MSPA Shopper Minute

This Just In: Scammer Sentenced to 3.5 Years!
We just got word that a scammer who used the allure of mystery shopping to steal from his victims got 3.5 years in a Canadian Court. See the link below for details!
http://competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/03137.html

In this issue . . . President's Message Shopper Tips Shopper Certification Avoid Scams! Company of the Moment Specialized Mystery Shopping The Shopper Asks Thanks to Contributors Opt-In Breaking News: Scammer Gets 3.5 Years!
President's Message Dear Shoppers: As MSPA member companies prepare to attend our Annual Conference in Las Vegas, we're all hoping the conference for shoppers that is being held just before our meeting will be a major success. MSPA members are looking forward to visiting with shoppers at the Thursday evening event we arranged as a way to have time to mix and mingle with the shoppers. We're delighted to be in the same city and to have the opportunity to communicate with shoppers, too, because communication is key. We need shoppers to understand the business imperatives facing our companies and we need to understand how our decisions influence shoppers' lives. I hope that this one year in which MSPA was unable to orchestrate an MSPA Educational Conference for Shoppers was the only year we have to face that decision. Ever since we initiated the first Shopper Conference in Orlando, we have gotten just as much benefit from our participation as have the shoppers. Here's hoping that, next year, MSPA is able to once again provide an event for shoppers! Many of you have already heard that MSPA is working hard to preserve the statutes that protect Independent Contractor status for shoppers. Despite claims that mystery shopping companies want that so they can make more money, the reality is that we want that because we want to stay in business and so we can continue to pay shoppers who enjoy having an impact on the customer experience. I expect we'll be coming back to you soon to encourage you to contact your legislators, again, to speak out against efforts to eviscerate the business model that all of us depend on. With your support and with the hard work of the entire industry, we will be able to overcome efforts to undermine our industry's way of doing business. I hope to see many of you in Las Vegas! Judi Hess Judi Hess, Customer Perspectives MSPA North America President, 2009 Independent Shoppers Conference, Vegas! MSPA is happy to help promote the 2009 Shopper Conference, organized independently by shoppers! While MSPA was unable to dedicate its resources to a Shopper Conference this year, we are delighted to see that an energetic and enthusiastic group of shoppers got together to take on the task! You still have time to register! If you want more info, click here. Shopper Certification Do you want to receive more jobs; it's easy. If you want more jobs, you should know that the MSPA have developed an on-line Silver Certification program and a more in-depth Gold Certificate program, which is offered as an in-person workshop and as a DVD. Companies are always looking to hire the best and brightest, and this certification is one method of setting you apart from the crowd. Get Certified Now! Click here for details! Specialized Mystery Shopping Photo, audio, video, phone, medical, restaurant, hotel, banks etc. Return to Top Top 10 tips for Fine Dining Shops Fine dining assignments are the Holy Grail for most mystery shoppers. If you are lucky enough to be selected to complete a fine dining shop, make sure it is PERFECT when submitted! The following tips should help. Read your shopper guidelines and follow them to the letter. Is a reservation required? Do you need to use the valet? Do you need to order a bottle of wine? Are you required to visit the bar? Can you order anything on the menu you want? Missing any one of these details will void the visit and can be a very expensive mistake for you. Visit the website before you go and study the menu. Decide what you and your partner will order before you arrive so you can focus on what the staff is doing instead of focusing on what you are going to order when you arrive. Dress for the occasion. Find out the dress code and follow it. Better yet, to get a feel for the environment and dress code, pop into the location before your visit and quickly ask the hostess for a sample menu or ask for the hours of operation. Look around and leave. Blend in! If you are not comfortable in a fine dining environment, DO NOT accept the shop just because you always wanted to go to that restaurant. Don't ask a lot of questions, make lots of special requests and complain to the manager if your order is not just right. Your goal is to get in and get out without being remembered. Split up the duties. Have your partner focus on just remembering employee names and food service times, and you can focus on what the staff is doing step by step and the food itself. In the first 10 minutes of your visit, you will interact with the valet, maître d, busboy, your server and possibly the manager. That is a lot to remember. Once you order your food, go to the restroom to take notes or text yourself the names, times and actions of the staff you just encountered. The first 10 minutes of the visit is crucial! Getting employee names is very important. Tip - server and bartender names are on most receipts. If not, ask their name as you are leaving or ask another employee their name! Order food items you are comfortable with. This is not the time to order items you have never heard of only to realize you dislike it and the restaurant gets penalized for your curiosity. Keep a copy of the itemized receipt listing what you ordered. This helps with the spelling of the exact dishes when writing the report. You cannot just list "Chicken" as your entrée. There may be five to 10 chicken entrees on the menu. Once your report is received by the restaurant, they will look up your order and then match it against the name and time in the reservation system. They will then put a note in their reservation database and the next time you call for a reservation, it will say MYSTERY SHOPPER on your profile. If you are lucky enough to be asked to go back to do a second shop, make a reservation with a different last name. Bon Appetit! Contribute Your Ideas! Do you have ideas you'd like to see addressed in the MSPA Shopper Minute? Contribute your ideas by sending an email to info@mysteryshop.org. Ignore the autoreply message...your suggestion will be send directly to the editor, who will determine how and when we can provide coverage to your idea. We welcome your input and value your ideas!	The Shopper Tip Corner From Shopper to Shopper How to Complete a Shop Unfortunately there are many things in life to do everyday and it is easy to rush through them. Breakfast, brushing your teeth, homework with your kids, etc. But as we all know when we do that, so much can get lost in the mix. Not only do we lose out on the fun stuff but we ultimately hurt ourselves/others by doing the minimum and rushing through. Life is all about the details and so is mystery shopping. Two key elements to successful mystery shopping are taking your time and attention to detail. It's important to respect the time given for each assignment. I usually look at this as a minimum, not a maximum time frame, and I allow enough personal leeway in case it goes a little over. I don't want my shop being dictated by my watch. It's the freedom of mystery shopping and the pride in my work, those are the reasons why I chose this type of independent work. Secondly, and even more importantly, is the attention to detail. It is imperative to notice all of the little nuances and quirks that the average person would never pick up on. That is what separates us from average "joes". Whether it is physical attributes or what an employee said or did not say, these bits of information add up to a story that the client wants to hear. As I leave, here's just a few ideas I have used in the past, maybe these will help you in your quest to pay attention to detail: if the contact or "target" is out of earshot (as well as other store staff), call and leave a message for yourself at home, for ex.: hair color, eye color, name you can also send a text or write a note in your cell phone, not as suspicious as openly writing notes, although I just use the following step grab a sale ad when walking in (for ex. a Staples) face the contact and ask questions, write down physical description or detail of interaction but they think you are writing down price info, etc. to remember a long interview, like a bank job, I will get into my car, drive around the corner, park, or go get a pop/coffee and write it all down for a few minutes while it is fresh in my mind, even a n hour I will lose some information in order to keep things interesting, I make every shop apply to my own life/situations, for ex.: talked to the contact about the best aquarium for a small fish; I usually learn something, the time goes by fast and I have more fun Heidi La Course Avoid Scams! Return to Top MSPA does not engage mystery shoppers. One such scammer has recently used the name John Edwardson and gives an email address of mspa@live.com. He claims to represent MSPA. He does not. He is trying to trap shoppers into letting their guards down by claiming to be from a legitimate organization, but he IS NOT. Other scammers use the MSPA logo on websites or in emails. They are trying to clothe themselves in legitimacy; don't buy it! If you receive an email invitation to become a mystery shopper for MSPA, don't believe it! We don't engage mystery shoppers; only our member companies do. Always look at the email addresses and web addresses these scammers use. They are seldom the "real" addresses of a legitimate company. If a shopper has any question about whether an email is legitimate or not, check it out thoroughly before sharing your personal information and NEVER cash a check sent to you in advance of an assignment. That's a sure sign the deal is a scam. Company of the Moment Why you must shop with: Customer Impact Customer Impact is proud to be a member of MSPA and proud to be introduced to shoppers nationwide. Mike Green (Founder of Green and Associates) and Scott Hiller (Founder of Speedmark) joined forces and formed Customer Impact over a year ago. While we are mostly known for our list of fine dining clients, that is only a very small percentage of our business. We serve all restaurant segments, as well as retailers, banks, c-stores, groceries and more. Customer Impact currently serves the US and has clients with locations in six other countries. Mike Green served on the board of MSPA for six years and is a past president. Under his leadership, shopper certification and a shoppers statement of ethics were implemented to help set standards for the people who are the backbone of our industry. He also attended all but one MSPA sponsored shopper conferences and attended dozens of Gold Workshops nationwide, meeting and listening to shopper issues. One fun fact about Customer Impact is that Mike Green actually started as a shopper like you. YES, it can be done. Just after college, Mike worked for several small shopping companies and enjoyed the idea of helping companies raise the bar of customer service. After 15 years of working in the hotel and restaurant industry, he made the leap and started his own mystery shopping company. Customer Impact is also one of the few remaining companies that still pays shoppers a fee for all restaurant shops, in addition to their meal and bar reimbursements. We believe that you get what you pay for, and shoppers should be fairly compensated for their efforts when possible. We expect high quality work from our shoppers, and we are willing to pay for it. If you take customer service seriously and feel you can provide high quality work, we invite you to join our team and sign up as a shopper at www.customerimpactinfo.com Adrienne Dobson, Customer Impact The Shopper Asks...MSPA Answers Does MSPA help me to find shopping assignments? Yes!, you can go to: http://tinyurl.com/MSPAShopperBoard . There you can search by location, type of shop, dates etc. Does MSPA recruit shoppers? No, never. MSPA never recruit shoppers. Only MSPA company members recruit shoppers. If you receive an invitation to become a mystery shopper for MSPA, don't believe it! It is a scam. Don't miss a single issue! If you'd like to receive notices of future issues of the MSPA Shopper Minute, be sure to opt-in by clicking here and entering your email address!
This Just In: Scammer Sentenced to 3.5 Years! We just got word that a scammer who used the allure of mystery shopping to steal from his victims got 3.5 years in a Canadian Court. See the link below for details! http://competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/03137.html
More Info at MSPA Website We want to remind that there is a lot of more information for you right here: http://www.mysteryshop.org/shoppers/ Please contact us for any questions.
Thanks to Our Contributors Special Thanks for helping in the creation of this issue to: Customer Impact LLC, Coast to Coast Scheduling Services and Heidi La Course
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