Mystery shop feedback - small update!

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A short addition to the blog on my new mystery shopping experience from Friday.

http://245daystogo.blogspot.com/2015/07/new-experiences-bring-few-nerves.html

I've received the feedback and it states-

• Your report was a pleasure to read
• Excellent feedback

So I'm very happy with that!!

New experiences bring a few nerves

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It sounds really strange after over four years of mystery shopping for ten different companies that I an nervous about the mystery shop I'm due to complete tonight. I haven't kept an exact count that I can easily lay my hands right now but I estimate that I've completed around 1,000 mystery shops and this is the first one since the very early days that I've felt apprehensive and pressured to get things absolutely exact. That's not to say I'm usually imprecise but many of the mystery shop companies I use ask for general ideas -

*was the floor clean?

*were you served quickly?

*was the server well presented?

Now, of course, there is a degree of personal judgement in answering these questions.

The reason for today's apprehension is that I'm shopping for a new company. As part of the terms and conditions of any mystery shopping exercise, I can't publish details anywhere - including blogs and social media. So I won't go into much detail but I can say that I've signed up with this mystery shopping company and I'm undertaking a new assignment with a new client.

One of the main differences is that this new mystery shop company operates a different reporting system. Just about all of the reports I've filed need an online form completed and 90% of it is tick boxes - yes/no answers to questions along the lines of those I've stated above. This new company is looking for a narrative version of the visit. I'm not afraid of narrative itself, as it is along the lines of what I'm typing right now, but its a clear narrative of the visit stating only the facts that I need to create.

I find it helpful when I'm apprehensive about something, to talk or type it through and just the typing of today's blog has helped me a little. The unknown can be a little daunting but it's just a case of reading through the instructions thoroughly and being as prepared as I can. And there are lessons here for when I start the business. Conducting my first market appraisal for myself or agreeing my first sale on my own will be exciting and nervy experiences but being prepared will get me through it. I've always worked well from a script or structure and I'll make sure that I have this set up for when I start operating as an estate agent.

A year of experiences to go alongside opening my business

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Last year started with all my thoughts on my impending 40th birthday. It was in early February and the birthday celebrations were in Rome with my wife and kids, Mum and Dad and met up with my cousin and his Roman girlfriend while we were there.

Thinking about the fact that I was nearly 40 got me thinking about all the things I wanted to experience, both in that year and before I leave this earth. So I did the following things-

Trained for and ran the Great North Run half marathon and raised nearly £500 for 2 charities close to my heart. In the process I got fit again, lost over a stone in weight and felt more confident about myself and the world.

Entered the audition process for The Apprentice television programme. I got from the original 22,000 that entered down to the last 200 or so, but it wasn't to be. The audition process was thrilling and the atmosphere was truly electric, but I didn't get through to the final round of selection.

Entered into the audition process for Mastermind the television programme, and got to the round just before TV filming. This involved going through two rounds of testing and interviews. Again, I found the process in itself very rewarding.

Self-published my own book on Amazon. It's the book listed at the bottom of the page here, What Traditional Estate Agents Don't Tell You. It's a self-help guide for consumers to choose the right estate agent and how to help themselves and their agent in how to sell their home. I followed this up with a second self-published book for estate agents, which was an analysis of the estate agency For Sale board.

Plans for this year include-

Run the Great North Run again

Take an online fiction writing course

Self publish another help book

Self publish a fiction book

Re-enter Mastermind

Enter The Chase television programme

Set up Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)

What Traditional Estate Agents don't tell you: A guide to getting the most out of selling your home by Steven Thompson http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I5HOJAM/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_lhuQub1ZH8DHV