JOIN US tomorrow (Thursday 8/3) for CommuniTEA.

DustiO

If you haven't been to a CommuniTEA networking hour, you're missing out! We would love to meet you! Please join us tomorrow from 9:00-10:00am PT (10am MT, 11am CT, 12pm ET) via Zoom.

We'll do some intros and then open up for you to ask each other questions, share successes and struggles (and solutions), and meet some Thumbtack team members.

Join us by clicking this link. And, RSVP here.

If you're tagged here, you've visited the Community since our last session, and we would really love to meet you tomorrow! Please join if you can!

@daliat07 @KDP @LLContracting @1jsprado @ShaquealThomas @chilogm1 @Straightline @Mahima @Dbrown4491 @CaseGolfPro @Lani @LillianSoto @francymaids @Cara @Paulmardy @Tinataheri @Matt @allenrobberson @JohnPeters @LogicallySpeaking5 @Felisha @djnipsey @rvgrand @oshane2b2 @Stacie_Engel @Chris @Swebbinteriors @Jade @A_Ron27 @HandyBeauEricaClean @Pridex @NSKT_Global @JoshJoshGutters @CeeLilly @Average_joe1 @Cellista @iDreamDivine88 @JoeMac @JimW @Avertino @Sat_Khalsa @luxecleaning @NinjaScience @Jeandeblasi @Disciplined1 @PerryG_1218 @Visualhandyman85 @Sapatton @Colin_Archer @makeupbyaafra @CartersHomeImprove1_ @Kevin_Coughran @Ryan_Shephard @MichaelGaras @Bethany_Nelson @One_Day_Music @aGreatMovingCompany @Wininc @Rileywick805_ @MobileNotaryFL @colorcraftstudio @jsilva @ltidi @EVSNotary @Timostransports26 @lamcunw @soonerkimmy @Natalia_Stanton @Essential_Home_P27 @dreambyweaverllc_98 @Jennifer_Degen @InjuryLawyer @TSCService @Heather_Perkins @Kash65 @wmjimenez @Alcides @Dance_withphil12 @Ibejoanna @Hqhservices @NasGhd @Jandcrogers1 @jadaw @RainGuard @cynbeatty @StevenT @Alphawelding52 @Duke @joygivingjoy @Hireaspy @johnmiller @Roonski @AnonymousTutor @UrCovered_Roofing @Tim_AveLallemant @pfelice @Miles86 @DROD @Robert_Synmoie @Vidura_Wickramasingh @STL_Shooter78 @TEP_2017 @XS_Events @LiveMusicPro @AR2i @RhoyalSigningService @Theresa @DrewFuller_2 @AntonFKP @nepalhimalayastrek @SheaMarsh @AnthonyR @Robertoalca00 @Javier_Rivera @Ian_Davis @AmericasFirstHauling

Cara

thank you for the opportunity but I will be busy tomorrow and cannot attend :)

JimW

Would love to join you, but I have a photo shoot tomorrow and can not attend.

rvgrand

I would love to go and express my frustration with the forced instant booking but I have projects to do tomorrow. I've made a post about it that I'm gonna paste here. Hopefully it gets talked about tomorrow

"This is already a nightmare. There's no way for me to opt out of this process. I called support and they told me as much. My business covers cities that are over 180 miles apart. Just because I have an opening on a single day doesn't mean I'm in the city that people are booking. There's also zero protection on my end through this process. If people decide to cancel, I'm out of luck because I can't charge them a cancellation fee. A 2 hr drive just to get told not to do the project is something I do not wish to experience again. I have trusted people before and have been let down many times which is why I have a cancellation fee. Also, if people decide to book days that I'm already at a different city, I have to cancel those bookings and STILL get charged for that lead. How's that fair?

Instant booking is not for everyone, STOP FORCING THIS ON ME!!"

PerryG_1218

Thank you for inviting me! I had a shoot today and was unable to attend. Please include me in the next one. :)

Cellista

Sorry I missed the meeting this week! Hoping to catch the next one!

DustiO

The meeting was yesterday (Thursday 8/3), but we do these every other Thursday, so please join us! I will add you to the google invite so that you don't miss out next time. SO sorry for the confusion!!! @Cellista

LillianSoto

I wasn't available for the session yesterday I'm wondering if there is a replay of it. I have been experiencing some strange things in my preferences and insights. First, I have a travel preference that has been set from the beginning. My issue is that I keep getting leads from out of the state for in-person services. and I'm not able to get a straight answer from any. why do I keep getting leads for in-person service when it is clearly outside of my preference.

Also, when I put through a refund request, I get a message like the one below. The client chose a pro to come to them, and I showed up in their search. I need to understand how to resolve this in a way that doesn't limit my visibility. Last I have been having this issue for a year now and I even spoke with one of your managers who said he would get back to me and never did. Lastly, because of this issue, my ranking has suffered as well as my views. This week I've gotten 37 views. In comparison to when I started with thumbtack, I would get over a thousand views per week. Can someone please tell me what I need to do. Thanks

PerryG_1218

My fingers are crossed for you to get a response. That's been the biggest challenge for me understanding how to use the Thumbtack platform.

Thumbtack seems to make a lot of money off of new Pros stumbling around on the platform trying to figure out how to make the Thumbtack work for them.

DustiO

@LillianSoto we have a really great pro who comes to our CommuniTEA sessions almost every time and she was having a similar experience with offering remote services and getting clients that wanted someone local. @soonerkimmy found a great solution to this issue — she puts her locale in the title of her business so that it shows up in search results before customers even click on her profile. Here is a screenshot - and I will let her chime in on how much this has helped her! I know she has suggested this to a few other pros and it has helped them as well. We do have guardrails to stop this, but unfortunately often times customers select that they are willing to travel OR work with someone remotely or they just plain don't pay that much attention (but TT is working on better customer education right now to help this!).

Let me know if you try this and it makes a difference!

rvgrand

I missed this event. Was the instant booking talked about at all?

DustiO

Hi @rvgrand there are always a lot of things discussed — this time the group chatted about Max Lead Pricing a lot, as well as best practices they use for communicating with customers. We didn't really talk about Instant Book, but several pros who come have found a lot of success with Instant Book and could offer some sound advice. I am always happy to answer questions (or find answers if I don't know them) as well. We do this every other Thursday, so hopefully you can join us in the future!

rvgrand

@DustiO That's great! If you could please point those people to me that would be fantastic. I run my business in multiple cities that are 180 miles apart and am having an issue where people in city 2 are booking in days that I'm currently in city 1 for.

So far, support's only recommendation for me is to block that day off on my calendar, but doing so prevents me from being hired in city 1, if I'm there for the specific day. This, on top of the fact that clients can book me in hourly increments and I can't set the amount of time people book. My business functions through an arrival window, because who knows how long each electrical, plumbing, etc, project exactly takes.

Also, what are other pros doing in regards to cancellations with instant booking? I go through square booking because I can't hold clients accountable for lack of notice on cancelling. Back in the day, I've driven the 2hr drive to a clients property only to be denied the project. I learned to protect myself one way but I feel that instant booking strips that away from me.

If you know of pros that have answers to these types of concerns, please send them my way!

DustiO

I have seen in a few discussions the suggestion to edit your window for booking, so that customers need to book out at least a few days in advance, that way you have time to move the schedule around. While not totally ideal, this could be a fix worth trying.

@ShaquealThomas I know you've had experience with Instant Book, any advice for @rvgrand you could share? I would also recommend that you join us for CommuniTEA @rvgrand if at all possible, then you can talk to pros live!

rvgrand

I have actually pushed the advanced scheduling to the max of 7 days. Although that does remedy the same day or short notice, clients from different cities are still booking my earliest availability. Even if it is 7 days away. Which then means that I have to go into service recovery to tell the clients that l wasn't available that day in the first place. All this happens before I even make contact with them.

ShaquealThomas

@rvgrand If you come over to communitea next Thursday we can definitely put this discussion on the table if @DustiO does not mind and have numerous pros give you some tips and advice,

I do interior & exterior painting so instant book for me works because I need to see the job before I am able to do the job or give an exact price. Leaving the days I am only available open I still get from time to time clients that get through a instant book and want next day service I explain I am booked and I can only do times listed if denied well that is a refund if they request a day you have blocked in your calendar and you try to arrange another date. Please come to the group on thursday so us as pros can help you out or find tips that can help your industry.

rvgrand

@ShaquealThomas I appreciate the response! I'd love to attend but Thursdays are a no go for me as it's currently dedicated to another business venture. I understand what you're saying about clients wanting immediate service while booking a week out, but that's not actually the issue I'm having. I'll see if I can put an example here.

I have multiple openings on the 27th of August starting my day at 8 am and ending at 6 pm. As of this posting, that's 10 days from now.

Client 1 - books for a troubleshooting service call @ 8 am - location is Oklahoma city, Oklahoma. Lasts 1 hr.

Client 2 - books a troubleshooting service call 9 am slot - location Dallas, TX.

These two locations are over 180 miles apart.

I'm not able to cancel these requests because they're technically "open". Just not in the same city.

Hopefully this makes sense. Any input is welcome!

ShaquealThomas

@rvgrand I believe I see what you are saying because they are far apart job locations you can make the 8am client but would lose 9am client because there is no way to make both locations 180 miles apart and because you cannot cancel the job because you are open from 8am-6pm it technically counts as a great match and a open schedule lead to Thumbtack correct?

Before I continue to try to help in anyway I wanted to ask you a few questions

what industry are you in?

Is it just you behind the work and thumbtack?

What city has the most success on thumbtack?

Thank you I could have missed these questions in previous threads apologize if I did.

If I understand correctly I will bring it up and see if other pros have feedback as well.

rvgrand

@ShaquealThomas No worries! I'm in the home repair industry. I cover electrical, plumbing, HVAC, fixture installation, handyman items, and assembly.

I'm currently a single person operator who is in charge of the the dealing with the thumbtack leads and completing the projects.

I actually cover 5 cities, Charlotte, Charleston, Raleigh, Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington. Two of the cities are pretty equal in terms of volume and success, being Charlotte and Raleigh. I'm usually able to schedule a Raleigh week or a Charlotte week when I go through the leads.

I do highly appreciate you giving me a hand with this situation.