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Earn Money Doing Mystery Shopping - Men Wanted Copyright 2006 Elaine Currie

The art of shopping is something of a mystery to most men. Perhaps, therefore, it is not so surprising that few men realise there is an opportunity for them to earn money working from home doing mystery shopping. There are probably not many men who have even thought about the existence of mystery shoppers. In fact, it would be unusual for a man to spend any time at all thinking about shopping in a positive way.

Mystery shopping (sometimes called secret shopping) is an easy way to earn money: it is very simple to do, you need no previous experience, no special knowledge and no expensive equipment. Mystery shopping jobs can be done as part-time employment in hours you choose to fit in with your current schedule. Mystery shopping companies employ men and women of all ages and backgrounds as mystery shoppers. In fact, just about adult who can manage to go shopping could become a mystery shopper, but most mystery shoppers are women.

Men are not genetically designed to be great recreational shoppers: they find it impossible to grasp the concept of shopping as a form of entertainment and tend only to go shopping when they have a particular purchase in mind. For example, when I tell my husband that I have arranged to go on a shopping trip with my daughter, he will ask me what we want to buy. What sort of a question is that? We can't possibly know what we want to buy until we see what the shops have to offer. Research shows that this is a typical male reaction to shopping. Men have this odd way of deciding they want something and then going to the shops to make the purchase. Strangely, they never come back with anything over and above the item they went out to buy and, if the item is not available, a man will even return from a shopping trip empty handed.

Whether they enjoy it or not men do go shopping. If you look around you will notice plenty of men in supermarkets. Some will just be dutiful husbands reluctantly accompanying their wives but there will be numerous other men who are solitary shoppers actually shopping in their own right. Even if their shopping basket reaches the checkout containing nothing but a six pack of beer and a cd, it's still shopping.

Look around the mall and you'll see plenty of men. Some of these will be driven by the need to buy a gift for a wife or girlfriend but there will be plenty of men out shopping for things they actually want for themselves. Men might rely on female relatives to keep them supplied with socks and underwear but it's a different story when new footwear or outerwear or sports equipment are needed.

Most men exist in a state of denial when it comes to the significance of shopping. If a man and a woman each go shopping on a particular day and they are later asked what they did that day, the woman will reply "shopping" and the man will say "nothing". However, it is this male reluctance to throw body and soul into shopping that will be a great advantage if a man decides to try a career in mystery shopping. A man sent to purchase one specific item at a particular place will be able to do exactly that. A man will not be in any danger of becoming sidetracked so that the mystery shopping assignment takes over the whole day or ends up costing him money because of an attack of impulse purchasing.

The reason mystery shopping companies exist is that companies such as retail chains, restaurants, travel companies, hotels etc need to be able to obtain impartial feedback on their employees and services. Mystery shoppers are employed to provide feedback on such things as the behaviour of members of staff, the quality of customer service and the cleanliness standards of the premises. There is no reason whatsoever for mystery shopping to be restricted to women only and some assignments are only suitable for male secret shoppers.

Apart from general retail mystery shopping assignments that are suitable for either gender, there are also male only areas that require inspection. Companies will employ mystery shoppers to report on such things as toilet facilities, men's fitting rooms in shops, men's changing rooms at gyms etc. Needless to say, a woman secret shopper would not be much of a secret in these surroundings.

When the subject of mystery shopping is considered, people normally thing of women buying dresses or shopping for food in supermarkets but there is a lot more to mystery shopping than this. Mystery shopping companies will also pay you to do things such as eat at a restaurant, have a drink at a bar, visit a cinema or spend a night in a hotel. If you are really lucky, you might be sent on an expenses paid vacation as a mystery shopping assignment.

The companies employing the services of the mystery shopping company need to hear the opinions of both men and women. If you forget actual shops for a moment and consider the people who use restaurants, bars, cinemas, bowling alleys, skating rinks, hotels, theatres, taxi companies, gyms etc, it will be obvious that a large percentage of customers are men. The owners of these establishments need to discover whether men are satisfied with their staff and services, they can't afford to ignore the needs of half their customers.

An assignment to visit a bar, sample a beer, purchase a snack and check out the men's cloakroom is not most women's idea of a great shopping trip but getting paid to carry out such an assignment will sound like a good deal to many men. Perhaps it's just the name mystery "shopping" that puts men off and the companies need to find a suitable alternative title to attract more men into this work.

About the author:

Elaine Currie has a Work At Home Directory at her Plug-In Profit Site to help everyone who wants to work at home: http://www.huntingvenus.com She also has reviews of Online Paid Survey Programmes, Mystery Shopping Companies and Paid Autosurf Sites
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Translation and Your International E-Commerce Strategy Most businesses realize that they are simply a click away from any corner of the globe. Well, actually two if you include the Yahoo! search a potential customer does to access your shopping cart. What most businesses, unfortunately, do not realize though, is that their shopping cart is struggling to make it to the checkout counter. Bill Dunlap, managing director of Global Reach, Inc. notes that "for every $2 million a site is doing in domestic sales, they're leaving another $1 million on the table in international sales if they're not making themselves easily available."

To paraphrase the above, let me draw on a quote from Willy Brandt. The former West German chancellor is reported to have once said: "If I'm selling to you, I speak your language. If I'm buying, dann muessen Sie Deutsch sprechen (then you must
speak German)."

In economics this is referred to as opportunity cost -the cost of something in terms of an opportunity foregone. The opportunity cost of not speaking "German" is a whopping 50%! This simple truth is supported by statistics.

Donald A. DePalma reported in a study conducted for Forrester Research that "Visitors linger twice as long as they do at English-only URLs; business buyers are three times more likely to buy if addressed in their own language; and customer service costs drop when instructions are displayed in the user�s language." (Donald A. DePalma, Strategies for Global Sites, 1998).

Another Forrester Research report, quoted in an article titled "Reasons for Success in International E-Commerce" (webpronews.com) provides statistics that indicate "over 55% of the online world accesses the Internet from countries where English is not the native language."

The message is loud and clear: Do not assume that there is no reason to translate your marketing materials or that English is used in other countries! To be sure, English is the lingua franca of the world, and many people do have the ability to read English. But, faced with a choice, would you pull out your wallet for a company that caters to your needs in your non-native language, or your native language?

If translation is not part of your international e-commerce strategy, then you may be leaving money on the table!

And, if you see the truth in this message, you have a couple of options available: you can develop an in-house translation capability, or you can commission a professional translation service to translate your marketing materials. Developing an in-house translation capability is prohibitively expensive, not to mention that it is a long term effort. An appropriate analogy to illustrate this point is that of an IT department.

So, unless you have deep pockets, buying translation is the way to go.

Buying translation, however, can be overwhelming with all the technical jargon, and frustrating with all the endless marketing hype and "mission statements" that are thrown at you. Fact is, the basics of purchasing translation are easy. Read on.

Your starting point should be the clarification of your translation project requirements. Consider:

• Whether your marketing materials are for internal consumption (including partners) or external consumption?
• Whether cost is more important or quality is more important?
  
• What is the time frame for your project?
• What are your ongoing (long-term) professional translation service needs?

By clarifying project requirements, you are establishing the framework to answer the 2 most important questions that will determine the success of your translation project. Namely, what is the right type of translation, and what is the right professional translation service for your translation project?

There are two types of translation:

1. Machine translation (MT)
2. Human translation

In machine translation, a human translator supports the machine. In other words, a computer program translates the source text (i.e. the "from" language), with the resultant target text (i.e. the "to" language) then being edited by a qualified human translator, if it is edited at all. Machine translation (MT) is employed for "gisting" or, to get the general meaning (gist) of a document which can be useful when marketing material is only for internal consumption.

Is machine translation right for your marketing materials?

"Free online translations, is, well...free-the cost is right, but can you live with the quality?" is a short, informative works on machine translation (MT). Read it before continuing. Consider this recent headline from the Yahoo! Odd News section (2005-07-05)-"The Wurst museum in the world?" You guessed it-it is not a bad museum but one dedicated to...German sausages! If your marketing materials are rich and descriptive, and for external consumption, then machine translation (MT) is not an option.

Commission a professional translation service, and put human translators to work on your marketing materials.

Selecting the right professional translation service can be just as frustrating as selecting the right type of translation for your project. Do you go with a professional translation service provided by a translation company, a translation agency or a free-lance translator?

Review the requirements of your translation project. Now ask yourself "What is the right professional translation service?"

"Free Online Translations Guide-Professional Translation Service"
provides a check list that is helpful in determining what translation service should be entrusted with your marketing materials. While the list is not exhaustive, it will guarantee that you get the most value for your investment in translation in terms of cost and quality.

Establishing a criteria list provided the basis for determining what the right type of translation, and what the right professional translation service, is for your translation project. Now, before you hit the search engines, guarantee the success of your translation project by taking a few more minutes to truly prepare (peace of mind; priceless!). Read "Buying Online Translations Tips and Techniques."

And that is it-it is that simple! Translating marketing materials will ensure that your international e-commerce strategy speaks "German," will ensure that your shopping cart makes it to the checkout counter, and will ensure that no money is left on the table.

Copyright � 2005 Saeculii, LLC. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, http://www.saeculii.com/), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from Saeculii, LLC.

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is CEO of Saeculii, LLC., the owner of Saeculii Professional Translation Service. Visit Saeculii Professional Translation Servicefor the latest translation articles and news.
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