Timing Mystery Shops (Ask The Coach)

Question:

What are the best ways to time a mystery shop without giving yourself away and still keeping track accurately?

Answer From Coach Melanie:

I've always advised mystery shoppers to just glance at your watch right before walking into the store when you would be visible and maybe add 10 seconds. You'll be fine--it's not like they are going to check the store's video to double-check your arrival time! Their main point with that requirement is really just to get you focused on paying attention to detail.

Well another shopper contacted me to tell me that she had the experience of having a mystery shopping company she worked with literally go back to the store's video tape, so I should tell everyone that it is possible to have a "video replay" of your shop (I don't mean a video shop by the way). However, before you start to worry too much, as I know many shoppers really get nervous over timings, the reason for this review of the store's tape was because there was a big discrepancy of five minutes and also confusion over which shopper did the report.

So know that a company could check a store's tape to verify your arrival time, but as long as you are as close as possible to the actual time, you've met their main concern about paying attention to detail and being credible. And for you gadget types--you can also use a stopwatch or a watch that has this function built-in and push the button inside your pocket right as you walk through the door.

Have a great day and happy shopping!

Taking the mystery out of professional mystery shopping--Melanie Jordan http://www.mysteryshoppercoach.com

Copyright 2005 Melanie R. Jordan E-Publishing