Secret Shopper Jobs - What is Secret Shopping?
It is used by savvy business owners to make sure that their employees are performing at the levels required , providing good customer service and ensuring that company policies are being followed.
Businesses are looking for people like you, as independent contractors, to assist them in this very valuable customer service process as a secret shopper.
In today's extremely competitive business environment, those companies which fail to provide excellent service will surely not survive.
Studies have shown that a satisfied customer will tell three other people about his experience while a dis-satisfied customer will tell ten to twelve people.
Not only do companies face loss of business from poor service, the actions of their employees may even cause them to be sued by customers, or fined by the government.
With so much at stake, you, as an independent secret shopper can provide a valuable and essential service by identifying potential problems which the business owner can correct before they result in a major liability.
The big question that every business needs to have answered is:How do their employees treat their customers when no one is looking or listening? The reality is that in any business environment is that employees will put on their best performance when they know they are under the watchful eyes of management.
Unfortunately this is not a perfect world and ownership or management is not always present.
The question then becomes, how does any owner/manager know what is happening when they are not present? How do they know if the trained policies and procedures are really being practiced? The answer to these questions is quite simple, they don't.
That's why many companies hire marketing research companies to evaluate the quality of service in their stores, on the telephone and use of their website and these companies use secret shoppers to get the information anonymously.
They assign the secret shopper to make a particular purchase in a store or restaurant, telephone for customer service, or visit their website for customer support, for example, and then report on the experience.
The secret shopper is typically reimbursed for required purchases, can keep the product or service, and receives a shopper fee.
Secret shopping is considered a part-time activity, but many secret shoppers are earning a good income, while having fun shopping and dining at fancy stores and restaurants.
The secret shopping opportunities are generally posted online by mystery shopping or merchandising companies, or offered via email to those secret shoppers who are in their database.
Secret shopping is a fun and rewarding way to shop and dine at stores or restaurants you would normally not patronize, and is a great opportunity for you to improve your community by helping to ensure that good customer service is the norm, and not the exception.