For those who’ve never mystery shopped, whether in-person or over-the-phone, you might feel apprehension before showtime. You might worry that you’ll miss an important detail, get tongue-tied when speaking with an employee, or even get found-out for being a shopper. These concerns are natural: most of us don’t have eidetic memories or acting experience. That doesn’t mean you’re unqualified.
So how do you overcome these jitters? Here are a few tips:
Preparation
Missing important details is usually a consequence of being unfamiliar with the survey you’ll need to complete at the end of your experience. The obvious answer to this problem is to make sure you read through the questions a couple of times so that you’re not surprised by what you’ll be asked.
Another good idea is to use those questions to identify what you’re most likely to overlook. For example, if you’re the sort of person who rarely uses public restrooms—and your survey asks you to evaluate them at a client’s location—then you’ll want to really commit that to your mental checklist. Maybe even head there first so you don’t forget. In fact, you might even previsualize your experience, especially if you have an idea of how the location is laid out. This is a way to plan to hit all the areas you need to evaluate.
Be Yourself
Unless you relish the idea of pretending to be someone else for these assignments, your best bet is to just be your normal self. When you take on an assignment, think about what you would want or expect from a product or service if you were actually in the market for it.
When you evaluate a restaurant, you’ll order food to your tastes. You won’t pretend to be someone who likes Brussels sprouts if you don’t like Brussels sprouts. You like what you like, what you don’t, you don’t; be true to yourself and honest on the survey. The less you have to pretend, the easier this all is.
Relax
You’re going to be better at this than you think. In your normal life, you’ve shopped at retail stores and dined out. You’ve called businesses to ask questions. You’ve been on the receiving end of great customer service and bad. As such, you’ve already seen ninety-percent of what there is to see—all that might change is the product you’re inquiring about. Maybe you’ve never shopped at a hot tub store, but if you’ve ever gone to a place where a salesperson asks you questions to help you find the right product for you (e.g. a car dealership, a cellular-phone store, etc.), then there’s little to surprise you.
Don’t sweat it. Just take good mental notes (or literal ones, if you need to—just be inconspicuous), let the employee do most of the talking, and then be detailed in your summaries during the survey. That’s all it takes to be great at mystery shopping.
If you think you’re ready to give this a go, check out our page on Becoming a Mystery Shopper. Once you register, you’ll have access to our Shop Board, which will show you the available assignments in your area. We can’t wait to shop with you. See you on the board!
