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E&0 - Editorial and Opinion


Choosing Vendors - Are they ALL bad?

After reading a few pretty HEAVY posts about vendors on the Real Estate Web lately, I have been pondering where the line should be with vendors for a real estate brokerage. In a recent bloodhound blog post Greg Swann (full disclosure: who is a friend) advocates (at least to my mind) a “nuke ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” frustration that is born of going to many of the meetings and conventions and exhibit halls that our industry has to offer.

I understand that frustration. It DOES sound like so many carnival barkers. There ARE a ton of vendors, all of which only exist because of the commissions generated by a REALTOR. The notion of “kill all the lawyers. kill ‘em tonight” has an appeal to it for that reason. It is SO much easier to say: “I don’t have time to worry about which vendors to work with. They are all just after my money.”

Is it worth separating the wolves from the sheep? In my opinion it is. Let me provide you with some common sense criteria that I use.

First Criteria: Is this Vendor a Competitor (or a competitor in the near future)?

Unless it is strategically VERY useful for me, then why build the brand, provide aid, or send money to those who are, will or can buy lead and make bullets intended for me? Trulia’s well publicized widget fiasco is an example of that. Common sense tells us that someone who openly and aggressively goes after search engine dominance NATIONWIDE and simultaneously says “give all your listings to us” is a COMPETITOR.

Criteria #2: Will they generate a GREAT return on investment after taking a HARD look at the numbers?

I had the chance to chat with Mitch Ribak the other day. Mitch is a Melbourne Fl Realtor who is now a reporter here on REIW. For him, using one of HomeGain’s traffic generation products is a no brainer. Why? because it makes sense after filtering it through these top two criteria. It does NOT feed the hand that bites him and generates a solid amount of ROI.

I talked with Wayne Long from Columbus Georgia about it as well. He is a long time customer of HomeGain’s who also is a reporter here on REIW. Give Wayne a call some time and ask him how it has worked for him.

The key to it is to measure the results. Both of these guys are ADAMANT about that. Guess what? They are still using HomeGain as a vendor.

Another example is our brokerage’s rollout of VoicePad’s mobile IDX which we have BRANDED as HomeInfo by Phone with OUR phone number (hint. hint.). They are a vendor. They are not evil. They are one of the “carney barkers” at NAR and yet the agents in our office are enjoying the benefits that 1,250 extra leads a month brings in.

Back to my friend Greg Swann. Greg is KNOWN for the yard signs that he puts in front of peoples’ homes. They are amazing, custom crafted and EFFECTIVE in boosting ROI…and yet many sign vendors are “carney barkers” in the exhibit halls as well. Are they competitors? Nope. Do they provide a solid return? According to him they do.

Another example is my friend Morgan Carey from Real Estate Webmasters. He builds some of the BEST, search engine friendly real estate websites in the business. Scratch that. They ARE the best. He is a VENDOR. He makes his living from the commissions REALTORS make. The key is, that he is NOT a competitor and provides a GREAT return.

While I can CERTAINLY understand the frustration, as a small businessman, I MUST work with vendors. I choose to work with the ones who provide VALUE and who are NOT wolves in sheep’s clothing. How do YOU sort them out?

Eric Blackwell

Eric Blackwell is the Director of Technology for RE/MAX Properties East and owner of EriconSearch.com –a search engine marketing and optimization company dedicated to helping businesses thrive on the internet and especially in marketing on the search engines. Eric is also the publisher of RealEstateIndustryWatch.com and a moderator on RealEstateWebmasters as well as contributing to the Bloodhound Blog. Eric has written as well as a columnist for RE/MAX Times Online, an internal online resource for RE/MAX International’s 110,000 franchisees and associates.