Thumbtack dropping the ball or is it just me?
Just curious, how many are feeling like Thumbtack is just dropping the ball all together for service providers. Between refusing refunds, even when the rules have clearly been broken to the constant bad leads that cost more than normal. Is there anyone out there that has gone through these struggles and figured out how to polish this turd and get the best use out of it? If so please share!
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@LLContracting yeah it seems tt totally had given up on us pros. Views and leads dropped significantly and their answer is to blame the pro. "Pay more per lead, reduce your fee". So TT makes more money and I'm losing money.
They don't seem to care to look into what's going on in the industry/economy to give a solid answer. Then ask for a legit refund? Ha. That's a joke!!!
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The drastic changes they’ve made over the years have been, for the most part, extremely bad moves for pros. It’s obvious they have one thing in mind, their bottom line… This recent instant booking change is going to be the last straw for alot of Pros to pull the plug. Its only a matter of time until another platform comes along…
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I have a feeling that they’re getting in a position to sell to a competitor. Fatting up there number to look better on paper. Sooner or later we’ll see thumbtack as part of Angie’s list or home advisor
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I confess that I have gone from being a HUGE fan and referrer of the Thumbtack platform to planning to be off the platform entirely by the end of the year. The cost per lead has increased more than 400% since I started using the platform and the quality of leads has dropped dramatically. When I say quality of leads, I mean that at least 75% of the leads do not respond to the opportunity to even hop onto a discovery call, even when I respond to them within 4 minutes of their request. Even with the strong conversion rate that I have, when TT charges me $120-165 per lead in order to be "competitive", it means that those clients who do come through would have to be committing to packages that cost thousands just for me to break even. And it's actually not a winning formula for TT either because previously, I was happily spending $1200-1550 weekly in order to get the number of leads where my numbers work. Now, I spend slightly less but that doesn't translate into the number of leads that I need in order to justify spending $165 per lead in an environment where the % of clients who "ghost" has actually gone up. Rather than having a coach who is happily spending 5K monthly, they have a coach who now discourages other coaches from investing in TT and who is currently pausing her account and planning to completely leave TT by the start of 2024. Sad. Clearly, there has been no collaborative input from the TT pros as TT continues making dramatic changes.
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As a Health Coach i am in the same exact situation as you. I asked TT how I can get back to being successful with all the changes. Of course they blamed me, telling me to raise my max lead price and charge less for my fees. Yeah. Not very helpful.
I'm just curious if you know of any other apps to use? I tried Bark but they don't have my Category.
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I would love to say that Bark is better but I found that it's formula does not work for coaches either. When TT blames you for "struggling" with TT, ask them to lay out their suggestion in numbers. I respectfully suggest that they have no clue but are repeating a script that has been provided. Let's play with some numbers on our own... This week, I got 8 leads and paid almost $900. Of those 8 leads, so far 6 of those have ghosted me even after responding within 5-10 minutes and now having texted them 2+ times. (Trusting that the numbers that they provided TT are accurate). I have a high conversion rate and I have explored "charging less". Most of those with whom I have now have calls do not now want to spend thousands. (And yes, I am good at sales and have coached hundreds of clients so respectfully, it's not my conversion ability). I have explored "charging less" so let's say that I offer a 4 pack at $797 and get a 50% conversion rate from the 2 discovery calls this week. I will be coaching 4 hours plus hopping on 2 discovery calls and LOSE money -- not make money. Were I to increase my spend and reduce my prices, it would be even worse. It makes zero sense. It's just math. Clearly, they aren't doing the numbers. I would love to see how we coaches can charge less and "make more" with the existing thumbtack model. Feel free to connect with me. Meridith Alexander www.gritmindsetacademy.com
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What really sheds a bad light on situations which loyal pros bring up here in the community is when there happens to be a post that mentions any complaints about the platform, TT ends up hiding the threads from public view. I guess its expected when we post on a message board controlled by the platform. But it sure speaks volumes on the integrity or lack there of…
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@Fix_Fitness there is plenty of negative feedback that remains. The only time a post is removed is when the commenter either uses profanity, or repeatedly goes agains the Community Code of Conduct. You can check out the Community Code of Conduct here for reference. We are continually sharing feedback from the Community with teams to help bring your voices and experiences to the table. We just ask that conversations remain productive and constructive. Let me know if you have any further questions.
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I just got the message that I am being forced into their instant booking system. It simply DOES NOT WORK with what I do, and how I run MY business. That is the biggest insult to how Thumbtack is going about launching this new required system. Please for the love of god make it optional for people to enroll in this, I cannot setup my calendar to reflect my availability as it changes day by day, and it isn’t how I run my stuff!
It is forcing me to diversify and find other sources of business, and eventually I could see myself being off the platform all together. I have been an active member of this community and always had faith Thumbtack wouldn’t continue down this path as more and more people spoke up, but seems like there is a bigger picture that we are not included on.
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What a coincidence that some guy joined this community and posted how great instant booking was like an hour after I posted this
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@DrewL03 Please refer to our Community Code of Conduct and keep conversations constructive. @keddingfield is one of our Top Pros and is a Thumbtack Pro Advisor. You are welcome to check his bio on this page, or look up Mighty Plumbing and HVAC. He has successfully been using Instant Book for several months in his market. I tagged him in the Instant Book thread to see if he could offer some insight in to how Instant Book works for him, since we had some pros requesting that.
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No, they are not. You can read more about the newly launched Pro Advisory Board on that page I sent you. They have all volunteered to share their time and expertise as industry leaders and Top Pros. We are meeting with them regularly to hear their feedback and ideas.
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So when they're all in San Francisco meeting the CEO, they went there on their own dime? And they haven't been featured in any promotional materials that would benefit their businesses? Bottom line, This person is a compensated shill for Thumbtack and happens to be the only person here who has one positive thing too say about instant booking. How about you be transparent and have ALL of the Pro Advisory board members come here and give us actual data showing how instant booking helps their businesses? We've yet to see actual numbers from anyone associated with Thumbtack showing us how we benefit. This change is hurting our businesses and ONLY benefits Thumbtack, and we're angry about it. It's pure arrogance on the part of Thumbtack that they think they can keep squeezing us for more and more money and we'll just take it forever.
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@DrewL03 Please review our Community Code of Conduct.
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(This is DrewL. I have one account linked to my phone and another linked to my computer for some reason). haven’t broken any community guideline rules. This community is for we, the thumbtack pros. Sorry you don’t like the feedback you’re getting. It’s a fair question to ask if someone who is supposedly representing us got a paid vacation to San Francisco or other benefits when they are here defending an unpopular policy change.
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Our Pro Advisors are free to share their feedback, both negative and positive. Another one of our Pro Advisors commented with some constructive but negative feedback around Instant Book in our Instant Book thread. Accusing pros of being paid by Thumbtack, because they choose to post their positive experience is against the spirit of this Community. Some highlights from our Code of Conduct:
1. Keep it respectful
Without exception, we will not tolerate bullying behavior towards employees or other pros. And since we are all on the same team, there should be no reason for it in the first place.
Profanity and obscenity have no place in the Pro Community. Hate speech and discriminatory speech will not be tolerated. Additionally, do not intimidate or discourage others from participating, or from voicing opinions that might be different than yours. Comments directed at personal appearances are not permitted.
This is a zero tolerance policy.
2. Keep it constructive
Conversations should remain productive and focused on solutions. We always welcome well-reasoned critiques but we ask that you refrain from angry rants.
We do our best to answer questions quickly and with as much detail as possible. If your question has been addressed, please accept the answer in good faith and move on.
3. Keep it in perspective
Everyone’s situation is unique, especially as it pertains to their business: what works for you may not work for someone else, and vice versa. Please keep this in mind when sharing your opinions, suggestions, and experiences.
Please reflect on whether the suggestion you’re sharing is unique to you or is applicable to many. We always encourage sharing the latter.
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Hey LL, who is this new partner of TT? This might explain a lot.
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@KLsmith @LLContracting Thumbtack has not partnered with anyone.
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