Customer acquisition Cost, Conversion Rates, Lead Authentication: SOLVED

NathansHaulingpros

Thumbtack advertises as the new gateway for home service pro connection. It is actually no different then your average "Pay for Clicks" marketing service like Google or Yahoo. The exception here is that 1 click can cost you $40. As Thumbtack encourages clients to request service from more than 1 pro ; which is a direct stimulate to the factors used to generate their revenue. Small business owners are left with 10-30% conversion rates, incompetent phone support, and pricey lead charges all resulting in poor quality service.

Years have gone by with countless online reviews, request, and pro reports suggesting Thumbtack use better verification tactics in lead validation. Simple automated systems like "verify your phone with a code" or 2FA which is practiced on pro accounts during signing up are quick and easy ways thumbtack could combat these issues. However, the voices of thousands of Thumbtack Pros have yet to be heard.

Myself, trusting what seemed to be a fool proof and trustworthy company invested my last $500 hoping for what I was promised. After loosing thousands with other lead generation platforms alike I took my last shot in the dark with thumbtack. The first week I figured my failure to contact customers as quick as possible was the ruling factor in my lack of success on thumbtack. Turning on my push notifications, email, and text reminders I thought would cause for a turning point in my lead conversions on thumbtack. Surely responding as quick as they came should offer me more success I assumed. However, I was incorrect and my efforts were in vain as a even 60% of my calls failed to connect within seconds of receiving the lead, 30% of clients budget cap were equal or just above thumbtack's lead price leaving my company no room for profit & 10% converting into paying.

@DustiO I promise this is not a upset rant as I do not aim to violate the code of conduct but I really need to know how to :

1. Balance customer acquisition cost

2. Maintain higher connection rates

3. Retain Return on Investment

DustiO

@ShaquealThomas @Js_Garage_Door1 @Danlupomusic @Lemargriffinfilms @Clint Do y'all have any advice/suggestions for this pro to help with these items? I know you'll have a LOT more insight than I will!

ShaquealThomas

@DustiO and@NathansHaulingpros would you be interested in coming to a communitea session where us pros can discuss these topics together.

Js_Garage_Door1

@NathansHaulingpros @DustiO @ShaquealThomas

Nathan theres a lot to unpack here so I'll do my best to give you the best advice I can and what has worked for us. I'll start off by saying TT dose work, we use it everyday and has brought our business to the next level. This didn't happen overnight though, we had to spend a lot of time and money getting our profile and our sales pitch dialed in to get the best ROI using TT. You need to find out why your not closing these leads. The first piece of advice is never waste a lead even if you don't get the job. You should be following up with every lead especially the ones where you didn't get the job. You can learn so much on what you need to improve or change if you simply say something like " I'm glad to hear you got your job taken care of. We at (insert company name) are a small business and continually trying to improve for our customers. Can you give me any advice that would help me win your business or the business of others in the future?" The advice they give you will be gold, wether it's your pricing, profile, response, or the conversion you had. Listen to them and make adjustments accordingly. Your all ready paying for the lead regardless so get something from that money even if it's just valuable feedback. In my experience we have had customers decide to book with us after these conversations. It shows them that you really care about what you do.

The next thing I'll touch on is your concern about the customers "budget cap". There's always going to be low paying jobs but you shouldn't shy away from them unless there costing you multiple higher paying jobs. What you need to understand is even if the job seems low budget at the time of conversation you can all ways use up-selling to try to even things out. Now with some situations there are no up-selling opportunities you still need to take the job and give that customer a knock out customer service experience, this will allow you to get more reviews and most importantly start getting referrals from that customer. The next time there with friends, family, or scrolling social media and someone needs what your service provides it will be your name and number they happily give out. "Call Nathan he was the absolute best and really took care of me". Now that lead is free and you can thank TT for setting it up. Personally I have a big network of Realtors, home renovators, and landlords that we met through TT.

Unfortunately I can't offer you much advice on not getting in touch with customers. Since TT added the customers phone numbers we rarely see or get a fake number.

Nathan TT really does work, there's just a lot of little tricks to learn to give you the best chance to land the job. Feel free to DM me with any questions I'd love to help answer any questions I can. Have a good day and keep grinding!

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DustiO

I agree, amazing advice! Way better than I would ever be able to do! Thank you both @Js_Garage_Door1 and @NathansHaulingpros

jcwaugh

While a lot of what @Js_Garage_Door1 wrote is point on regarding providing superior customer service will generally always prevail in building your professional reputation. And sale conversions can never be guaranteed by a lead generation provider, our company is experiencing something quite different.

Out of seven leads provided to us, only one resulted with receiving any acknowledgment from the customer. On all of the others, with relatively short initial response to the original TT notification to us, we get crickets when sending an upbeat short introduction message providing the customer with the opportunity to contact us on our toll free phone, call or text us directly on a cell, have us call them or even start the conversation through the TT chat.

Those are very disturbing odds and makes a 30 or 40 dollar become a 210.00 lead.

in our opinion, TT needs to up their game and when the case is that the customer does not respond at all, that the pro either not be charged or at least a large portion of the fee be removed.

Obviously, this is their game and they can do as they see fit, but if this is how the game is going to play, we will find another game.

Js_Garage_Door1

@jcwaugh

TT is all ways improving so while you wait for them to provide changes that help you become a better business owner maybe you can try a couple things to up your game. You just stated that you send the customer an "upbeat message" that gives them "the opportunity to contact us" if you wait for them to call your company your going to get beat by multiple other pros that are hungry enough to call, text, email, and message them. Customers don't want to call you or reach out to you any more then they need to. I also don't understand why you think thumbtack needs to refund your money because you weren't aggressive enough to get the customer's attention. I hear so many people complain on here that they didn't get any response after they sent them a message..... Well did you call, text, and email? Let's say you did do all those things but they sent out five requests and they found their solution within the first two because of response rate, cadence of conversation, profile, reviews, or whatever the reason. So should you not be charged for the lead because you got beat out by another company? Don't seem fair to me. Honestly there so many people on here telling you that this works but you have to try different things. I would highly suggest that you listen to the people that are telling you that TT works and take some tips. At the end of the day I don't care what type of business you own, if you're not getting jobs the buck stops with the business owner. There's a lot of resources here try to utilize them. Id love to help you with anything I can. Feel free to DM me.

jcwaugh

I agree that you do not want to wait for them to call, however, giving them the option is a form of opening the relationship.

We follow that message with a call to the number provided by TT.

of the points that were listed in the earlier post, NONE of the leads answered the phone and most were sent a message and then called well within an hour of the original notification received fromTT.

This is not a rant to where we would think all leads should be automatically converted. And this is not our first rodeo at developing an amazing service oriented customer service. The point is that what we have seen so far is not good odds when you can’t even get a seat at the table to try and show what you have to offer.

Js_Garage_Door1

So then you got to ask yourself why am I not being seen at the table? I guarantee you those customers seen somebody. What do you need to do to be seen?

And make sure you're responding and contacting your customers within 5 minutes not an hour. Anytime I call a customer within 5 minutes of the lead coming in and I say I can help you with this let's get you on the schedule I get it booked.

ShaquealThomas

@Js_Garage_Door1 @jcwaugh responding fast is key with a great intro message as well I start with a greeting of good morning good evening and then get to how I can see the job and price it out on-site in my industry I have to see the job in order to give an exact estimate so 9/10 times customers want 3 quotes if I do not receive no response I then proceed to call all customers are aware that there number is given customers are asked multiple questions before creating a thumbtack lead so never feel bad to call it is also important to ask what is the best form of communication throughout our estimate process some customers love text message or love email or love phone calls it is key find out what’s there best way to respond.

@Js_Garage_Door1 said it even if I do not win the job I still end it with a thank you so much for the opportunity I am here if needed for future projects that message alone customers have came back around to work with me just in case there first pick doesn’t work out well they have us that ended on a good note utilize every tool available if it’s phone text or email or use one of TT partnerships like front desk to answer or scheduling software I do all mine manual but other pros I know use it and love. Wish the best guys

DustiO

@jcwaugh I took a moment to look over your profile and I would strongly encourage you to get a few more reviews, as the average competitor in your area/market has 38 reviews (the rest of your profile looks great!!). You are able to have 10 reviews from outside Thumbtack displayed on your profile. And, statistically you are much more likely to be hired when you have at least 5 reviews. Here is an article that goes over how to collect reviews from past clients. Hope this helps!