Can we please make the complete list of Companies a checklist, individual to each user? I'm signed up with about 60 companies, less than a third of which have work in my area. I know I need to sign up with more to have work more consistently, but it is hard to remember which ones I've signed up with.

I have a list in a word document of the companies I've signed up with. You might want to consider tracking down the companies you're signed up with and doing the same sort of thing.

My list of companies is in Excel, along with a link to the MSC's login screen. I also track my username/password, the payment schedule and payment method.

@Kakita987 wrote:

Can we please make the complete list of Companies a checklist, individual to each user? I'm signed up with about 60 companies, less than a third of which have work in my area. I know I need to sign up with more to have work more consistently, but it is hard to remember which ones I've signed up with.

You can easily make your own checklist in Word or Excel or whatever programs you use. My master list is in alphabetical order and saved in Word. When I would sign up and get accepted by a company, I would cross it off the list.

Once I was assigned and performed a shop for a particular MSC, I added them to my Excel spreadsheet where I keep track of Shop Dates, MSC Name, Client Name, Shop Rate, Reimbursements, Form of Payment, Date Paid among other criteria that is important to me. Once you have a system set up, it is easy to maintain.

I also favor each shopper keeping their own checklist. This is a business and it's good business to keep a ledger of your customers. I am assuming each of us keeps a ledger of payments due when we work for a company, so it's a simple matter to capture all companies, even those we haven't yet worked for.

Right now there's a feature here on the forum that tracks companies we are registered with if we activate it but I don't know how it works. When I go to the list of Mystery Shopping Companies and I click the name of a MSC, it brings up The MSC, the website address, and discussions about the MSC. For example, if I click Market Force, directly under the name and website address there is a question: Are you registered with Market Force? Yes, I am. No, I am not. If I click Yes, I am, is there some tracking of my answers?

I keep my own list and I would not use a list here on the forum so it's irrelevant to me, but this feature might be what the OP is hoping for.

I keep a digital and hand written list of everything. I like to get my hands on things and write them out. I'm an old soul in that regard. If you keep a digital list, a simple Ctrl+F will allow you to look for key words and search things down. It's also just generally handy on your spreadsheet too. I have an address book with A-Z and in it, I place company names and log in information that I keep in my lock box. I can flip to M and find Maritz, Market Force, MSI, and several others and so forth. We all have methods to our own madness.

@roflwofl wrote:

...

Right now there's a feature here on the forum that tracks companies we are registered with if we activate it but I don't know how it works. When I go to the list of Mystery Shopping Companies and I click the name of a MSC, it brings up The MSC, the website address, and discussions about the MSC. For example, if I click Market Force, directly under the name and website address there is a question: Are you registered with Market Force? Yes, I am. No, I am not. If I click Yes, I am, is there some tracking of my answers?

...

I hadn't noticed that before, thanks for pointing it out. It looks like it is more for this forum to keep stats on how many people are signed up with a particular MSC vs a personal tracker.

I completely agree about keeping your own records, excel is probably common but one could even use a relational database or even a CRM. However, the OP's thought of having a checklist online here could still be valuable.

If new companies get added to the master list here it would be nice to be able to see ones you haven't signed up for. Hopefully everyone follows the forums and notices when/if a new MSC is added, but that may not always be the case. I wonder if the feature you pointed out could easily be adjusted to allow sorting of which companies you haven't signed up for yet. This would allow you to do a periodic check to see if any new ones have been added. Although a third option, you don't want to sign up for a company, would be handy as well.

Edited to add: If I drop down my username menu in the menu bar I can see a list of companies I've signed up for. I wonder if adding another option or two would be of help. Potential companies (companies I haven't signed up for or clicked on I have no interest in), or maybe New Companies (companies that have been added since I last added a company to my list. Although I suppose with the list provided we could do some comparisons in excel and mass import to capture any new companies that may have been addded.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2016 03:39AM by bmarvin.

@Kakita987 –– thank you for the suggestion! This is something that I think I could add. Currently there is a feature that asks if you've signed up with a company. What if there was a checkmark next to these companies on the main list? (And maybe an easy way to mark that you're signed up with them?)

@bmarvin wrote:

If new companies get added to the master list here it would be nice to be able to see ones you haven't signed up for. Hopefully everyone follows the forums and notices when/if a new MSC is added, but that may not always be the case. I wonder if the feature you pointed out could easily be adjusted to allow sorting of which companies you haven't signed up for yet. This would allow you to do a periodic check to see if any new ones have been added. Although a third option, you don't want to sign up for a company, would be handy as well.

This exactly what I thought. I am capable of keeping a list (I keep all "signed up for" emails, and I track various information about each in a spreadsheet). I don't want to have to cross-reference every so often between my spreadsheet and the original "master list" on here to find any new ones. After all, there's a few hundred on there!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2016 04:10AM by Kakita987.