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  • Mystery Shopping Providers FAQ
    By admin on May 20, 2009 | No Comments  Comments

    Association of Mystery Shopping Providers is one of the largest in the world. It serves as a complete resource for businesses and shoppers in the undisclosed shopping industry.

    Certification – FAQS

    Following are the answers to some commonly asked questions regarding the certification courses offered by the trade association.

    • Who considers taking up a certification course – All shoppers interested in unknown shopping and education related to the same, consider MSPA certification courses. Anonymous shopping education has been ignored for years and this is the main reason why MSPA has come up with a two-level certification program to help mystery shoppers gain knowledge about the covert shopping industry.
    • How important is a MSPA Certification- It is up to the candidate to decide what he or she intends to gain out of the MSPA certification courses. MSPA represents more than 250 mystery companies worldwide. Although it does not guarantee jobs to the certified individuals, it does place their names on its database so that the companies can approach them when required. Moreover, most companies would not hire a person unless he is properly qualified for the job. So it is better to do a mystery shopping providers course than overlook its importance.
    • What kinds of courses does MSPA offer – There are mainly two types of courses- Silver Certification course and Gold Certification course. Silver certification course is offered online and can be taken by anyone around the world. The course offers the basic skills that ensure that the person gains proper fundamental understanding of the undisclosed shopping industry. The course is based on a read, comprehend and follow directions format. On successful completion of the course, MSPA awards the individual with Silver Certification.
      If an individual intends to go in for Gold Certification then he or she would need to hold Silver Certification first. A Gold Certification course allows the individual to attend workshops that helps him or her understand the more important aspects of anonymous shopping. The candidate learns much through live workshops which are attended by several other shoppers and even owners. The Gold Certification course is also available on DVD. So individuals who cannot access the workshops can still become Gold Certified.
      All you need to have is a computer and Internet accessibility and gaining a mystery shopping providers certification would not be a problem at all.
    • Does MSPA Certification guarantee more work – No. However, the certification program does provide you an edge over other shoppers who might not hold the certification.
    • How one can benefit through a MSPA Certification program – The MSPA Certification program helps all those who are already   working as mystery shoppers and also those who are relatively new to the industry. It helps them gain the required knowledge and understand the in and outs of undisclosed shopping industry. Moreover, a person who holds a certification automatically sets himself or herself apart from the one who does not.
    • Does the MSPA course material change often- Yes, it does. The MSPA course material and test content change frequently. This is to keep it up to date with the ever-evolving mystery shopping industry.
    • How known is a mystery shopping providers certification course-
      The MSPA Certification courses are known to all the members of the association. Moreover, the association is also being used as a resource both by businesses and shoppers to locate mystery shopping providers for their business needs. However, one needs to know that all companies are not members of the MSPA. So a business that is not a member of the MSPA might not know about these certification courses. 

     

    Once you are MSPA certified, all you need to do is to email the various companies and tell them about your certification. They would contact you for your association of mystery shopping providers certification number and other personal details to verify your status.

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  • Services of a Mystery Shopping Provider
    By admin on January 24, 2009 | No Comments  Comments

    In any business the customer holds the key and a satisfied customer means good business. But supervising a business at every step is an impossible task and you will have to leave the matter in the hands of the shop assistants. These assistants interact directly with the customers and their behavior and handling of the customers mean a lot. Any fault on their part can destroy any reputation built up over time. So all your shop floor or self storage managers activity need monitoring. Special shopping or anonymous shopping has evolved into a good option for doing that monitoring where the employees never know that they are under surveillance and to conduct such operations you will need the service of a mystery shopping provider .

    Special shopping not only provides an insight from the customer point of view but also actually provides feedback on the real situation. A mystery shopping provider has many special shoppers registered with it and it can pick and choose from the wide range of shoppers it has under it. These people are ordinary people who visit your establishment daily. Hence, when they visit your shop with a purpose, that of special shopping, they do not attract any attention and this normalcy keeps your staff at their very normal self. Normal self means normal behavior and this is what the special survey is for. The report of the special shopper reveals how good were the shop assistants and other members of the staff and how helpful were they.

    The special shopper needs to fill up a questionnaire after each visit to the establishment and mail them to the mystery shopping provider . The observations of the shopper reveal the condition of the store or establishment in relation to customer handling. The questionnaire is designed in such a way that it will tell where the establishment needs to improve. The details such questionnaire covers include everything from the impression of the shopper when the person enters the establishment for the first time, the courtesy of the staff and their level of helpfulness, the availability of the product they are looking for and any suggestion from the shop employees, the time taken for the shopper to complete all the transactions and the level of satisfaction he or she derives from shopping in the establishment and finally, the overall impression.

    These observations are analyzed by the mystery shopping provider . The analysis is made to find if the establishment is lagging in some areas and if it can cause loss of business. The specific areas are marked out and you will be informed if your business needs improvement in those areas. If you hire a reputed and well known agency of special shoppers then you can also expect suggestions from them about the ways to improve upon your level of customer satisfaction. In some cases they can even design special programs for training your staff n the art of selling so that your customers are always happy.

    Many businesses like retail stores, restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, automotive servicing companies, amusement parks, banks, and even airliners are now hiring the special shopping agencies to find out if their customers are satisfied. The effectivity of the service of a mystery shopping provider is being acknowledged across the businesses as the most potent method of judging the ground reality as far as client satisfaction goes. Everybody is gaining from the services so why not you?

    Waterford Self Storage

    Westland Self Storage

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  • Know About Mystery Shopping Providers
    By admin on January 20, 2009 | 1 Comment1 Comment  Comments

    Mystery shopping providers are those who are arranging shopping for the shoppers and obviously with a purpose that is the survey, for the betterment of the business. Shoppers are not only paid for the job they have done but the amount they have spent on the shopping is also reimbursed. If you do not believe it, go through the internet. These types of companies have great demand. Almost every business sector from the multi national to the local grocery shop to nationwide self storage or local self storage is engaging a provider to help them.

    The work of the mystery shopping providers is almost like quality control in manufacturing unit. The difference is that it is not laboratory based work and no machine or chemical is used to control the quality of the product. The thing which is used here to test the quality is human being. The satisfaction of the customer is the only unit to measure the quality of the product. Human brain is the most complicated one and they judge the product most effectively. Machines are programmed in a certain way while evaluating the quality of a product. But unlike machine human brain has ambition, emotion and a character of their own and they apply these entire thing to judge the product. For this reason a special agency is appointed to handle these human brains. These special agencies are called the mystery shopping providers.

    The mystery shopping providers does reap double benefits on his way. At first they help the commercial sector to run their business well by their work process. Secondly they make chance of earning money for those who are completely unemployed or have time in their hand to make it fruitful. These providers provide the job of shopper to those who are willing to do it. The job is not at all complicated. The only qualification you need in this job is eighteen years of age and little bit of punctuality. Shoppers who are employed here also become happy when they see that their extra income brings extra comfort in their family.

    We should not keep mystery behind the job mystery shopping providers provides for the people. They appoint common people to work for them. These people in disguise of a real customer enter business sector to supervise every thing,  how the business is going on, whether all the products are well displayed, or the staffs have good knowledge of product to guide the customers, if the staffs are efficient enough to handle the odd situation if arise and many more things. The shoppers have to submit their report on the basis of their visit. The work is not time bound but the report is time bound. It means that you will have to submit your report within twenty four hours of the visit.

    The appointment process of the shoppers is very easy. After choosing one provider from the internet you will apply for yourself by mentioning all your qualification as required to be a shopper. After being selected you will get a free training from your provider. When you get ready after all these process you will get a list of work from your provider. You are to choose your location and start working. Mystery shopping providers provide a question bank to their shoppers. It means that the shoppers have no option to express their opinion or advice. They will only give answers of those questions provided for them by their providers on the basis of their visit.

    Secret Shopping Company

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