Hi,

I'm fairly new to shopping and I really like it. But the reports (particularly the restaurant shops) take me hours and hours to do. Is this just because I'm new. Or am I just slow? Will it ever get better? Can anyone help? Thanks for your help with this. At this rate I'm making about 50 cents an hour!

I have to go on record as saying it's a bad idea to calculate hourly rates. Just take the shops that work for you, fee and/or reimbursement, all things considered.

With any "new" shop, if you're conscientious, you will spend much more time than on a shop you've done repeatedly. Familiarity with the bones of the report, and knowing what the MSP expects, help speed things along.

Good, clean, accurate reporting are more important than speed.

Indeed, the restaurant reports can get lengthy. But I generally fix a pot of coffee when we get home, settle back and relax and just start knocking it out. They do get easier as you get the bones of the report under your belt. First time with any of them do go through the report from top to bottom to make sure you know where you are going with it before you start answering questions and writing it up.

I find it useful to have the report open in one window and Word open in another window. Every time I hit a 'no' answer I flip between windows and write a sentence in the Word document to make certain I answer about the issue when I write the narrative. The narrative is likely to contain plenty of other stuff but I want to make sure I talk about what happened that led to the 'no'.

Mama, I felt the same way as you at first. They will get easier. And what's nice is if you work for the same company you get used to the way they want the report written. And if you get sent to the same location again, sometimes you already know the answer like: are the hours of operation posted on the door? Just keep at it. It does get better.

And even if it is not the same shop you become accustomed to the kinds of observations wanted: the sign was lit, the entrance to the parking lot easy and well marked, the landscaping was neatly trimmed, there was trash in the landscaping, the parking lot was in good condition, the sidewalk was clear, the front door glass was clean, the hours were posted, inside the floor was clean, I was greeted as I walked in the door. . .i.e. you start observing things pretty much in the sequence of questions on the reports and so when you write the reports you are pretty much walking through the experience again.

And unfortunately, you will find yourself looking at the same things even when you are NOT on a shop Were the hours posted on the door? Were all light burning, etc. It sorta becomes second nature.

Isn't that the truth, Barbage?

Doing different upscale restaurant shops are lenthly. I do one restaurant three different locations monthly, and they are a cinch. Depends on the company, if you do same over and over, it's easy. The tough ones, I come home, get comfy, have a cup of tea and start...usually get it done in an hour.
Try "Tell us about us", they have easier reports, but only $25.00 reimbursement, no fee, but easy easy. I take difficult ones a couple times a month, it gets repetative and in your blood, so to speak.

Thanks for all your words of encouragement and advice. I really appreciate it. It's nice to have a forum like this and to have some shoulders to lean on. Thank you!

Mama

Mert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have to go on record as saying it's a bad idea
> to calculate hourly rates. Just take the shops
> that work for you, fee and/or reimbursement, all
> things considered.
>
> With any "new" shop, if you're conscientious, you
> will spend much more time than on a shop you've
> done repeatedly. Familiarity with the bones of
> the report, and knowing what the MSP expects, help
> speed things along.
>
> Good, clean, accurate reporting are more important
> than speed.


I have to disagree. I track hourly rates, and when they do not work out in my favor, I stop askin for those shops. Eazy peezy for me to decide. I understant that you feel differently.

I sort of sit on the fence on that one. I do not sit and compute an hourly because I rely more on my overall sense of the shop. There are shops I truly enjoy doing that don't pay what you would consider a reasonable hourly rate, but they are fun for me, they have enough flexibility I can do them when I am in the area and when the report is done I am satisfied that I didn't just spin my wheels. There are shops that are real money makers that are constrictive enough and enough of a PITA that I sometimes wonder why the heck I do them. There are shops that are definite money losers that I do as a concession to make sure that I am at the top of the scheduler's list when the plums are handed out.

Overall I find a more constructive approach is to consider the company. There are some companies that I would do most any shop for because I know overall that they take good care of me. They need a cheap reshop done because somebody let them down? I won't extract a pound of flesh to do it because overall they have more than fairly compensated me for past work and will continue to do so.

On the other hand there are companies who pick a simple report to pieces every time so if it takes 20 minutes to do the report, you know it will take at least another 20 minutes to answer emails about the shop later. It seems as though they feel they aren't doing their job unless they send at least 2 to 3 emails about the report. So before accepting a job I need to make sure that it is paying enough to be worth doing, reporting and answering emails. Plus it becomes risky because if for some reason you don't answer the emails fast enough or they "never receive" your response, you won't get paid. In fact I suspect they send out their emails with a short time limit for response to play "gottcha" and have an excuse not to pay for acceptable work. Needless to say, I feel there is an adversarial relationship here rather than a collegial one, so I rarely work for them. Sometimes they pay an adequate per hour even for the extra time that will be involved in follow up games, but I never feel good about them.

So I go by my gut with it. I am about to dismiss one company from my radar because they have changed folks handling the client and the new staff handling the work just makes it hard to schedule, hard to report and endlessly whiney on their part. I don't need that, though I do like the shops and the client.

Speaking only of fees, a calculated hourly rate would, more often than not, be depressing. Also, a route of shops may be fair, on a shop by shop basis. However, if total time including mileage is factored in, maybe not so much. I love time behind the wheel between shops. It would kill my hourly rate, but it is hugely worthwhile to me

It boils down to taking shops that make sense to us, for any number of reasons.

I take restaurants I would eat at otherwise, not ones I'm not fond of, so time on report is not that important to me....some take less, some more, but, I've enjoyed the meal, then do the work, without too much thinking....it all evens out in the end.

I am finding that is true about it getting easier. I have done about 8 or 9 of one specific shop. Now I find when I walk into the business I know exactly what the "comp" will want to know. I know exactly what I'm looking for. I know exactly what is missing just with a glance. I take fewer notes. I notice more with each trip. By the time I get to the report, it breezes along, I don't omit anything important, and recall is far better each time. And, may I say, the score has been 10/10 each time. So yeah, the first report, took forever, but then I realized I needed to allow myself to learn the task well. I think I am doing that, so I'm encouraged to keep trying.

It becomes a very comfortable gait without the nerves to stroll through the location making the notes in your head or on your DVR, doing your errand in the store, interacting, making a potty stop if necessary, make your purchase and strolling out the door. And knowing the report well, you will be second guessing yourself. It is why the first time I perform a particular shop I will do only one on my trip. After working my way through the report, I will be ready to perform it at multiple locations on a single trip in the future.