About JoeB131

JoeB131

@Implumbus @ReeseTee - I am in the same boat. I've been a Top Pro for years. But under this new system, I not only find myself not getting listed when I don't turn on "Targeting/Price Assurance/Whatever we are calling it this week" I find the people who are being listed don't even operate in my area. They are all in other states. The purpose of Thumbtack was supposed to be the virtual version of the local bulliten board where local businesses could advertise (Hence "Thumbtack"), but instead, local providers are being crowded out by national companies. Also, the pricing has gotten so outrageous that a lead costs 25% of what I would make on the job.

JoeB131

Not in your category, but Resume writing leads are up to $14.00 now, which is about 25% of the cost I would charge. Given I have to go through three tire-kickers to get to one real lead, it effectively means that it costs more to use Thumbtack than not use it. Again, if you are going to charge these kinds of prices for leads, they should be good leads.. and not just people kicking the tires.

JoeB131

I turn on "targetting" only intermitantly... I would say my track record is about three tire kickers for one solid lead, and with leads in my category now costing up to $14.00, I'm pretty much breaking even. In my own case, (resume writing), I am competing with providers from all over the country, not just in my local market. As near as I can tell, most of my local competition gave up a long time ago on Thumbtack. Ways Thumbtack could fix this. 1) Restrict bids to ONLY local providers 2) Reduce cost of bids to something reasonable, like $5.00 a lead. 3) Only charge the lead if the Pro is hired.

JoeB131 · ‎12-10-2019

@ptlola Probably why it's best not to use Targeting or whater they are calling it this week. you end up paying for leads that aren't appropriate at all. The simple enough solution- Only charge pros for hires. Instead of paying money for the customer or the pro to figure out it's really not a good match, you only charge the pro when the customer or the pro confirm a hire took place.

JoeB131 · ‎12-05-2019

I just shut off Targetting again and will probably start just deleting requests, which are less frequent now, anyway.

JoeB131 · ‎10-31-2019

Doesn't solve the underlying problem. the underlying problem is that most of the "leads" we get are just people kicking the tires who have no real interest in using our services, they are just getting pricing. The last six I responded to, only one followed up about getting an appointment. The rest, I suspect, were just getting pricing. And that's the ones I respond to, most of them I reject because despite my best efforts, they are in areas that I don't service or are too expensive. At $10.00 a lead, Thumbtack isn't worth using anymore.

JoeB131 · ‎09-01-2019

@vasy said - " I think a background check should be mandatory to open any Thumbtack profile, but it is good news that at least will be a criteria to become a top pro. I saw many times someone with no hires, no reviews and no background check at the top of the list while top pros with a lot of 5 star reviews, hires and background check are at the bottom of the list. I think this sends a bad message to the customers, implying that Thumbtack list is totally random and meaningless." Probably the person with no reviews, hires, or background check turned on "Targetting" Or whatever they are calling it this week, while the Top Pro realized it's just throwing money at the tire-kickers. I just did my background check because it's a requirement to maintain my Top Pro status. Not that I was worried, I've never been arrested, have a fantastic credit score because I've paid my bills for the last 40 years, and so on. I have more problems with this "Answer in four hours", especially when the leads are ones I never should have gotten to start with. I got one yesterday from Madison Wisconsin. I don't live anywhere near Madison. Or even in Wisconsin.

JoeB131 · ‎08-16-2019

Right on. I've had customers put in requests at 1 AM in the morning, and I usually don't check my email/phone until about 6 AM. This is kind of an unreasoable requirement. So is the whole background check thing.

JoeB131 · ‎08-12-2019

It's a little worse than that. Even if a customer wants to amend a review, they can't. I had a situation a few years ago,where a customer gave me bad review, because she really didn't understand the process. After I made the corrections, she said she wanted to update her review, but couldn't... So there's that.

JoeB131 · ‎08-09-2019

So anyway, I got this new "Top Pro Tracker"... It shows that I am pretty much nailing it on the criteria to be a Top Pro- Plenty of hires, Solid reviews and high response rate. But, then it has a blank indicating a Background check hasn't been done. Is this going to be a future requirement to acheive Top Pro Status in the future? I can see it for some businesses (namely the ones where you invite people into your home and there is potential property liability issues). I really can't see where it would apply to mine (where I don't go to anyone's home and either you are happy with my writing or you aren't.) While I'm not worried about a background check, I also don't really want anyone rumaging around in my personal life... I'm a very private person and I like it that way.

Posts	58	Kudos Given	101
Solutions	1	Kudos Received	232

Re: Thumbtack

Re: Lead Cost increase in DJ category?

Re: The lack of leads continues; anyone else having this issue too and how have you resolved it?

Re: Pros are suffering

Re: Raising prices but do not state what the prices are!!!!!

Re: Resource of the week: paying for leads

Re: Two exciting updates to the Top Pro program

Re: Two exciting updates to the Top Pro program

Re: Getting a Review Removed

Are Background checks now a top pro requirement?