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(Shopping in hollywood) Fashion - Living As A Fashion Consultant

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By Paul Hata

 Do you regularly find yourself reading up on the latest fashion trends? What about fashion advice, do you like to give it to those that you know? If you do, did you know that you may be able to make a living as a fashion consultant? You can and if you would like more information on how you can go about doing so, you will want to continue reading on.

Before you automatically decide that you would like to become a fashion consultant, you may want to take the time to examine exactly what one is and what one does. In case you decide to further research making money as a fashion consultant, you may want to know that a fashion consultant is also commonly referred to as an image consultant and visa versa.

While different fashion consultants operate their businesses in different ways, many focus only on clothing and clothing accessories. Those who are having a difficult time trying to pick out an outfit for a special event or a new job, often turn to a fashion consultant for professional advice.

One mistake that many individuals make when wondering if they can make money as a fashion consultant is by thinking that it is too difficult. Yes, you may not be able to predict what the next new fashion trend will be, but you can help those who are interested in improving their fashion sense now.

You can easily do this because you should have a number of resources at your fingertips. For instance, you could regularly read popular and well-known fashion magazines, read online fashion magazines, watch fashion shows online, or you can even attend live fashion shows. There are actually a number of different ways that you can stay up-to-date with the latest in the fashion industry.

One of the most commonly asked questions by those who are looking to make money as a fashion consultant is how to get clients. When it comes to getting clients, fashion consultants use a number of different marketing approaches. There are many who choose to advertise their fashion consultation business in their local newspapers.

You may also want to think about having your own online website. When having an online website, you will want to outline a few popular fashion tips or fashion trends, to show that you do have a little bit of fashion knowledge. You may also want to outline the types of fashions that you specialize in, if you wish to do so. For instance, if you wanted to focus on workplace fashions, you will want to outline that important fact.

Speaking of workplace fashions, if you want to focus mostly on workplace fashions, you have a certain group of individuals that you want to target. This group of individuals is what is known as your targeted market. All fashion groups, including gothic fashions, 80s fashions, and 90s fashions have a targeted market.

In keeping with workplace fashions, you may want to think about buying advertising space on a career searching website or another career focused website. Those who are looking for jobs are likely to need or want assistance with picking out a new wardrobe. Specifically targeting those who are likely to be your customers, is a surefire way to make your business a success.

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There’s No Mystery Shopping Like A Spy
By Dominic Donaldson

 Being a Mystery Shopper is a bit like being a consumer spy. Not quite MI5, but it is important in its own right as a yardstick for customer service and identifying improvements that can be made to a business. The reason that companies hire a mystery shopping service is to understand in an unbiased way what the customer is experiencing, and determine if that experience needs improving to maximise profit potential. If a business has front of house staff that pay little attention to customer service then the customer will not make a purchase and may well not come back.

Another major factor about pleasing the customer is that word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool and there is very little control any marketing department has over that. If a customer has a good experience, that information will be passed on. Word of mouth recommendations bring in business when it is positive, and reduce it when it is negative. Finding out that a restaurant has poor service will not encourage anyone to go give it a try themselves, and that negativity is more likely to be passed on, despite the information being second hand.

It is not just the customer service that is important; it is they way the restaurant, shop or service is looked after. On a mystery shopper’s brief there are several pages of variables that need to be checked and rated along side customer service. This can cover cleanliness of the floor, attractiveness of displays and even the how welcoming or warm the atmosphere of the establishment is.

When the brief is issued to a mystery shopper, there will be a general time frame when the report must be made. This could be because the behaviour of a certain member of staff is under investigation or to understand the pressure the existing staff may be under during a busy lunch time for example. The brief will also indicate what the shopper is to order, purchase or enquire about. Upon arrival at the service under investigation, the consumer spy will note the time, how many customers are present and how many staff are either serving, working or standing around. The role of a mystery shopper is to be a customer, therefore must conduct the investigation in as natural a way as possible. The staff may be aware that a mystery customer will be calling in, but will have no idea what day or what time.

Once the initial assessments have been made the shopper will rate the type of welcome offered by the staff based on the time it takes, and the level of friendliness from a smile to a welcoming comment. Timings are also made about the time a customer is left to browse before being offered help. In a business where the service is particularly bad, a mystery shopper could have to wait as long as ten minutes before finally asking for assistance. It is imperative that the report is completed because there are so many factors the company is paying to be investigated, so there is no option of leaving because the service is bad. It is also important to not be opinionated, lose calm or give the game away; the mystery shopper must always remain a model customer.

Once the queries have been made and qualitative assessments have been rated, the shopper then completes the report. It is important to remember how enquiries were worded and what the response was exactly for the report and the names or descriptions of the staff involved. The experience of the mystery consumer will benefit all customers that follow and improve the running of the business under investigation. Not quite the same as being part of the secret service but the role is definitely the surreptitious back bone in the success of consumer society.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the customer service industry.

Find out more about mystery shopping and how it can help business productivity at Performance In People.

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Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 3:20 am and is filed under shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.