I saw "MSPA Certified" in a couple of posts. What does that mean? Thank you!

PC

Hello Peace - There are a couple of certifications available through the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. You can read about them on their website. There is a silver certification which is inexpensive, and a gold certification which costs $99 via DVD, or more via face to face conference because of added travel and accommodation expenses.

There are differences of opinion among shoppers as to whether MSPA certification is worth while, so you can get plenty of recommendations both pro and con. Generally, those who have not certified recommend against it, and those who are certified recommend in favor.

Miss M, I'm curious to know how your shopping "life" changed/improved once you were certified. I know what MSPA's certification is but haven't come to a decision if it's for me or not. I know your and Flash's opinions are based on sound experience and sincerity and am guided by them.

Hello CVB - Here's the short answer. Yes, my shopping life changed. I received training established by the MSPA to better equip me to execute assignments. I needed this training, and it made me a better shopper. I believe I got more work. Whether I did or not cannot be proved or disproved.

CONTINUE ON for the long answer . . .

I started shopping in December, 2009. For the first few months, I read everything I could find on this forum and others. I set up to get Cathy Stucker's informative emails. I studied every item on the website of my MSPs. This forum has many seasoned shoppers who have been doing this for decades and get all the work they care to do. These experienced shoppers generously posted practical guidance, and I am extremely grateful. I cannot put a value on what I learned from them.

Hoping to learn more, I did the silver certification with MSPA and I was underwhelmed. If the silver had been deeper and required more, I would have certified gold a lot sooner. As it happened, my experience certifying silver caused me to take serious pause regarding gold certification. I'm mentioning this because you have to do the silver before you can do the gold, and if you judge the gold by the silver experience you'll mislead yourself.

After gold certification, what was most apparent to me was that I started getting off the ground quicker when I signed up with a new company. When I first started shopping, I'd sign up with a company and then it would take me forever to snag a decent assignment. It was apparent I was working from the bottom of the pile. After certifying, the "getting acquainted" phase shortened.

I know you've read criticism of the MSPA regarding the cost of the gold certification program. There is strong feeling on the part of many that MSPA is charging to shop. I do not share that opinion. The certification is not required to shop; therefore, they are not charging to shop. They are charging to provide the training and certify this training has been taken and understood. To signify the process has been completed, they issue a gold certification number.

Now I want to address the quality of training in the gold certification program. This is an effective, short program focused on teaching what's expected in shopper behavior, how to see, and how to report. If you need training in those areas, this will be interesting. Education is never free. Sometimes we pay money, and sometimes we pay other ways.

There is no correct decision that will apply to everyone regarding gold certification. This decision needs to be made based on personal needs and inclinations.

Thank you for your kind comments.

Thank you for your replies. That clears things up. I may just try the silver, for now, and see if this new part time career can get off the ground. I have yet to do my first shop.

Blessings!
PC

Thank you a million times, darling Mary, for so much more information than I could have ever expected. Add another star to your SuperStar status.

And of course the flip side of the coin is that as Mary pointed out, she was underwhelmed with the Silver. There have been many discussions over and over about certification and in cases where two shoppers are in the same household, one certified and one not, they are seeing the same job offers. I found that sharing information with a Gold certified shopper in a city nearby, we both were being offered the same jobs and I was not even Silver certified. $15 is not a lot to spend, but I can think of better ways of spending it.

MDavisnowell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are differences of opinion among shoppers as
> to whether MSPA certification is worth while, so
> you can get plenty of recommendations both pro and
> con. Generally, those who have not certified
> recommend against it, and those who are certified
> recommend in favor.


I know a number of Gold shoppers who would not recommend it, including myself. I certified early on when it was first offered and very few shoppers had it. It was one where I had to drive to Toronto from WNY to attend so it was not cheap. I did not notice a huge difference in quality or quantity of shops offered.

Shoppers who follow through on their reports, write well, and get good marks from editors like myself are invaluable, certified or not. Then there are times when schedulers are desperate for a warm body so even those who don't have the best track record might get the job if no one else is available. Sad but true.

Hi Angie - When did you take the training? I'm wondering if the training has changed since they first started the program. I didn't spend any money traveling (I took the DVD course) so my investment was a lot less than yours. The DVD course was taught by Cathy Stucker and one of the tests was a report on a video shop at Rudy's. Is this similar to your training? I'm really curious about how long they've been offering this, and if they are developing it. At the time I took the training, I didn't have a lot of experience and I got some helpful information. Did you learn anything in the course that helped you be a better shopper? Were you already knowledgeable about all the material covered in the course? I've been thinking about things that could be incorporated in the training that would make it more useful. Do you have any ideas? Thanks / Mary

I have to agree with Angie. I don't think it has helped me but I have no way of knowing. If nothing else it might show that I am a serious shopper.

I certified before the DVD program was available and I had high expectations. I went mainly for the networking possibilities and was not impressed. I think only 3 companies attended. I remember thinking that some of the lecture suggestions were a rehash of every shop instruction I had read up to that point. I kept thinking that this was supposed to be advanced training. I finally realized that advanced training is on the job training and I would only get better by doing. I get the impression that the course is a little more detailed and relevant now, but can't say for certain.

My sense is that any certification program—whether it is in person or by DVD—can really offer little more than the most basic information about mystery shopping. Perhaps they can talk about the history and evolution of it or look at specific types of situations, but overall the mystery shopping ‘field’ is diverse enough that no training can be a ‘one size fits all’. So Treetracker, you are spot on that it is ‘on the job training’ that is required.

I highly value forums because shoppers share information about how they handle specific shop roadblocks and hurdles and uncooperative companies in ways that could not and would not be topics in any training session. And certainly there would be no discussion in certification meetings of MSPA members who are not abiding by their contracts with shoppers.

While often we will see a particular client’s shop move from one company to another virtually unchanged except in the fee offered, it is still likely that the instructions or emphasis will be interpreted differently by editors at the new company compared to the old company. And in fact different editors in the same company often seem to have different criteria and standards for the same shop. So how would you ‘train’ shoppers to deal with that?

My reaction is that shopping is definitely a ‘learn by doing’ industry and peer help and support will contribute more to your success than any kind of formal class.