Written by Danielle Grossi

A question I get often is “Where do you find your vendors today, and more importantly, how?” Because the idea of smeepe came from our own need of wanting to find quality vendors, we’d like to share how we’re contributing to helping all users find the vendors they need with the help of smeepe.

The five things that annoy me most about finding a vendor are:

1) Having to search all over heck and back to find websites or contact info of potential vendors (some of whom don’t even have a website!)

As much as I love search engines, I find it somehow impossible to find the right vendors with them. I get a lot of results but not the ones I’m looking for. Maybe it’s just me. Nonetheless, smeepe is here to be the Amazon of services. Our search technology and directory service allow our vendors to be easily found based on ratings and relevancy and filtered based on location(s), if desired. Plus, for those superstar vendors or fresh startups who don’t have a website for whatever reason, your smeepe profile can be your mini-website.

2) Calling all the vendors and asking the same questions over and over again

Because the smeepe vendor profiles all have the same format, it makes comparing and pre-selecting vendors much easier. And ideally, all vendors will have written a fantastic description of themselves, which also helps you answer those questions you’d normally ask when calling.

3) Finding fantastic portals that might have the info I need, but have to register or pay for the info or am forced to send a quote form to the vendor…UGH!

This is the most annoying thing ever. These types of sites lure me in, get me searching and finding the vendor I need, then I get blocked as soon as I want to see the company name and contact information. At smeepe, you can see all information WITHOUT being forced to register or pay anything. You only have to register as a member if you want to rate, comment, share, or save a listing.

4) Having to connect and be everyone’s friend before I can see their information

There are a ton of social networks out there. We don’t want to be “just another social network.” As a member, registered or not, you can simply search for vendors and see their information without being “connected” to them. Plus, in the near future, we will be implementing a chat widget in which vendors can choose to activate on their profile. This will allow members to chat directly with potential vendors without having to download anything or register. Plus, if the member decides the vendor isn’t the right choice, he/she can just close the session and that’s it. No adding to lists or connecting. Easy and anonymous for the member.

5) Booking a vendor who sucks

I’m sure we all agree that when you book a vendor who doesn’t meet your expectations, it just sucks. That’s why we’ve built in ratings and comments. This will enable you to book with confidence and know what you’re getting into. Plus, as part of our phase 2 features, we will be adding more standard information to the vendor profiles as well as the ability to track social keywords about vendors that will help in your decision-making process.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 10:57 am and is filed under Guest Authors, Verticals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.