Whenever I post my income reports including my mystery shopping income I get questions from people wondering what is mystery shopping. Mystery shopping is when a company hires someone to pose as a customer in order to evaluate the customer service and other aspects of their business. A mystery shop can give an establishment a truer sense of how the business is run and what quality of customer service is provided since the employees and management of the establishment do not know when they are being mystery shopped. Many different businesses use mystery shoppers. The types of business I usually mystery shop are restaurants, banks, movie theaters, and gas stations. Many mystery shopping companies also hire shoppers for jobs other than mystery shopping. I’ll cover that in a later post.
If you would like to get started mystery shopping I suggest you visit Volition.com. They have a lot of posts and material on mystery shopping and you should be able to sort through everything and find the information you need to get started. You do not have to pay a company to get started mystery shopping. Check back at the end of this month because I plan on releasing a mystery shopping guide that will give you all the information you need to get started in one place.
I tried mystery shopping about 10 years ago and I didn’t get any good assignments. We saw a few movies and that was about it. There are probably more opportunities now, but we don’t have any time. Someday when I have more time, I would like to try again.
Mystery shopping is a great way to determine the value of any establishment. If you ever wonder if you’re truly getting the best service, just hire a mystery shopper because they’ll give you an open, unbiased view of the establishment. They’ll help you confirm or deny your doubts about whether you’re getting the best service.