Mystery Shopping Success Secrets - Lesson 6

Want to know how to write great mystery shopper reports? Get insider secrets in this article, and the free secret shopper course available at http://www.IdeaLady.com/

Welcome to Part 6 of ‘Secrets of Mystery Shopping Success.’ Yesterday, you learned how to gather information on a shop without blowing your cover. Today, we’re going to talk about how to capture that information in great reports.

Cathy Stucker
http://www.IdeaLady.com/

Success Strategy #6
Writing Great Reports

Once you’ve done the shop, the next step is to complete your report. Don’t be surprised if it takes longer than you expected to do your first reports. Like most things, it will get easier with experience.

The time required to complete your report may range from a few minutes for a simple check-off form with a few comments, to hours for an extensive narrative. Although your fee is not usually expressed as an hourly rate, companies consider the relative ease or difficulty of completing the report, and the time that may be required, when setting fees.

Before writing your report, gather anything you need: forms to complete, log-in information if the forms are online, notes or tapes you made during the shop, the instructions and/or sample reports, receipts or other documents, etc.

Do it Now!
The report should be written immediately after completing the shop, while your memories are strong. Some sections of the report may be completed while you are doing the shop, others will be constructed from memory or from the notes you took or by listening to a tape recording.

What to Include
Some companies will provide a sample report to illustrate how the report should be completed, the number of comments to include and the level of detail to include in the comments. If you receive a sample, follow the format as closely as possible but don’t copy the words exactly. While some clients love having lots of comments, others want very few. The sample will give you an idea of what they expect.

All of the information you provide should be as objective as possible. You are reporting what happened, not writing a review. Don’t say the food was bad, say why. Was it cooked improperly? Cold? Stale? Not what you ordered? Be specific. Don’t say that the food was poorly prepared because you don’t happen to like the flavor.

Don’t say the wait was ‘too long’, say you waited 10 minutes before you reached the cashier. Saying the manager was helpful isn’t very clear. Saying that you saw him carry trays for a mother dining with three small children tells exactly what happened.

Use names or descriptions of employees. The client wants to know who is doing a great job, and who is doing a not-so-great job. Telling him is your job.

Answer each question on the form. Add comments to back up both positive and negative ratings. Make sure that your answers are consistent with your comments. If you answer a question that, yes, the salesperson served you promptly, but in your comments say that you had to wait five minutes while he finished a personal call, that doesn’t add up!

Remember that you’re giving an objective picture of what you saw, and you’re not trying to find things wrong. Don’t look for excuses to give a poor rating. Be honest and fair. One tissue on the rest room floor doesn’t mean that the rest room wasn’t clean. (C’mon, you know right away when a rest room isn’t clean, don’t you?) Of course, if the instructions for the shop say that any flaw is reason for a “no” answer, follow the instructions.

If you are not sure how to answer a question, email or call the mystery shopping company and ask. Let’s say the evaluation form asks if the salesperson offered you the Premium Gold Maintenance Plan. Your salesperson told you a service contract is available, but didn’t specifically mention the Premium Gold Maintenance Plan by name. Do they get a yes or a no? That depends on the company’s service standard. When in doubt, contact the mystery shopping company and ask.

Keep your comments objective, and focused on what you observed. Don’t tell them what they should do, tell them what you saw. For example, don’t say that the floor “needed to be mopped.” Say that the floor was dirty, especially the baseboards and in the corners, or that there was a puddle of standing water about 12’ wide. Instead of “trash needed to be emptied” say that the trash can was overflowing onto the floor if that’s what you saw.

If you are required to do a narrative report, you will be told what you must include, and how long the report should be at minimum or maximum. Follow the guidelines as closely as possible.

Some companies will appreciate it if you go beyond the questions you are required to answer in a form or narrative report, and mention anything notable. Did you see an employee go out of his way to help a customer? Was the sneeze guard missing from the salad bar? Was a loose tile causing a safety hazard? Provide any observations that you might want to know about if you owned that business.

Because most reports are now completed using a computer, it is unlikely that you will be asked to handwrite your report. However, if anything is handwritten, your writing must be neat and legible.

Your reports must be organized and easy to follow. Put comments in the correct locations. You may be asked to number your comments to correspond to the questions on the form. Whatever the instructions, make sure you follow them.

Don’t assume that because you have been mystery shopping for a while, or because you have mystery shopped for the same company or client before, that you know what to do. Always read and follow the instructions. Requirements vary from one client to the next, and even from one shop to the next for the same client.

Before submitting your report, check it over to make sure it is complete and correct. Look for unanswered questions, data entry errors, misspelled words, missing or inconsistent comments, or anything else that will cause the mystery shopping company to call you. If your report is incomplete, your fee may be reduced or withheld. A pattern of poor reports means you won’t receive future assignments. Make your reports the best they can be.

You’ll get lots more tips to make mystery shopping easier in ‘The Mystery Shopper’s Manual.’ This is the only book for mystery shoppers endorsed by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. Order The Mystery Shopper’s Manual here.

Tomorrow’s Strategy:
Your Action Plan

Secrets of Mystery Shopping Success
A free ecourse from Cathy Stucker and IdeaLady.com
Copyright Cathy Stucker


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