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One-Stop Shop: Why It’s Good to Publicly List Your Preferred Vendors

by Chicago Agent

by Peter Ricci

Millie Rosenbloom of Baird & Warner first began listing her preferred vendors on her website in 2003, and her reasons for doing so were as egalitarian as they were practical.

“People need good resources, and it’s my way of sharing some of those resources with them,” Rosenbloom says. Rosenbloom says there are several essential categories of vendors that agents should list on their site, including painters, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, flooring companies and even carpeting companies. Those vendors, Rosenbloom says, provide basic, fundamental services that all homeowners need, regardless of their property.

Millie Rosenbloom

Beyond the categories themselves, though, Rosenbloom says there are a number of distinct advantages to listing preferred vendors that can influence the entire life span of a property.

First, Rosenbloom only lists trusted vendors with whom she has worked repeatedly in the past – and not just on clients’ properties. Rosenbloom says she will recommend vendors that perform particularly well in renovations and maintenance work on her own home, and by limiting her vendor recommendations to such an elite group, Rosenbloom ensures not only the quality of work, but also that those vendors are reliable, trustworthy, and most importantly, insured. And that emphasis on quality only improves her relationships with her clients and her vendors, as she essentially guarantees them a constant stream of business.

“The clients…have developed a better relationship with me; they trust me, which is beneficial to my business,” Rosenbloom says. “They’ll think of me when they have a friend that’s in need of someone (for a project), and then if they have a friend that’s in need of selling or buying, they’ll think of me, too. So I think it works for everybody.”

Rosenbloom’s recommended vendor strategy also extends beyond the initial process of buying and selling. Because she works exclusively with the same preferred vendors on all her properties, Rosenbloom says they are perfectly aware of exactly what she looks for in a project, so her carpet vendor, for instance, intrinsically knows the cutting edge, modern style of carpeting she utilizes for all her properties. And by controlling those early stages in the home buying process, Rosenbloom says she is in an ideal position when, five or 10 years down the line, those same clients return to her to sell their home.

In the end, Rosenbloom says that listing preferred vendors signifies to present and future clients that you are an ultimate source for all their real estate needs, from staging to contract signing to lending.

“People are saying, ‘Okay, here’s her website, here’s how she markets her properties, here are her resources, here are her testimonials…she’s pretty well-rounded and together, she’s a one-stop shop,’” Rosenbloom says. “The consumers think that I’m a one-stop shop organization, and they can get everything.”

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