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After all, they need skilled mystery shoppers to move around and make their money for them. Being honest with yourself as well as with your clients is a crucial step in the process of having a successful mystery shopping business. Give yourself the opportunity to succeed and to do well each day that you are working. It is in the form of a workshop. Just the Facts One of the biggest mistakes new mystery shoppers make that leads them to not getting their business up and running well is not sticking to the facts. In a sense, you are the eyes and the ears of the company from a customers point of view.

Chapter 4: Getting Started: Tools for Mystery Shopping

Congratulations on making it this far in developing your mystery shopping business. You will need to insure that you have all that is necessary before getting started though. You may be thinking, just what in the world do I need to do in order to mystery shop?

There are several key things that you will need to have in place before getting started. Again, each mystery shop is different and requires a different set of tools. Yet, there are some that are standard throughout the industries that are used regularly. You will want to make sure before starting your mystery shopping business that you have what it takes to do a great job at it.


What You Need

There are several things that are key to mystery shopping. Here are some to take into consideration.

Internet Service. You will need to get on the web regularly not only to input your data for your mystery shop, but also to help in aiding in apply for mystery shops. Most of the shops out there are done through the web and the web only. You will need to be able to get online with a secure service. If you can not count on it, have a back up plan in place as reports that are filed late are not able to be used!

Stop Watch. Some mystery shops will require that you have the necessary tools to time an employee. Many mystery shops have to do with the fast food industry in which timing to the very second is crucial. If you do not have the necessary tools to time it, you can not provide an accurate detailing of the shop. Therefore, you will find you cant do the shop. Look for a stop watch that offers ease of use.

Paper/printer/computer programs. You will want to take into consideration several things here. First, you can not take with you any of the forms for the mystery shop to the location. Even leaving them in the car can allow someone to spot them, giving you up. Therefore, having a notebook, preferably one that can be hidden easily will help you to keep details straight.

Second, you will need a printer that prints fairly well. Most of the time you will need to fax reports to the company including receipts that must come from the mystery shopping company. Of course, you will need a way to fax or scan these receipts to the company as well. If you do not have this type of service, you can often find local services that can provide it. Yet, this is done at your expense.

Finally, you may also want to consider having a program such as Microsoft Excel which will allow you to track your mystery shops, the amounts that are paid for them, when you receive the funds for them and more details. This is a key product to staying organized.

All of these things will help you to perform your mystery shopping business. You will want to insure that you have transportation as well! In some mystery shops, you will need a digital camera to take shots of the location. While you can limit the mystery shops that you do to just what you have the tools to do, this will limit the number of shops that you can do.