Wasted but paid for leads - why I am done with Thumbtack Pro

Theo

I refuse to automatically pay for worthless leads. A worthless lead is one that I could not respond to or looked at and declined for good reasons.

No small business - one person delivering professional services, can survive when over 50 percent of their gross income is consumed by Thumbtack Pro leads that, 1) were simple inquiries and not requests for services. 2) leads that I could not accept or in many cases could not see until it was too late and for a variety of other reasons (I paid hundreds of dollars for leads like this) 3) I could not evaluate the scope of the project, the sincerity of the requester, and their ability to pay.

Auto paying for so-called "Ëxact match" leads is an absolutely absurd business practice. Thumbtack Pro makes sense and money for the owners of Thumbtack Pro at the expense of the people, the Pros, that make their business possible.

The only quick and effective way I could manage issue this was to delete my payment accounts. Doing that makes the bleeding stop immediately.

Thumbtack wants me to commit to about $200 a week. They also want me to increase the amount I pay for individual leads significantly. They say it will make me more competitive. Really? How? Great for Thumbtack but very, very bad for the professional. Once I commit to a project I learned I needed to stop ALL leads. If I did not, I could and was charged for leads without the chance to evaluate them. I quickly learned that anything I might have made was dramatically reduced or completely wiped out by worthless to me leads. This could occur in a matter of minutes given an unlimited number of people could select me as an "Exact match" whether or not they actually are a good fit for me. If I cannot negotiate with a prospect, that is QUALIFY the lead then it is not a lead at all let alone an exact match I am willing to pay for. Additionally, given the way the system functions, the time it could take me to stop leads coming at me is not value-added time. Value-added time is time I use to provide services to people who really need my help, it includes prospecting. Paying for simple contacts is ridiculous and bad business.

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