Harder to Communicate with Clients

I feel your pain on this - what I've been doing is when I call the customer, I ask for their direct number so that I can call/text them. They also don't get responses from my calendaring system when a Thumbtack generic number is supplied. I'm not sure Thumbtack will change this policy back to how it used to be, especially because people routinely block or don't answer numbers they don't recognize, even if it says "Thumbtack Pro". I called a customer recently who didn't even know who Thumbtack was even though he submitted a request through the website but didn't want to download the app. It's a bit frustrating.

@Onyedikachi_Ibeji I've been on Thumbtack about as long as you have (I signed up in 2016). And I can understand where you're coming from and completely agree. They introduce too many changes at once, and it's hard to track metrics when everything changes at the same time. They did the phone number thing, and then they also ENCOURAGE the customer to select 3 pros at the same time (without qualifying whether those Pros meet the customer's criteria in the first place or whether the customer meets the Pros criteria). I think the main issue is that the analyze things from the angle of what produces the most revenue (encourage customer to contact more than one Pro without evaluating or reading their profiles/pricing irrespective of whether that customer is a good fit for the Pros that they are being encouraged to contact), versus what creates the best outcome for all parties involved, including Thumbtack (encouraging customers to evaluate Pros based on pricing, expertise, and other critieria - thereby cultivating the relationship between the customer and the Pro they select) This would inherently increase Thumbtack's revenue because the leads would be substantially higher quality, it would reduce "tire kickers/price shoppers", and that would make the price of the lead worthwhile, instead of forcing Pros to race against each other in an artificially induced environment where the customer hasn't qualified any Pros other than what Thumbtack has recommended whether that meets the customer's requirements or not (this happens consistently with price shoppers who choose multiple Pros). As soon as you get to the price conversation with them, they almost always tell you they didn't see your price, because Thumbtack encouraged them to choose up to 3 Pros without evaluating any of the Pros they tell them to choose. Just take our word for it. That doesn't work well for us as Pros, but it definitely works for Thumbtack's revenue model. Instead of finding a single Pro that they resonate with, and Thumbtack getting ONE fee, they instead get 3 fees, and the Pros have to race against each other, with 2 of the Pros GUARANTEED not to get any work from the ordeal. Gotta "break some eggs to make an omelet" it seems is the approach from Thumbtack.