Hi guys,
I'm new to the idea of mystery shopping. After looking for a job for a while, I realized that mystery shopping is the perfect job for me. I have a service dog in training and I am wondering if I have to disclose that, and how. If you have any other advice on how to get started because its pretty overwhelming to start, please let me know! Thanks!

HI!
I've been doing this a little over a year and feel like I'm doing pretty darn well. It's a little daunting at first, but after a few shops, you get pretty comfortable. Start by reading the information on this forum for new mystery shoppers. It's pretty extensive.

Then, pick a couple of places to get signed up. I suggest iSecretShop as its a platform with quite a few companies. It will have a variety of shops with (mostly) pretty simple reports. You fill out one application and are suddenly enrolled with twenty or thirty companies.

Pick one or two shops that are places you would be comfortable as a customer (but not somewhere you go for fun). Follow the guidelines very closely. Read the questionnaire before you shop. Pay special attention to anything you need to pick up during the shop (receipts, business cards, brochures, weird photographs). Do the shop. Write the report. Get paid.

Once you do a small handful of shops, you'll know whether this is for you and start exploring other companies. Use this forum as guidance to which companies you should sign up with. You will find that your first month or two is not real profitable as you will spend a lot of time learning the ropes and signing up with more companies. There are about 300 MSC's. I've signed up for a bit over 100. If you do this full time, you'll want to be with over 200 companies - though you might only use 10 or 15 regularly. How much money you make is up to how much time you put into it, how much you are willing to travel and how many other shoppers are in your area.

I'm sure you don't have to disclose that you have a service dog. That you have one might make you more memorable though, which is not a good thing in this business. You might want to self rotate certain shops like car dealerships and banks where people really get to know you and there's not a high turnover. I wouldn't worry about it at all on fast food shops, cell phone shops and other shops where there's a high turnover of employees!

The only reason I could see to mention a service dog is if it impacts something like timing or may cause a distraction. When you write a report it will usually be better if you do not mention the dog in case the employee sees the full report. Otherwise, various retail and food shops where customers would be regulars or those with long rotations shouldn't be a big deal. In some cases I have to wonder if your service animal would not make you more desirable. In particular apartment shops. Shouldn't things like breed restrictions and pet fees be waived for a service dog?

.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2018 07:53PM by Megs7521.