What is something we (vendors) do that makes you want to pull your hair out?

I'm an ILS vendor and I need your help with a training I'm developing around building client relationships!

What is something we (vendors) do that makes you want to pull your hair out?

What can we do to make your life easier?

What is your favorite thing a vendor does for you?

Show up without appointments. Call or show up on the 1st, 6th, or month end closing. My top peeves.

I’m the Director of Marketing and Communications... My top pet peeve is really long emails especially when it’s clearly a copy and paste and they forget to change to my name or my company name.
If you want me to take 5 mins to read a long email, at least proof it to make sure it’s properly addressed to me!

It drives me crazy when vendors don’t answer their phones ....especially when you have an emergency . I try to always meet with a vendor when they walk in without an appointment and I email everyone back so please answer your phone !!!

Drops in with lengthy conversation. A simple fact sheet/brochure drop off and wave is all that is needed.

Katie Sheremet I think a small gift (ugh, I hate donuts) should be warranted too. But that's just me

Do not just show up! So not even call the first week of the month. Do not be super pushy just keep it friendly.

Barbara Diane McElhaney I think on our side we forget how insanely busy the first week of the month is. Thank you for the feedback

Show up the first or last week of the month. If you want to give us promo stuff make is useful- note lads, sanitizer, post it’s, pens. We know who you are- if we need you we will call!

No Monday visits. Friday visits are the best.

-I'm working from home in a state detached from our corporate office. The number of vendors that assume I'm in an office when I am literally 1000 miles away is incredibly astounding. So, make sure you even know where you are going and who you are contacting should you send an email saying we should meet up. One vendor in particular always sends this obnoxious email for meeting up over a food I am not interested in because they will be in a town I am nowhere near.
-If I tell you I am not interested, please move on. Don't send me the same stupid food email. I will mark as spam and forget it. Applies to both email and phone.
-Gifts are not necessary. Most of the time I personally view them as clutter/junk or the food is not something I would even eat (no carbs or sugar)
And I took a look at your profile; I see the vendor you are working for. It's one I have had a really great experience with. Two gentleman (Sergio and Matthew) really sealed the deal for me and were super awesome to work with. I'm a nerd so being able to use email and such was way better than in person visits anyway. Ask them about their magic!

I love a rep who I can email to make changes or corrections to site for me. Visits are best if properly timed. Favorite is when the help with events or donate resident gifts. Also a staff lunch or breakfast is nice if you want to show off a new program to several mgrs

I am an RPM that covers 4 states. I have several vendor / reps and I can say the most annoying thing is when a vendor talks smack about other vendors !!
You don’t step on other people to make yourself or your product look better!!
Attitude is Everything!!

If you call and I say no, I'm not interested, don't follow up with "can't I just come to your office and chat a minute?" No means no. Don't harass me. And don't just show up and expect me to make time for you because most vendor visits are a time suck.

Don’t call or visit on a Monday or the first 5-6 days of the month unless you know my Starbucks order and just are leaving it on my desk with chatting another time. Those budget requests and get through it kits are also super helpful!

Heather Everett King could you explain budget requests and get through it kits? I’m new and learning the ropes

Starting summer time we are all starting to write the next year’s budget. You may get an email from me that asks what are the increases for next year? Or what would it cost to re whatever my whatever’s? Those are a stressed out signal from the onsite team that we need a quick number now and we’ll send you the specifics later. And some vendors drop off little bags of things that may be helpful during budget season. A cute calculator, gum, peanuts post it notes pens coffee cards energy drinks. It seems homey but I use them every year and they are actually really nice. !

If I haven't reached out to you or know you - do not call and do not visit the office. Contact the onsite manager or regional manager or marketing manager - not to be a dick, but yeah.

The best kind of ILS vendors are the ones that I dont even realize we are working when we talk. It's kind of like selling an apartment. Remember the prospects name, their pet named fluffy, what they were planning to do that weekend. Follow up on Monday with thanks for chatting with me, hope you had a good weekend hiking and that fluffy had fun. Here's some lead reports I pulled and if you need anything reach out!

Dont visit unannounced especially during the 1st week of the month or on a Monday. If your showing up just before the lunch hour it better be with lunch .???? My team loves vendors little gadgets they leave or treats.

If a company as a national contract, all vendors should read their account notes to see what they can and can't do. I don't mind reps stopping by with goodies, or a market report, but I HATE when they try to go around the national contract to sell more.
Also, if we politely stay we aren't interested, don't keep blowing up our sites and everyone at corporate (looking at you Amazon Key).
When I was on the vendor side I always let my clients know I was there for them and a resource. When we did connect it was bc I may have sent them an article on something I knew they were working on, a new training guide, etc., But never to waste their time. I also respected my contact and never went around them.

I'm on the vendor side, there is a thin line with pushing too hard or not enough with visits and sales. I love making relationships for the long haul. Our business cards set us apart and are never thrown away (from what i know) we just let them know to call us when they need us. I always want leasing, managers, regionals and asset managers to know I'm a resource whenever they need me. It goes a long way and I usually get the friendly calls from the onsite team instead of the other way around. It places us in a good place from the start.
For example, when busy Dan Lukes truly needs assistance, he has my contact information and knows I'm there for him and his many assets
Always know your audience and personality on each site, ask other vendors for feedback before visiting.... and be kind, even if you get a quick "No thank you "

I had a vendor just call and say “tomorrow I would like to bring coffee and breakfast for the team” got our individual orders and gave a small pitch with a business card after dropping it off. It worked cause I called them for a bid.
If you go to a paperless office, don’t bring a stack of 1000 flyers to sit on a desk. We will just throw them away lol

I hate it when vendors go into resident apartments and bad mouth the office or tell the resident things that cause them to think the office is against them and then the office deals with the aftermath.

A- Please make an effort to get my name right
B- Do not take a conference list and call or send an email that we met recently, especially when we didn't because I either did not stop at your booth or I was not there.
3= As a Regional, I would like any resources you have spent on my team and not me
D-Thank you for all that you z

Make sure your emails have a lot of information about the service your pitching. Just because I may not respond - i do keep them. When an opportunity arises, I search back in my email for the solicitation and will reach out. Having said that, i don’t need one every week! ????

Are you taking notes?
1) Mondays are out
2) 1st -5th of any month is out
3) We like to be fed
4) Incessant emails annoy us.
5) We like gadgets
6) We like to be fed (worth repeating)
You are welcome. ????

When you call and are not an approved vendor thru our corporate office or tell you that those decisions are not made at the site level then I'll refer you to our corporate office and give you the contact info. Make a permanent note of that and stop calling me until you've done that bc my answer will not change and I'll just hang up

Email the owners of the company or the president before emailing me for a meeting request.

How about showing up at the door unannounced and saying" I was in the area and thought to just drop by". NO ONE has time for that. Sending me emails every week for 6 months will only make me block your emails. If I don't answer the first one, I ma not interested.