7 Secrets to Doing Your Own Topic Research in 30 Minutes (for Free)

You need specific information for an upcoming speech – and you need it NOW! Want to become an instant expert? Read on…

We’ll use a specific example (the industry called “secret shopping”), but apply the secrets below to the specific information you are seeking, and you’ll become an “instant expert.”

For our example, you would like to know more about the secret shopping industry – background, major players, associations, financial statistics, etc. You have heard this kind of service referred to as “secret shopping,” “mystery shopping” and “shopping service.” It will take you five minutes to read this article – and only 30 more to take the research steps. Start the clock running. Ready, set, go – search.

Secret #1 – Test Your Terms.
Do a search on Google (or Yahoo or Ask.com or Live.com) for each of terms you do know. Test to see which word or phrase has the most results. Your searches will look like this:
“secret shopping”
“mystery shopping”
“shopping service”
Go ahead, do it. Yes, you, right now! Those of you who did the exercise found that in this case the results were, shall we say, mixed. All of these search phrases had about the same number of results – no clear winner. However, for your topics you may find that one search phrase is used more often than others. That’s the one you’ll want to key in on.

Secret #2 – Combine Your Best Terms.
Put several of your best words or phrases together in a search. So your search would look like this:
“secret shopping” “mystery shopping” “shopping service”
Go ahead, try it. This often produces more targeted and more relevant results – and in the case of Google, Yahoo and Live it seemed to filter out many of the fraudulent “job offer” sites and leave more listings for the legitimate companies that actually provide secret shopping services. One of the companies mentioned first in Google was AboutFace from Gainesville, GA. Since this is a quick search, and you don’t have much time, take a quick look at their site just to get your feet wet.

Secret #3 – Pay Attention to the Paid Ads.
Above and to the right of your search results are the advertisements that companies are paying for (and praying you will notice). Google Adwords are just slightly successful – Google rakes in 99% of its income from the Adwords program. These ads can often serve as fabulous networking and further research opportunities. (In this case, however, the ads are mostly job scams and easy money come-on’s. More on this later).

Secret #4 – Don’t Forget Your Old Friend, ASAE.
The American Society of Association Executives (www.ASAENet.org) keeps a database of associations on its web site. We’ve written about this “hidden treasure” before in “Associatin’ with the Associations.” Their site is a must for anyone doing research on practically any topic. There is an association (or two or three or four) for practically every topic and discipline in the world. Using ASAENet.org to search for “mystery shopping” you find the main association serving this industry is the MSPA, the Mystery Service Providers Association at www.mysteryshop.org (who’d a thunk it?!). They are, according to their own site, “the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources.”

Secret #5 – Wikipedia, Believe it or Not.
We know. There is certainly well-deserved controversy about this site, and we agree that Wikipedia at www.wikipedia.com has its drawbacks. However, for a quick boost in the old research fanny (and quick is what we agreed we needed) you just can’t beat it. “Mystery shopping” is the term that plays best with Wikipedia – and gives you a quick summary of the mystery shopping industry. Two things to note: while Wikipedia provides some good information, it does not list the major mystery shopping companies, or the related associations. It did, however, give us a reference to an article blasting the job scams in the mystery shopping industry. The article is called “Secret Shopper Scams” and comes from another true “hidden treasure” at www.snopes.com.

Secret #6 – Remember to Search by Site.
We’ve written about this time-saving search strategy in other articles on this blog – most recently in “A Few Simple, Smart Online Shopping Rules.” Just add the term site: and you’ll save time in your search by quickly searching the Mystery Service Providers Association for things like member companies, meetings, events – indeed, whatever you want. Here’s what these searches should look like:
“member companies” site:mysteryshop.org
conference site:mysteryshop.org
A Google search for “member companies” done in this manner gives you a complete list of companies that belong to MSPA, while the same search done in Yahoo nets you information about the MSPA North America 2007 Annual Conference coming up on October 3-6, 2007, to be held at Fisherman’s Wharf (and you thought your research was going to be boring!).

Secret #7 – Get Specific.
Now that you have background information on the industry, it’s time to get more specific in your search. Since the luxury hotel business is the slice of mystery shopping that interests you most, go back to Google for a simple search of:
hotels “mystery shopping”
In Google one of the first few results links to one of the major players in this industry, the Coyle Hospitality Group:
“Based in New York City since 1996, Coyle Hospitality Group (“CHG”) is a market leader providing mystery shopping and brand quality assurance services exclusively to hotels, restaurants and spas worldwide.”

Another one is the Hotel Shopping Network
“The Hotel Shopping Network™ formed in 1994 by Janis Mitchell, a hotelier with over 28 years in the hospitality industry.”

Secret #2 Again – Combine Your Terms.
Combining search phrases not only works for topics, but it also works for companies. Don’t keep researching; just get right to the gold. Here’s how your search should look:
“hotel shopping network” “coyle hospitality group”
The very first result in Google leads you to this information:
“A and M Business Services, AboutFace, A Top Shop, Bare Associates International (BAI), Beyond Marketing Group, Check-Up Marketing, Count on Us, Hotel Shopping Network, Satisfaction Services Inc. and Coyle Hospitality Group are some of the leading firms that offer mystery shopping services for upscale hotels.” It’s just like magic. It really is magic.

Time is up, kiddos. The above steps should take you about 30 minutes – for any topic. During your search, you’ll likely find some sites to add to your Favorites or Bookmarks and some articles you’ll want to print out to read on the plane later. We’ll add 60 minutes for that reading and review.

If you can skyrocket your knowledge about any topic in 90 minutes, would you do it? You’re in the information business no matter what business you’re in these days – but as a speaker, content is your lifeline. Whether it’s for an upcoming speech, article, book, meeting or sales call, with the right tools and in very short order, you can have the information you need.