2006 Member Services Committee Report

Providing Valuable Services to Members

By Sue Toth, Chair
Member Services Committee

This year's Member Services committee consists of 40 volunteers. These committee members are dedicated to the goal of providing better services and vendors to all members of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. Our committee is responsible for three different areas:

The Preferred Vendor List
Our staff liaison, Corey Skinner, is contacted throughout the year by many different vendors who offer a wide variety of services. He then brings their proposals before the committee, and we decide on which ones to interview. Upon completion of the interview process, we review their proposals and vote on whether their services are advantageous to our members. These services include anything from reduced carpet and flooring prices to closing gifts to reduced travel rates. 

This year, we have added several new vendors and are in the process of reviewing current ones to make sure we are offering the most beneficial services possible. In July, a survey was sent, via e-mail, to all members of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. They were asked eight questions regarding usage of our services from our "Preferred Vendors' List." We received about 600 responses from the survey. This survey was conducted to help the committee answer the question, "What do our members want from our Preferred Providers?" The results of this survey were discussed at our August 8th meeting.

The committee also decided to change the name of the "Preferred Vendor's List" to "Member Discount/Services." We felt that this might better reflect what we are trying to do for our members, and that they might become more aware of this benefit. Click here to view our Member Discount/Services.

CBR Member Service Center
The newly updated store is located off the main lobby at the CBR. They provide supplies, cards, gifts, forms, books and many other useful items. In the fall, they have a large supply of calendars for agents to send to clients. Peggy Osterberg does a wonderful job of keeping the store stocked and is extremely helpful to our members and this committee. Check it out the next time you're at the Board!

CBR Print Shop
The print shop is in existence to assist the members of the CBR in doing their business well. They provide quality work at competitive prices and are conveniently located in the basement at the CBR. The graphic designer on staff, Nate Huber, is very talented and effective in designing and developing business cards, advertising and marketing materials, etc. Please stop by and see if the print shop can assist you in any way.

As a committee, we are working hard to meet the needs of the members of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. We want to insure that all members are aware of the services available to them through the CBR. We are working to make sure that the preferred vendors do more advertising in the In Contract magazine and will feel more a part of our Board. Look for the Member Discount/Service list each month toward the back of the magazine, as well as on the CBR web site and on the Info page on MLS. We hope that you will use and support as many of these businesses as possible.

My thanks go out to all of the committee members who give of their time and efforts, and especially to Corey and Peggy - without whom we could not operate!