Shop, Shop, Shopping!

Mixing work with pleasure is an exciting option for many. One such opportunity to earn an income doing something you enjoy is to be a professional secret shopper. You can spend your time shopping and receive freebies for services from the clients you are evaluating. You might not be able to shop full time, but you can earn spending money and free services at restaurants, theaters or amusement parks. Being a shopper is a good option to explore.

A secret shopper is a professional hired by companies to assess products, services and customer satisfaction and employee performance while remaining anonymous. This is a legitimate business with hundreds of companies listed by a national company needing shoppers to help get feedback to improve their services.

Shopping for pay has become a practical opportunity for many. Imagine. You get paid to shop, drive a car, dine out and even play golf. Many businesses offer freebies for services as well. As the trend in marketing and service quality changes, more and more companies need professional shoppers.

Quality service and set standards are necessary for a business to retain customers and succeed among their competitors. Loss of customers and profits could result when the quality of a business declines. That is why more and more companies are turning to a professional secret shopper to provide honest evaluations on the quality of the products and services they received while acting as an anonymous customer.

The secret shopper will be given an assignment such as dining in a restaurant. They will then send a detailed report on the services they received, how clean the restaurant was, the quality of the food and other details. The secret shopper observes the cheerful smiles and the knowledge the employee has on the products. They examine the maintenance and how clean the facilities inside and out are. They note how helpful and friendly customer service personnel are. The shopper not only gives an opinion. They give honest, valuable responses as a real customer in a straightforward, true account.

The assignments are always different. One time, you are asked to check the competence of the staff on a sale product. Another time you could be asked to make note of the number of customers waiting in line. The shopper works both offline locations and through online websites.

There are a few things someone wanting to become a secret shopper needs. There is not a lot of extensive training, however books and websites are available to get you started. Someone in this business should be detail oriented, be a good communicator with good grammar skills and have a flexible schedule. There will be some out of pocket expenses, although many companies will reimburse you for purchases made at the shop being evaluated. Study the contract thoroughly and know what is reimbursed before you sign on.

Another option is to set up as a business. This way many expenses such as travel and gas are deductible on your taxes. Just keep good records. When finding a company to work for, never pay a fee. These companies that ask for an upfront fee are normally scams.

Pay varies with each assignment. The average is around 10 to 15 dollars per store. The higher paying assignments are very competitive to get. Some companies offer free services such as movie tickets, restaurant meals and rides at an amusement park in lieu of payment.

You probably cannot make a full time living in the beginning. But if you are looking to earn a few dollars a month or free stuff, becoming a shopper could be rewarding and exciting.

Secret Shopper

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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