Mystery Shopper – Service Provided
Also known as a secret shopper, a Mystery Shopper is a freelance shopper who is hired by a company to visit and perhaps shop at chosen customer oriented businesses. These can include grocery stores, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, amusement parks, stores, hair salons, banks, toy store, jewelry stores, department stores, websites and more. After visiting or shopping at an assigned organization or business he/she sends feedback to the company he or she visited which generally includes sharing information related to their employees’ sales ability, product knowledge, customer service procedures, professionalism or other areas specified by the employer.A Mystery Shopper can be either a full time or a part time professional who has been trained in all aspects of the occupation. There are a diversity of jobs obtainable ad the majority of these jobs are with national restaurants and chains which hire companies that concentrate on providing Mystery Shoppers and auditing their shopping services. It is then the promotion company’s responsibility to find competent professionals, schedule their assignments, review their reports/evaluations, and then process their payments. Therefore, anyone looking for a job as a Mystery Shopper would be well advised to sign up with a marketing agency.Though not presently mandatory the idea of a certification for the Mystery Shopper profession has captured the interest of many professionals who want to have an edge over those not certified. The goal of the certification program is the ongoing evaluation and improvement of the performance of these professionals and also offers education to both existing and new professionals. In addition certification raises the caliber of the shoppers and fine tunes the needs of the industry. The program presently has many offerings like teaching the candidate how to apply to a company for a job, how to get good assignments and tips, how to submit relevant and comprehensible reports and applicable techniques on evaluation.Probably the biggest advantage of being a certified Mystery Shopper is that it increases the possibility of receiving prestigious assignments because many companies offer the quality job opportunities to their certified professionals first.Any company that does business with the general public can benefit from the work of a Mystery Shopper who can evaluate the business and customer procedures and provide the company with important objective input about their services and products.
