Hi all,
I was hoping to get some perspective about narratives in reports. I realize that the details are supposed to be written in the commentary, but I'm afraid that some of these details could ID me in future shops. For example, I had a toy shop. I was required to give the associate an idea of something my child enjoyed playing with. My son loves sharks, so that is the what I used. Now, I'll have to check the guidelines but I believe I'm eligible to shop this small store again in 6 months. What if that employee reads the report, and then remembers me if I shop there again? In my report, I did explain how the associate showed me several products based on my son's likings.
Also, I was very detailed in a recent oil change shop at a dealership. But I included details in that report that might also ID me in the future (if the service manager has a good memory).
So, how do you guys give the necessary details while being "generic" enough so that you don't blow your cover?
Another example...I was shopping at a luxury handbag store. My scenario was to buy a bag for travel. The associate asked where I was traveling to and I responded based on some previous trips to Mexico. We had a small conversation about our favorite resorts there. Should this be included? Will this make me too "memorable"?
Thanks in advance!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2013 01:53PM by InTheCorner.

That is probably the hardest thing to accomplish when faced with a report requiring, "details, details, details." In my case I would opt to leave out the name of the country and the discussion regarding resorts and the associate having visited the same country. For the toy shop I would leave out the specifics and say the associate showed me products appropriate to my scenario. It really is a fine line and you are right, too many specifics makes us memorable.

One more thing I was doing a FF shop yesterday and there was a man peddling for money on the sidewalk by the drive through windows. To clarify, he was only a few feet from where you had to pay and receive food. I was extremely uncomfortable. He moved over to almost block the entrance of the restaurant when I did my walk in portion. He was very loud and asking for money or food. I did notify the manager and she made him leave the property. While I feel this is a detail that shows the manager immediately took care of an issue, I am again afraid to report it because they will remember me. In this case, I went ahead and put it on the report because I have no intentions of going back to that area to shop. Lesson learned...double check addresses before you accept the shop. Ugh...

Just change your story if you go back. If the toy clerk says hey your son still looking for shark toys? Answer no I have a daughter and she is into ......
Hangbag-any more trips to Mexico? Wow would I like to go to Mexico....never been.

It would throw them off just a little. Not foolproof but worth a try.

Hi In the Corner,

With narratives I have found that the company is not interested in exactly what your responses are, they are more interested in whether the salesperson interacted and asked the appropriate questions. So with your example of the luxury handbag scenario, the narrative should include that the salesperson asked where you were traveling and when you responded you had a pleasant conversation about how the salesperson had recently traveled to the same area, or whatever was talked about. You do not need to include the information about Mexico to give the company a good understanding of how the salesperson interacted with you. The other thing you can keep in mind is that this salesperson probably has similar conversations all day long and if your narrative is detailed but generic that salesperson could probably remember a dozen people that she had similar conversations with.

The one thing I am trying to remember as I continue shopping is to not put too much of myself into the shop because it makes me more memorable. An example that pertains to my particular experience, I drive a small sports car and am really planning to buy an offroad truck. I have been looking at trucks while MS'ing, but I probably should be looking at cars similar to my own and leave the truck shopping to my personal time. I am just too memorable with this real life purchase scenario, and have gotten comments from salespeople and manager's about how unusual my scenario is. My point is, if you walk into a store that has 100 handbags and 1 travel bag, be interested in the handbag, any handbag, and you are less memorable. If it is a luggage store, go for the average luggage, not the one of a kind piece on display that no one would buy. And be detailed in your narrative about the questions asked and keep the details of your personal story out of the narrative unless it is really needed.

rovergirl529 Wrote:
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> be detailed in your narrative about the questions
> asked and keep the details of your personal story
> out of the narrative unless it is really needed.

This advice is best. I always walk into an evaluation with the focus on the "target" and getting them to do their job within the context of my instructions from the MSC, whether it's a sales associate at a retail store or a server/employee at a restaurant. My story is always very generic and not memorable. And frankly, I don't like giving out personal details to random people anyway even if it fits the instructions or guidelines from the MSC. I almost always walk into a shop with a role to play in mind which is usually not anything like my real life.

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I typically only take shops around the area in which I live and these are also the establishments that I frequent--for example, I routinely shop my regular grocery store. I'm there at least once a week. If they can ID me as the MS'er, then I guess they ID me as the MS'er. I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't necessarily fear that I will ever be treated negatively by anyone because of a comment that I've made in a report. Actually, I suspect that if I'm ever 'made' or they think they're onto me, they'll deliver excellent service to me. Then again, those probably won't be the days that I'm shopping them! ;-)

The last shop I did that involved a mention of travel I just made up an on-the-fly b.s. answer that was good enough to get by. It was for a client who either did the marketing for or represented the company behind Gore-Tex and I was asking about ski apparel. The sales rep wanted to know where we were going skiing and I mentioned Aspen was a possibility as was some other place. (This was when I first started MSing 6 years ago and I have not seen the shop at the same MSC since, so not surprisingly I don't even remember what I said...)

There is sometimes a fine line between normal customer interaction and making yourself too memorable. I've gotten to the point where I can be pretty convincing with a total fib story. (I guess playing a lot of poker helped out here too.)

About the homeless guy begging for money, I think there was actually a place to report things like this when I did gas station shops.