Sunday, March 16, 2014

Mystery Shopping- Mock it and fill your Pocket--Book Review

Title: Mystery Shopping: Mock it and Fill your Pocket
Author: Saurabh Bhatia
Publisher: Become Shakespeare
Number of pages: 109






Mystery Shopping by Saurabh Bhatia is a bible for the mystery shoppers. It has only 109 pages which makes it easy on the eye and mind. I happened to hear a lot about mystery shopping and was dying to unravel the mystery behind it when I saw it at the Become Shakespeare book store. 
Although the book is touted as a handbook or guide for mystery shoppers one can learn a lot of lessons from it.  The book underlines and explains the need for effective communication and relationship building which maybe helpful to you in both your professional as well as personal life. 

The first two chapters talk of what is mystery shopping and who needs it and for what reasons. The next two chapters tell you of the qualities you must possess to be a mystery shopper. There are real life examples as well as tips from the author, that help to identify one's grey areas and work on them. The next two chapters are tips and tricks that anyone can use to reap benefits in their professional field. Many guidelines for writing reports and using technology to one's advantage were lessons I had forgotten. Reading the book was a gentle nudge to improve. I also liked the seventh chapter that talks of e-mail and phone etiquettes, that served as a reminder.
The most useful of all chapters is the 'Frequently Asked Questions' section that one must ideally read after reading the first two chapters. Doing so will be helpful for a novice and will lay the background for easy reading of the real life shopper examples.

The language is simple and the pointers make it easier to grasp the tips and tricks. The graphical representation in the beginning of each chapter was a great idea to not make the book read like a boring handbook.
I give it 4/5, four points for the lucidity in the language and chapters that were neatly laid along with the short pointers. One point goes away for the few facts that I believe got repeated over and over again. The author could have worded them differently to not sound redundant.

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