Overview:This is a standard piece of equipment for almost all mystery shoppers. Yet they vary in features and capabilities. If you ever wanted to know what’s available out there in the way of cellular phones and plans, here’s your chance to find out all about them and get paid for it.
Project Variations:Most scenarios require the shopper to visit a store location or kiosk in a mall or warehouse store and act as a customer wanting to purchase a cellular phone and service plan. There are other scenarios involving covertly observing kiosks from a distance.
Visit & Reporting Requirements:Time on site for the typical scenario is usually 20 to 25 minutes per location, depending upon customer traffic at the time of visit. Some assignment guidelines require the shopper to wait a minimum of 30 minutes for assistance before they can leave the premises. For locations that are pay-as-you-go payment centers, it’s more than likely that the shopper will be cooling their heels for an extended period of time before someone is available to assist them.
Time for the covert observation scenarios is 15 minutes. The report for these takes about 5 minutes.
Reporting time varies, depending upon the MSC and client. Some of these are easy and quick. Others are repetitive in nature, asking for the same information multiple times in various ways. Some require an undesirable amount of narrative.
Strategies:Have your backstory prepared and ready to go before making your visit. It’s almost standard for a sales associate to ask you why you are in the market for a new phone and/or new plan.
The easiest and simplest answer is to tell the associate you are in the process of breaking up or getting divorced, and the plan is under your significant other’s name. This also helps you to dodge questions about your phone number and address. You can also tell the associate you have recently moved to the area.
Many times the associate will be asking you more questions than you will be asking them. That’s ok. A lot of clients want to know if their associates employed effective techniques to identify your needs and wants. So have answers ready and mentally take note of what you are asked. Typically inquiries will concern what features you use or like, how you use your phone, how many minutes you use each month, if you need a data plan, where you travel, and more. However, one of the most important things the client will want to find out is whether the associate pro-ctively asked for the sale.
It can be helpful if you are familiar with some of the terminology this industry uses. If not, don’t be afraid to ask the associate to clarify topics of discussion.
What Others Have to Say: One thing that most of the shoppers on www.mysteryshopforum.com agree about is that cellular phone assignments are boring in a big way. Yet a lot of shoppers complete this type of assignment regularly because they can easily fill in gaps in a schedule. A lot of shoppers report that they don’t consider accepting these assignments until they are bonused, simply because of the tedium involved involved in both the on-site visit and report.
Estimated Pay:Cellular phone assignments are not the best paying. Typical fees are between $10 to $15. However, these are frequently bonused after sitting on the job boards for an extended period of time.
MSCs:Among the mystery shopping companies that have cellular phone clients are MarketForce, Measure Consumer Perspectives, and Associate Consumer Evaluations.