How do you keep track of all the companies that you have to self-assign or request shops. I sometimes find myself going crazy around the end of the month or the first like today looking to see if shops are posted.

I just was entering a very long and lengthly shop. After spending all this time, the two companies that I had checked an hour ago for shops had not posted. After I finished my evaluation, I checked and all the shops were already taken.

I use an Excel spread sheet that I created myself. When I sign up for a shop, I enter it into the spread sheet, dates to be shopped, company etc. I highlight the ones that have not been confirmed in red. Jobs completed are highlighted in Yellow, Special instructions are highlighted in green, and confirmed shops are not highlighted until completed. This system makes it easy for me to see. When I first receive a notice from a company that shops are available, I immediately sign on and decide to apply, accept, or reject the shop. When you create your profile for each company, make sure you have checked the box to receive email notifications of the shops.

I use MS Outlook as my email client. I set up a separate folder for mystery shopping. I have it set to show a notification message over the top of whatever I am working on and also to play a special sound when new shops come in. Using these tools, I can work on submitting reports and at the same time see what new messages are arriving in my mystery shop file. Using this method, I can save the report I am working on, and log onto the site to request the shops I want. Hope these tips help.

I really don't worry much whether they are self assign or request. In either event I want to be there first for the jobs I am interested in doing. What I find critical is roughly WHEN they post. I am not at all above posting in my shop log the day to start looking for jobs with a company. Some companies make this very easy for us by stating when their next round of postings is expected, while others you just have to make an educated guess.

When I opened my shop log this morning I knew there were two companies that should post today, my shops to do for the day, the doctor's visit scheduled for today and several non shop phone calls I needed to make. I live by my shop sheet to get everything done. I picked up a nice handful of shops from one of the companies that posted, but with the other I was out of rotation. While I was at it, I wiped their names off today's part of the shop sheet and moved them out to the next time I expect them to post. With companies that have only a shop or two with long rotations, when I do the shop I mark the future month when I am eligible again so that I make sure I remember to select or request it.

This evening my shop sheet shows the jobs done today as done and reported, complete with actual mileage and rembursement adjusted to actual cost. The doctor visit has been moved to another sheet with the mileage and copay amount paid of it, along with the cost of the prescriptions that were picked up on the way home (all this for taxes). The non shop phone calls yielded future appointments for various services that have now been entered on the shop sheet as a reminder, and the new shops are all logged in. A requested shop has been logged in and highlighted in yellow to remind me that it is requested but not assigned so I don't double book.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2011 11:05PM by Flash.

It seems the only way for me to not miss out on shops is to be by computer all day long, which is really impossible for me. I found that many companies posted early for June.

I didn't find that much of posting early, though yes, a couple of shops I did at the end of May were indeed June shops. This is an area, however, where your reputation helps you with a lot of companies. Even if you are late to the party to request a shop you still have a good chance of getting awarded it if you have done good work for them in the past.

depends on the company and the program... most sassie sites basically spam you... i get emails from them everyday... prophet doesnt email.. but i dont do many prophet sites... seems shopmetrics sites email when they post... and email again when they are bonused... other than that i look through my emails sometimes i visit a site or two... but its not my full time job so im not too concerned...

I find that most of the spamming comes from outside schedulers/scheduling companies. With a SASSIE company, if they use their Jobslinger option, reasonable shops get taken quickly and the rest of the month is spam. Outside schedulers seem to have an annoying habit of spamming with "Urgent" or "I need your help" with no additional $$$. This past month there was even one who stooped to "URGENT - BONUS" and there was no bonus. Real easy to use the delete key on those who abuse their email privileges and persistent abuse by multiple schedulers from an outfit gets their email privileges cut off as a company.

I lost track of an MSC I did two jobs for in 2008. I got an email to do a job (right up my alley) that pays great. I applied through the email I got, and immeditaely got a phone call saying I got the job. The MSC had nothing for ages and now got a few great upscale shops that I do the like of for another MSC. They are paying double and I applied for 3 more. I totally lost contact with them, but did end on a 9/10 rating. Bottom line, you might lose touch, but if they need you, they will find you...just stay in their data base.