Your Pro Summit recap.

DustiO

We recently held a Pro Summit for select pros and rolled out some exciting product news. Even if you weren’t able to attend, we want to make sure you all have access to the updates that were covered at the event.

• New booking options
• Updated market insights dashboard
• Expanded access to phone and chat support from 6am - 6pm MT

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for these exciting changes to the platform, built with your feedback in mind.

There was also a panel featuring several Thumbtack pros from our Pro Advisory Board who shared their thoughts about building success on the platform. Here are a few highlights (and view the full panel here):

“We see every review as an opportunity to have a relationship with the customer. We try to continuously communicate with the customer, show them interest, have the crew show interest in the projects they do with the customer, and we also try to make it as easy as possible for the customer. We send them emails, text reminders, and QR codes that they can scan so it’s easy for them to leave us reviews on Thumbtack.” — Rafael R., Thumbtack pro

“Nobody’s perfect. Staying calm and patient when you get a negative review, instead of offended and reactive will save you a headache. I will reflect with them to see what they pictured a five star setting would be and use that criticism for my future projects.” —Jack M., Thumbtack pro @Jack_Marquardt

“We have about a 65% conversion rate, depending on season. That is directly impacted by our response rate and our response times with that customer. We’ve found that the quicker we get in front of that potential client and the more responsive we are, the more that client wants to move forward with us.” — Cody R., Thumbtack pro @CodyRisner

“Managing your preferences is crucial and you really should be revisiting those often. We’re optimizing our preferences for busier seasons and for slower seasons. We also monitor our ranking, and monitor our market so we can make adjustments accordingly. This is crucial to your success on the platform, don’t treat it lightly.” — Deon M., Thumbtack pro @AntilleanRestoration

Here at the Pro Community, we’re always curious what you think.

Which product update are you most excited about, and why? How do you think these updates will impact how you utilize Thumbtack? Were you able to attend the Pro Summit? If so, what was the most memorable moment for you? And looking ahead, is there something that you wished would have been part of the event, but wasn't?

Fil777

Hi. Thanks for the news and I have a question for you. When those updates are coming? Especially this update with a free chatting with customer before booking

DustiO

The majority of the updates we discussed in the Pro Summit are available to all pros already, but some new updates, like Booking Inquiries (the feature you are asking about) are in testing and we hope to launch them in the coming months!

Kris

Can we turn off instant book, but still leave ourselves visible for normal leads?

DustiO

@Kris that's a great question! At this time you are not able to turn Instant Book on or off. I'd suggest looking at your availability settings (ie you can set your availability so that your required lead time to be booked is a little further out, block out dates on your calendar, etc), and also check your Max Lead Prices to be sure those are set to prices/competitiveness level that makes sense for you and your business. If you have a chance to watch any of the recordings there is some great insight around bookings, too. Hope this helps, even though it wasn't the answer you were necessarily looking for!

Kris

I wrote the above question, and have to say I have spent another hour trying to figure out how to turn off instant book to no avail or to find answers through search which is what lead me here to the only thing I could find about instant book, and still no closer to figuring out how to resolve this. Also I have been trying to turn targeting on on one of my businesses. I am taken through all the check box pages and it looks like it will be completed and turned on to no avail. I am like the hamster in the wheel, it goes back to the beginning with the blue link to turn it on.

Then I have tried to contact chat (the last video in your post saying it will be easier), and the link is there, but does not connect. I accessed it another way only for it to have a bouncing slide bar, kind of like the infamous spinning wheel, and it never connects.

Kris

I appreciate your getting back to me on my first question. You are right, not the answer I was hoping for. I have other unpredictable work, so instant booking is not good for me. And I would have to constantly be changing my availability, blocking and unblocking times. And I suspect that blocks me from all leads. So setting my hours for instance is a general thing, but many times I end up being available much earlier, but probably won't show up for a chance at a regular lead because I had to tighten the hours due to instant book. Airbnb tried this instant book too. Fortunately they allowed us to turn it off.

As for setting it further out, that would be disastrous because I can predict my schedule even less further out, and would have to potentially be cancelling on a lot of people who instant book. Not only will that cost me money (a much larger fee for the lead than normal), but also open myself to a bunch of bad reviews if I have to cancel bookings due to my other work schedule.

So I really hope they listen to this type of feedback from the pros. I was one of the early Thumbtack Pros with another business and they used to host us live in San Diego with new updates and listen to feedback from us. Even provided snacks and swag. Those were the days!

DustiO

@Kris I probably met you at one of those events! Let me know if you give it a try and are able to play around with any settings. If you can join for a CommuniTEA session and chat with other pros that is really helpful too (I am in those as well, to answer questions from the Thumbtack side). And for sure keep sending in your feedback - but be sure to send it to support@thumtback.com to be sure it gets logged as feedback here doesn't get logged (I do share it with teams, but it doesn't get logged under your account and tracked). And thank you for letting me know that the links in that post aren't working - I will check to see if they are outdated!

Kris

Yes, I bet we have met. I loved those events. I will play with settings. Thanks for sharing with teams.

alicemorgan3303

"Exciting updates! I'm especially looking forward to the reimagined Instant Book feature—it should streamline the booking process and help secure more clients quickly. The insights from the Pro Advisory Board were valuable, particularly about response times and customer reviews. It’s great to see how much emphasis is being put on feedback from pros to improve the platform!"