A question I get all the time is, "How can I get
a cruise shop?" Although there are not a lot of
cruise shops available - I have talked to mystery
shopping executives who have never seen
one - there are many very desirable high-end
shops, including resorts and spas, that offer
"free" travel, accommodations and other
benefits, and sometimes even a significant fee.
Lots of new shoppers are enticed by the idea of
landing one of these high-value shops. There are
pay-to-shop sites that claim to offer cruises
and other high-end shops to get you to sign up.
Of course, you should never pay to sign up with
any company, so before you hand over your credit
card information to someone dangling the promise
of a cruise or resort shop in front of you,
think about this:
Imagine you are a mystery shopping company owner
or scheduler, and you have a cruise shop to
assign. Would you:
a) Post the assignment to a public job board and
hire a shopper with whom you have never worked;
b) Randomly award the shop like a raffle prize
to one of the 50,000 shoppers already in your
database;
c) Do it yourself - after all it's a cruise; or
d) Give the shop to one of the shoppers who can
always be relied upon to do a great job for you.
OK, in some cases the answer might be c). That
is one of the perks that comes with being in
charge. But if they do not do the shop
themselves, the answer will be d) and definitely
not a) or b).
Let's look at how mystery shopping companies
select shoppers for high-end shops. They have to
choose someone who will do everything required
(and these shops can be complicated) and will
turn in a detailed, well-written report. They
can not take the chance that the shopper will do
a less-than-outstanding job. That means that
they will choose a shopper who has worked for
them (usually many times) in the past, has
always done their assignments on time, follows
all shop guidelines, and has the writing skills
needed for the detailed narratives often
required.
Consider this: If a shopper messes up a $50
dinner shop and does not turn in a report the
client will accept, the mystery shopping company
will probably not be paid by the client and will
not be able to reimburse the shopper. That makes
for an unhappy shopper.
Now imagine that the shopper messed up a $3,000
cruise or resort shop. The secret shopping
company can not afford to pay the shopper's
expenses if they will not be paid by the client.
But the shopper probably can not afford to be
out of pocket $3,000, either. No one wins in
this situation. (That is another reason they may
choose to do it themselves.)
So how can you get high-end hotel, resort, spa and (maybe) cruise shops?
- Make your applications complete and correct.
- Provide an excellent writing sample.
- Do your assignments on time.
- Read and follow the written guidelines.
- Follow the scenarios you are given.
- Make your reports the best they can be - good
details, and written with proper spelling,
grammar and punctuation.
- Help out your scheduler when she is in a jam.
- Pick up a last-minute shop or two when
someone else flakes (and don't be a flake
yourself).
- Be the go-to shopper.
Do a great job on the little jobs, and the big jobs may follow.