Inside a Secret Shoppers World

Sarah Little, Secret Shopping Executive, gives us a peek into the life of a mystery shopper.

Welcome to PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blog, the true tales of the mystery shopping industry.

Secret shopping is a great job for me because each month offers a new beginning. I feel refreshed, closing the last month and getting to start anew. But closing the month isn’t always as simple as just closing a door. The secret shopping trends in our own office seem to go that we usually have the same 3 or 4 self storage calls clinging on to the very last moment.

Unlike some of our competitors, we don’t give up until we’ve reached who it is we are secret shopping. Sometimes it’s trying to reach a part time employee that only works a few hours a week that proves to be the most difficult. If the employee is busy or on the property showing a storage unit the may not answer the phones and we may miss them.

At times I feel like my role in the mystery shopping industry is the cat and the employees are the mouse. I’m chasing them. Sometimes I catch them, but sometimes they duck into a hole. It seems like there are more holes, or maybe storage units, to duck into near the end of the month.

I start holding my breath around the 24th or so, and by the 1st I’m gasping for air. I get a few weeks of down time before I have to start crunching again. It took a while to figure out the best routine when learning how to mystery shop, but now things go pretty smoothly.