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Archive for the 'Work & Study Programs' Category

What is a Mystery Shopper?

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

by Ethan Hunter

Even though mystery shopping is a big business these days, not many people actually know what it means. However, in order to become a mystery shopper it is actually fairly simple and it could be really rewarding too. As well as earning a little extra money and being able to get products for free, mystery shopping allows you to help out businesses which want to improve. You will usually work for a mystery shopping company and as a mystery shopper you will be assigned various stores to evaluate.

Your goal as a mystery shopper is simple - you are there to ultimately improve the company. As a mystery shopper you undertake assignments which will ask you to evaluate certain aspects of a business. You could be trying to see how friendly the staff are, how they deal with a complaint for example, or you could be evaluating how easy it is to find a particular product. Once you have gone into a business and done your evaluation, you will then have to fill out a form to record your findings. Once you have sent that to the company which hired you, they will analyze the findings and provide a plan to the business owner on how they can improve.

Although the mystery shopper performs that same type of job, the jobs themselves vary dramatically. For instance, if you were to become a mystery shopper with a number of companies, you could end up performing a restaurant, oil change, apartment, and clothing store shop in a single week. The type of assignment the mystery shopper does is dependent on the industry for which the shop is being completed.

Additionally, a mystery shopper will be reimbursed for his/her services in several ways. Typically, anything having to do with the hospitality field, such as hotels, restaurants, or fast-food places, would provide a reimbursement to a set figure. For example, you might be asked to shop a restaurant, which in return, would reimburse you for your meal up to $20 to $50, depending on the price of the menu items. However, many other shops will pay a flat fee. Keep in mind that some assignments provide the mystery shopper both, reimbursing for a service and/or product purchased, as well as a small fee.

In order to become a mystery shopper you will need to have a few certain qualities. These include being honest, being able to keep information confidential and you will also need integrity. Usually transportation is also required and you should speak English unless otherwise stated. As a mystery shopper you may also be required to have your own equipment such as a digital camera and a cell phone. However some companies will provide you with these if they are needed.

The last key set of skills that a mystery shopper should possess would be strong communication along with strong listening skills so that you can engage in dialogue with the people within the business that you are shopping. To compliment your communication ability, the ability to be professional can also play an important role when you are performing the role of a mystery shopper.

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Forex: Don’t even try it!

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

by SavvyBusiness

A review of Forex Killer would be incomplete without re-affirming a few Forex principles and particularly to lay down the foundations of basic information about what Currency Trading is all about. For that purpose, I have decided to write a series of articles which will enable beginners to get to grasps with what Forex is. I therefore recommend that you check and bookmark my website at the foot of this article!

Forex (Foreign Exchange), not so foreign after all! If you are planning to take a vacation outside the US anytime soon, the truth is you will be trading currencies and you won’t even know it.

The value of each currency when it relates to another is what the Foreign Exchange is all about. If the foreign trip you take is Europe for example, you would have to take some of your dollars and exchange them for Euros.

The fact is that it would take quite more than a single Dollar right now to purchase a single Euro is a different story though and far from me to suggest an alternative destination! So, the Forex Market in indeed the value of a single currency against the other! For example if you were to purchase one Euro today, you would have to pay 1.58290 USD.

Since transactions are between two currencies at the time, they are also called “pairing”. The fact that it took 1.58290 USD to purchase that Euro can be translated in forex terms as: EUR/USD at 1.58290. What happens when Euros are used to purchase Dollars is just another “Pairing” only this time it is reversed. For example: USD/EUR at 0.631671.

Now, if you owned Japanese Yens for example and wanted to purchase Euros with them, EUR/JPY at 161.178 you’d need 161.178 JPY to buy one Euro. Since there are no USD involved in this specific transaction we no longer call it a pairing but a cross rate!

Even the most successful Forex Traders today were beginners once. In the old days, in introduction to the Currency Exchange market required a lot of studying in order to understand the complexity of this field, but luckily, technology has made this requirement a thing of the past. Forex Killer literally takes you by the hand and walks you through the various steps needed to become successful yourself.

And so, in the near future you will find yourself in a situation where you will begin to make money like the pros. In the meantime, let me whish you good fortune on your new business and don’t forget to check my website right below this for a lot more information about this exciting field!

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Things to Avoid when Searching for Mystery Shopping Companies

Monday, July 21st, 2008

by Ethan Hunter

Although the majority of mystery shopper companies in existence are reputable and honest, some are not. As customer demand has increased, the number of mystery shopper companies has skyrocketed. Today, you will find more than 400 just in the United States. A quality company will have the customer, as well as shopper at the forefront of concern, working hard to provide services that will improve customer satisfaction, reduce liability, and increase profit. To show the huge growth, from 2003 to 2004, mystery shopper companies increased by more than 11%. It is estimated that more than eight million shops were performed in the year 2004 alone, making this an industry with a value around $600 million.

While it is important to know what to look for in good mystery shopper companies, it is also important to know what to avoid. So here you will find the main things that you should avoid in your search for the right company to suit your needs. For example, some of the fraudulent companies will pay their shoppers with bogus checks and they will provide a fairly horrid service. So you need to know as much as possible how to stay clear of these companies.

One of the main ways to tell fraudulent mystery shopper companies is through advertisements that are sent to you through the post or through email. They make mystery shopping sound too good to be true and they promise to make you a lot of money quickly. One of the main types of fraudulent mystery shopper companies are the ones which require you to cash checks. They will basically ask you to wire the money to an address which is usually in a different country. You should stay clear of any company which asks you to do this as you could get into serious trouble if you take part in it.

The way that these mystery shopper companies get you to cash the checks involves telling you that you get a percentage of what the check is worth. However you will usually find that a couple of days after you have cashed the check, you will get confirmation from your bank that the check bounced and you will owe them quite a lot of money - usually thousands of dollars. If you take a look on one of the top mystery shopping companies known as GFK, you will see that they are trying to let people know about this type of crime as they want to ensure that people know that they can be trusted.

Another one of the top mystery shopper companies is called MSPA. In fact, this company is the largest, professional trade association, one that has a true dedication to improving customer relations and satisfaction. Using mystery shoppers has proven to be a significant tool in accomplishing this goal. With a shopper, customers will have an opportunity to see the customer’s experience in an entirely different way. However, illegal schemes are being exposed by MSPA too.

Some things that you can do to avoid choosing the wrong company are to say no to anyone who requests you to pay them a few for being associated with their company. Also, if anyone asks you to cash a check and wire money, it is likely a fraudulent situation. If you avoid these things in your search, you will be able to avoid any potential negative company choices, allowing you to select a great match to earn extra income.

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