Preferred Vendor Program

Who We Are

Very Good Marketing Consultants (VGMC) is the leading (and we like to think best) provider of outside CMO services exclusively for online businesses. With a diverse range of verticals, we serve as outside CMOs for numerous types of online businesses. Having built a great reputation in the industry, it is imperative that we remain agnostic when it comes to the vendors our members do business with.


Our members frequently ask our team (and each other) for referrals for all different categories of vendors ranging from accountants to book keepers to website developers and lion tamers. Well okay, no one has asked for a lion tamer, yet; however, as you can imagine, we are always on the lookout for good resources to help us help our members manage the growth of their businesses.


We are very clear about our “wheelhouse”. We are the fractional CMOs an online business can ask for. That means we are a member of their team, and insist that any vendors we bring in, are top level talent as well. Our referral fees are the lowest in the industry, and we ask that you put your heart and soul into helping every member as much as possible.


Okay, so by now you are probably excited about the possibility of getting your company in front of our members and you probably have some questions:

Frequently Asked Questions

EXCLUSIVITY? No! We do not offer exclusives. It's better for our members to have as many great choices as possible.


REFERRAL FEES? Typically, referral fees range anywhere from 10-20%. We only ask for a 5% referral commission in hopes that you will make our members your highest priority and serve them well for the long haul.


APPLICATION FEE? Yes! We require an application fee of $250. This helps offset the costs associated with checking out your company and verifying your credentials to help protect our members.


DEADLINE? Yes! From the day you submit your application fee, you will have 15 days to provide all the information we require to do our part. If you are too disorganized or too busy to provide the required information that is a pretty good sign that you are not going to have the organization or bandwidth to make it a priority to treat our members right. Seriously, we are not going to ask you to complete quadratic equations. All we need are copies of relevant work samples, clients we can contact etc. And yes, our team will pester you about completing your application, because we want our members to have as many great resources available to them as possible. The VGMC Preferred Vendor List allows us to do that. Look, if a meteor falls through the roof of your building, and you need a bit of extra time, we will be reasonable and work with you. Otherwise, if you cannot or do not get yourself together to provide all the required information within 15 days, your registration fee will be forfeit, and you will be unable to apply to the Preferred Vendor Program for another six months. That’s pretty reasonable, don’t you agree?


PUBLICITY/PROMOTION? Yes! We will provide you with an approved seal badge you can display on your website and in your other marketing materials to brag about the fact that your company has been admitted to the VGMC Preferred Vendor List. This will demonstrate to online business owners everywhere that someone has checked you out and lets them know you have met our criteria. etc.


OFFERS? Yes! You should think creatively about what kind of special offer or “member benefit” you can offer to our members. Online businesses that have VGMC as their outside CMO, tend to profitable scale much faster than your average online business. They are better managed, the owners who run them are happier, and they tend to make better business decisions too. In other words, they are exactly the sort of clients or customers you probably dream of having. Plus our community of happy members is a tight-knit group, so if you do a great job for one of them word can spread surprisingly fast.


WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T DO A GREAT JOB FOR ONE OF OUR MEMBERS?


We have a formal dispute resolution process. We understand you can’t please everyone all the time, but if we feel you are trying to do the right thing we are not going to penalize you. We are entrepreneurs too. We get it. However, if you get too many complaints from our members, or we lose confidence in your integrity, we will have to dismiss you from the List.

OUR SIX STAGE PROCESS TO BECOMING AN PREFERRED VENDOR:

Okay great, so how do you apply and what’s involved in being “preferred”. What’s with the term “preferred” anyway? Let’s take those in reverse-order.


By completing the application process and assuming your references all check-out your company will be admitted to our list, and members will know that we've given you our seal of approval.

STAGE I – GET STARTED


Click on the button below to email us and get your application process started. We will go over all aspects of the program with you and make sure this is a good fit for you as well as for us. When you email us, make sure you write "Preferred Vendor Application" as your subject line. This is the first test that you pay attention to details. Any other subject will be deleted immediately.


STAGE II – APPLICATION


If after our initial consultation, we are all onboard with continuing the process, we will get you set-up with the application process. We are going to ask for contact information for at least 5 references of current or recent clients. As well as proof of relevant insurance and licenses if they are required.


STAGE III – SUBMISSION


Once we receive the completed application along with an annual application fee of $250 you will be notified when we begin the evaluation stage. This way you can let your references know they can expect to be contacted by our team and give them your permission to discuss your company with us, so they are not surprised.

STAGE IV – EVALUATION


Our team will reach out to the references you provided to discuss their experience with your company. We're not only interested in hearing the good, but also how your company has handled problems in the past.


STAGE V – RESULT


After we have completed the interviews, we will schedule a call with you to discuss our findings. Hopefully it will be a love fest, but just in case we uncover any problems, we will let you know and give you a chance to go back to your customer and make things right. We will give you the option to put your application process on “pause” for a reasonable period of time, until you feel the air is clear for us to go back to your customer, hopefully for them to report how impressed they are with your company for making things right.


STAGE VI – ADMISSION


Once your company is “admitted”, we will add the name of your company to our Preferred Vendor List along with a blurb about your company, the obligatory link to your website, and instructions for our members letting them know the best way to contact your company.

*** Note, that under no circumstance will we EVER contact your clients to solicit them for work. That is a shitty way to start a relationship, and would much rather provide you with amazing service so that you are thrilled to make a referral.