linked up to any printers so I couldn't have access to the physical questionnaire. I could however get on the phone and have a look at what is needed. I could make some basic notes and go from there.

Verdict: doable but not ideal.

Rearrange

Most of the mystery shop companies allow you to make a change to the date. It's often done online and most will allow you one change.

It gives me the time to check out the notes and prepare properly.

Verdict: the best plan!

If you are thinking of becoming a mystery shopper then it pays to read up first. Check out my guide to becoming a mystery shopper - it's less then the price of a takeaway coffee and gives you the lowdown on how to apply, be accepted and start making good money by going out to shop.

Read why you should be preparing for January mystery shops right now

It may seem like madness at this time of year but it's really time for mystery shoppers to start preparations for January. With Christmas and the New Year festivities in the offing, you may have your mind elsewhere at the moment but there is very good money to be made in January and the effect of your purchases can be multiplied by the sale prices.

Last January my partner and I carried out 150 mystery shops - almost an average of 5 per day! There are mystery shops available for-

• Clothing stores
• Bars
• Restaurants
• Fast food outlets
• Bookmakers
• Supermarkets
• Takeaways
• Pubs
• Gift retailers
• Sports stores
• And more

There are so many options as mystery shopping customers are looking to start off the quarter by getting their assessments done.

If you're currently a mystery shopper then it's time to get prepared and start looking on the mystery shop we sites for the early releases.

If you're not currently a mystery shopper then now is a great time to find out all about it. Get my book to find out how to become a mystery shopper - it's available now.

It's time to start mystery shopping now if you want to bring in free stuff for Christmas

It's heading towards the time of year that the mystery shops slow down. Many retailers want to concentrate solely on selling at this time and ease off the mystery shopping programmes, to resume in the new year.

I've been stating in my blog for some time that mystery shopping is a great way to secure presents for Christmas. As I write this piece, that is starting to fall away just a little. We're not quite there yet though. It's a strange thing that in my mystery shopping diary I only have three shops booked, and they are all for tomorrow ( and you can see how I get in in tomorrow's blog.) I'd ideally like to have 20-30 booked and I usually have somewhere between 10 and 25 set out in front of me. It's not just the fact that mystery shop companies don't have much available, it's the fact that I'm really only looking for shops that bring me in something that I can use for Christmas. Regular followers of the blog will have seen recent trips to supermarkets and for gifts. I'm looking for similar.

As it stands though, mystery shopping does tail away now and disappear from about mid-December until the first week of January, soniw is the time to read up about mystery shopping, apply to some companies and get out there shopping for free!

My book is the perfect companion to the mystery shopper, so check it out-

Read about why the preparation for a mystery shop is so important

I've got three mystery shops to conduct today over lunch time (or is it lunch time see - http://northeastouterspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/dinners-at-twelve-oclock-teas-at-five.html) but it's one of them I'm going to concentrate on for the blog. I'm going to look at before, during and after to show a little bit of the preparation and the work that's involved in a mystery shop.

Before
The shop must be conducted between the hours of 12:30 and 14:00 today in a town approximately 10 miles away from where I live. It;'s in a higher-end national restaurant chain and it's somewhere I enjoy eating. The visit is for a minimum of two people, so I'm taking the other half along with me and there are specific things that I need to order off the menu. This is quite typical of a mystery shop to get the shoppers to order certain items and it can be for one of a few reasons-

• To test staff knowledge
• To see if other complementary products are being sold with it
• To fit into a meal deal scenario
• The try out new products on the menu
• To see if the presentation is correct

And more.

On this occasion there are several questions about the opening experience in the restaurant and the mystery shop company wants to know things like-

• As you approach the restaurant, take note of the cleanliness
• Take note whether there was a greeter
• You will be asked how long it took for the greeter to greet you
• Take note whether the table was clean and tidy and ready for service
• Please take note whether the menu is clean and undamaged
• Note how long it takes for the employee to offer you a drink

As you can see, the company sees the first interaction as important and that by setting the scene and making the customer comfortable straight away, that they can give a better experience.

This is the first part, the before and as part of this, I've printed out the questionnaire ready to fill in as soon as I can after leaving the restaurant. I have double-checked the location of the restaurant and I know where I can park nearby.

It's now a case of conducting the mystery shop, and then of completing the data entry on the computer when I get back this afternoon or this evening. My next blog will be in situ at the restaurant and I'll have to be as discreet as possible to not raise suspicions that I am a mystery shopper.

Are you interested in mystery shopping? Do you want to find out what it takes to be a mystery shopper? Well there is help available, in the form of my Amazon Kindle book about becoming a mystery shopper and it's available now-

See how mystery shopping companies payment schedules can affect your cash flow

Mystery shopping companies pay their clients (you and me) on different schedules. This can have a large effect in how long it takes you to get your money back from them. And this can effect how much you use certain mystery shopping companies or what times of the month you use them.

These are the payment schedules of some of the companies I use-

Company 1

Pays twice per month, on the 15th (for shops conducted on 16th to end of previous month) and on the last day if the month (for shops conducted 1st to 15th of that month.)

So the longest you could be waiting for a payment is just under a month - from 16th August until 15th September, for example.

Company 2

Pays at the end of one month for all shops conducted in the previous month.

So the longest you could be waiting is just under two months - from 1st March to 30th April, for example.

Company 3

Processes payments as the jobs are confirmed as completed and pays 10 working days after confirmation.

Company 4

Pays once a month, on the 15th and if you're assignment is confirmed as completed on the 14th or earlier, then you're paid.

So the longest you could be waiting for a payment is a month - from 15th October until 15th November, for example.

So you may think twice about using company 2 towards the start of the month. You may try to do as many jobs just before the 15th of every month for companies 1 and 4. These timelines do start to affect when and for who you shop for. Waiting two months for payment, especially when you first start out. Once you are continually mystery shopping over a longer period of time, the money flows in as often as it flows out and these things even out.

It's all part and parcel of the world of mystery shopping and another piece of the jigsaw. Pulling together all of the different elements of mystery shopping helps you to become a mystery shopper-

See the planning that will make your mystery shopping more productive

I keep asking myself how come I think that there's no mystery shopping jobs available in my area at the moment.

When I actually look through the different websites there are over 100 available, but none really for into what I'm doing, where I'm going or that I think will make me enough money.

The trick to turning mystery shopping from something you do every now and again to a 3, 4 or 5 times a week activity is grouping the shops into areas and days. By going out to one town, one shopping mall or one area I can hit somewhere between 3 and 12 mystery shops and suddenly turn a tidy profit. Unless you live in a big city then this takes some planning. I tend to write down the days I'm available all day, or the places I'm going to already. Then, as I work my way through the mystery shopping websites I can make a note of what's available on those days in those places.

So I might have a list like this-

Weds 21st October

Breakfast outlet in town A

Clothing retailer in town B

Lunch in town A

Discount retailer in town A

Health and beauty retailer in town B

Bookmaker in town A

Supermarket in town B

DIY retailer just outside of town A

From this list of options, I'll probably go for town A and then book all of the jobs in this town, look through the shop notes a a start to prepare.

The other way I start to look at things is when a mystery shop assignment comes up that I really want to do. I have favourite mystery shops, or I see one that pays so well I don't feel I can let it pass. From there I book that job straight away so I don't run the risk of missing out on it. I then look at all the other available jobs on all the sites to see what will go with it - jobs in the same town or nearby.

And that's why I don't think that there's any available - I'm stuck between these scenarios on 3 consecutive mystery shopping days-

On Saturday 17th October I'm at a nearby city but there are no jobs available at all.

On Wednesday 21st October I'm available all day but there aren't more than one job in the same town or city.

On Thursday 22nd October I have one favourite mystery shop in a large local city that I booked a while ago, but I can't find any other shops to go with it.

I'll keep looking.

Interested in becoming a mystery shopper? Looking for some guidance?

My Amazon Kindle book is available now-