General Contractors?

How do we set up our account and use it well for our marketing efforts?
Thanks for answering and we would love to connect with someone who can introduce us to this wonderful platform.
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@AntilleanRestoration @Bretdouglas @ShaquealThomas @CodyRisner @Jack_Marquardt @junkminers11 @JWC @Juliano_50 @busyb As pros in general contracting or home improvement categories, do you have any advice for @Draughn who is just getting started on Thumbtack as a general contractor?
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It looks like there is a bit of a bug happening right now here - if you want to reply and help out @Draughn I believe you will need to "join" this Thumbtack Pro Mentorship group and then you will be able to comment! Sorry for the confusion for those of you who wanted to respond! You could also just send a DM to @Draughn or post in the main feed and tag each other!
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@Draughn @DustiO I completely understand where your thinking is with regards to using Thumbtack as a "Marketing" avenue. But I do not believe you will have much success with the platform if you approach it solely as an additional marketing avenue. The platform is best served as a way to get exposure to new clients through a PPL type strategy. I am not entirely sure what your area of business is on the platform, but I have personally used it as a way to get in front of a typically more tech-saavy clientele. Over time and through aggressive bidding, quick response times and an emphasis on reviews it has put me as a leader in my field within the platform. Now at this point in the game I am able to use it more like a "marketing" piece of my business since I am getting more screentime with the clients through my rankings, which leads to more potential clients choosing me over the competitors. Think of it much like getting first page rankings on search sites. Very few people pick from anything past 1-3 pages.
Hope this can help, and feel free to tag me or send a message if you would like any further discussions.
Best Regards,Risner Roofing
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@CodyRisner
Thanks for the idea. We will consider what you said.
and we agree we will use Thumbtack as one of our tools for marketing1 -
We're a Home Improvement Contractor located in Pennsylvania.
The first thing you must do is establish a data collection pattern with every User Inquiry.
The app notifies me of an Inquiry. I open the app. The first thing I do is screenshot it. Because there's data points here that are going to disappear. You need to open each inquiry within seconds to get this right.
Next, use a "quick reply" that says something like "Thanks for contacting us. I'll call you momentarily to discuss." Send that.
Immediately call the User. If they answer, you have a chance of getting hired. If they don't, you probably won't. Users only call back about 10% of the time, but leave a VM if they don't answer.
If they do answer, you need to push very hard for scheduling an appointment. The User will think you're coming the same day or maybe tomorrow, so I turn Thumbtack off any time I have more than three days of work scheduled. Otherwise, you're just filling Thumbtack's pockets.
Finally, you need to document everything. I document when the call came in, if the "User Only Picked Me" flag is on (will likely only show on the initial screen shot since Thumbtack pushes Users to select multiple people because that increases their profits. I document how many pros are contacted, a day or so later, I'll look at the message again to see how many responded. I record how many SECONDS it took me to message him back. On average, I'm about 48, which is mind blowing because how little time it takes to send a quick reply. It should be like 15 seconds.
I wonder if Thumbtack has a delay built into the app notification so Users are more likely to select multiple contractors? I don't think I've seen an "Only Picked Me" inquiry since January.
Only off the minimum services. So that screen where you select "1-2", "3-5", "5-10"? Set it to "1-2" and leave the others off. This is just a way for Thumbtack to charge you more and a way that Users get confused and submit inaccurate requests.
Turn off Thumbtack by "Hiding my business" at the end of every business day and leave it off on days you're closed.
I want to re-iterate: record all the data you get from Thumbtack.
Once you have some data, use that to manipulate your Thumbtack offerings to ones that are profitable and kill any that aren't. Sadly, most categories I've invested in to become successful eventually turn on us. In the time I've been using Thumbtack, once a winning category becomes unprofitable, you can correct it one, maybe two times but it will become a loser again. When it becomes a loser the third time, just delete the offering.
The best categories are the ones where only your business is present. Undersaturated categories mean you have a chance of getting hired. Oversaturated categories have a great chance of getting you only Thumbtack fees.
Finally, limit your service area to less than 30 minutes travel regardless of how large an area you serve. We're serving five counties and my Thumbtack offering is in four municipalities currently.
Since you're tracking all this data, you can find out which zip codes are winners and which are losers and delete the losers. Somehow for me, 17011 that borders 17008 is a massively better zip code and 17001 that's a short walk from 17008 is a complete loss. Actually, for me most of the 17X01 which tend to be downtown areas are just bad. The only one that shows wins is 17201 but I don't advertise Thumbtack there because it's too far away.
Good luck!
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Great insights and tips, @DerHilfer_LLC thank you!
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