When do you need it? Is yesterday soon enough?

Meeting deadlines.

After "great quality and truthfulness in reports", perhaps the first and last word in mystery shopping, however, is deadlines.

Businesses that employ mystery shopping firms know the value of customer service. In order to best assess their areas of strength and weakness, a detailed schedule of mystery shoppers is set up, with high importance placed on shoppers meeting assigned deadlines.

That being said, there is nothing more reliable in the world than the unexpected. Things happen. As with any employer, your mystery shopping firm should receive adequate notice of the inability to perform a task. A scheduler should always be given enough time to reschedule a shop and still meet the deadline. E-mail. Call. Fax. Hire a skywriter. Just be sure to let the scheduler know of any changes in your schedule, so he can make the necessary changes to his own.

Meeting deadlines will earn you your scheduler's heart and the proverbial gold medal.