Hi Catherine,

I average doing 20+ phone shops per month and the first one can be a bit frustrating. I started by running through my scenarios with my cat. He's a great listener and seldom interrupts. If you don't have a pet or a willing listener try the scenario while facing a mirror. You'd be surprised how quickly you can lose the nervouness and gain in confidence by watching yourself. I hope this helps your confidence in doing phone shops.

Hi Etienne,

I did that shop too and I had to leave my number as a call-back. When the "cremation director" returned my call, I told him I needed to call him back in a couple minutes (so I could get the whole thing recorded)...that did not work as planned as he was calling from his cell and not from the office. So rather than playing "phone tag" I called him on his cell and completed the shop but that call was not recorded. I noted all this in my report and my report was accepted.

The guidelines are there to help you get a general idea of what is required. Sometimes you have to improvise slightly to get the info to complete your reports. A "real" customer would give their personal number if they were serious about getting cremation information.

Hi Donald,

You can try the MSPA site where they list their member MS companies. You can sign up on many sites through them and be assured they are all legit.

I hope this helps!