Video Mystery Shopping Companies
Video mystery shopping companies are always looking for people who have hidden video equipment to earn some extra income in their spare time. There are assignments for new home builders, apartments, retail stores, restaurants, auto dealerships, even dentists and optometrists and many more businesses. The best thing is that video mystery shopping companies are always looking for new people to work with. If you don't have equipment, It will be more difficult to start, but not impossible.
Business owners and managers (the client) find hidden videos to be an effective tool to train their employees. Many video assignments focus on the presentation of a sales person. Business owners and managers hear every word the sales person says from the greeting to the goodbye. The client has the opportunity to review the video with the sales person and stop it along the way to make a comment. It’s an effective way to properly train a person to excel on their job.
The client learns so much more about their business with video mystery shopping assignments. A shopper for a written assignment may miss a detail or two when they write their narrative.
The client also understands that they will pay more for these assignments. Video mystery shoppers are paid at least double what the written shopper will earn.
MORE about the legal issues about video mystery shopping
The people in video mystery shopping companies
Video mystery shopping companies operate much the same way as any other mystery shopping company. Most of them are existing companies that have added a video department. The owner has to hire more people and purchase video editing equipment. Operating a video mystery shopping company is more than double the cost of a written one.
Video mystery shopping companies reach out to the client about having mystery shoppers visit their locations. They work with the client to find out the overall agenda of what they want the video shopper to accomplish. Pricing and all other details will be worked out before signing any contracts.
Larger video mystery shopping companies will have some sales people involved to bring in new business. The owner of a smaller company will be the primary sales person. Most of the clientele come from referrals and online advertising.
Editor
Once a new sale is made, the order will be handed to an editor. The editor will write the instructions for the assignment and set up the online report for the shopper to complete. Most video assignments have short reports, but there are a few exceptions.
Meet Mystery Don and what he has to say about Video Mystery Shopping.
Scheduler
Once the assignments are in place, the scheduler will assign each mystery shop to someone in the company database. Video shoppers visit this database to search for assignments on their own and apply for assignments. The scheduler will assign as many as they can right away. If there are some assignments that aren’t scheduled, the scheduler will have to send an email to people in the database to show assignments that are available.
It’s important to understand
that the scheduler will not send an email to just anyone. It’s only to people in the database.
The scheduler is always on the lookout to add new people to the database. When someone new applies to the company, the scheduler will interview that person and give them an online training course on video mystery shopping. If the new person does not have equipment, but shows a lot of desire, the scheduler may ask for a deposit before sending equipment. However, most companies have stopped lending equipment to anyone.
After a mystery shopper completes
an assignment, he/she will upload the video to the company through a file
share program. Most video mystery shopping companies have their own
program and specific instructions on how to upload it. Once that's
completed, the shop will be in the company server ready to be edited.
Video Editor
The video editor will accept that video and prepare it for the client. This means making a few edits or blurring the face of the mystery shopper (if their face is caught in a mirror). Video mystery shopping companies encourage the shoppers to avoid reflections of any kind. One way to do this discreetly is by holding up some sales brochures when approaching a wall full of mirrors.
Scorer
Many mystery shops, both written and video, will score the shopper performance. Usually the scoring is from 1 (bad) to 10 (excellent). The scorer is the person who will review the mystery shop video to make sure all areas of the assignment were done correctly. (Did the shopper throw in an objection or ask the required questions?) If the shopper didn't follow the directions, the shop may not pass and cannot be sent to the client. The shopper will not get paid in that case.
The scorer is not an actual position at most video mystery shopping companies. This person may actually be another veteran mystery shopper who was assigned to grade the video. Or, it can be a combined effort from the editor and scheduler. The owner may have a say in it as well. Most of the time, the shopper will see the scores and the comments about their work.
After the assignment has been
completed, the editor will look over the report and make necessary edits before
sending it to the client.
A complete list of Mystery Shopping Companies, written and video, are available in "Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!"
