Topic: When evaluating a new vendor, what are some of the things you would like to know before deciding to use them?

 

Are they smart enough to not call me the first week of the month and certainly not the day after a holiday! Happened today. I’m like really dude?

Or any Monday morning

I don’t visit or call first of the month, Monday’s or after noon on Friday’s. Unless you ask me to come out or call or text first. I’m in Texas if you need a new vendor lol.

Will they show up?

Having worked on both sides, something that matters most to me is how responsive they are. Having worked onsite, I was used to responding extremely quickly to my residents, so moving to the supplier side, it was very natural to have the same sense of urgency with my clients.

100% agree. How responsive they are is indicative of how organized they are. How organized they are is indicative of how effective they can be

Depends on what kind of vendor it is. Each type has different questions!

Insurance? Can they send me legit invoices?

Can they actually do the job correctly??

how they manage their time and how their communication is, a lot of the times we get missed because they are overbooked but there is no communication until they are confronted and then they tell us sorry- sorry does not fix the unclean apartment that we scheduled weeks if not months ago

I’ve been on both sides and I think communication is #1.

Do they send invoices on time. Do they show up when scheduled. Do they work without being supervised? Do they have their own supplies or know where we keep them (we had a cleaning lady and provided her supplies, every week she would ask where they were. They were always in the same place.)

If you have snow, when do they come out to shovel? (Ours comes out when over 2 inches). Also, make sure they don’t come out while it’s actively snowing. Ours came out at 2am when it was actively snowing and by morning it had fallen another 5 

Are they flexible as sometimes you need to change appt dates because of unforeseen circumstances.
Will they honor the quality of their work if you need to call them back for any issues they should have taken care of
How quickly can they normally schedule for

Do they screen their employees; back ground checks.

What is their employee turnover rate and top reasons their employees leave. If they don’t know when I ask, they don’t care enough to watch that. If they do know, I’m impressed at their preparation skills.

I’ve been on both sides. But as a Vendor, I vet the hell out of my clients. Call other vendors and service providers the serve the client. I’ll call other owners in the area to ask if they have any working knowledge of the management company.

After all, as vendor or service provider I am at risk. I am extending the comapny massive amounts of credit and dedicating resources.

Communication.

One of the disciplines of a market leader is that they pick their clients, and not the other way around.

I would check the references. You want reliability, affordable and quality....2 out of three isn't bad, but is REALLY nice when you do!

Call references to make sure they show up when they say they will. Another option is to look at their facebook page to see what type of person they are.

 

What is the vendor supplying or doing? Is there competition? Track record with other properties? Is there a contract here?