Thumbtack for Professionals

As a 2 person mobile IT business, generating leads has been one of the hardest things to keep up with. Thumbtack provides folks looking for computer support and related areas of service and let's us bid for $3-25 depending on the potential value of the project and the number of competing providers in our area. We have access to business and residential customers and have bid about 100 jobs in the last 5 months and earned about 10 new customers. About 1/2 of those have referred us to other folks or hired us back for additional work. Definitely pays for itself if you work the leads, ask questions in your quote instead of using a catch all template and follow up with a message or phone call where possible. We list our diagnostic fee and discount the first hour then clearly state in the quote how we handle pricing on longer jobs. We receive about 2 leads per day and sometimes up to 5 after building our business and brand in Thumbtack and asking clients to review and refer to us. We will reach Pro status shortly and I'm happy with this service and have exposure in areas I wouldn't normally be able to network in, i.e. Communities up to 30 miles away, as I defined our territory. I also love that it's all mobile and sends me text alerts when responses are needed or bids are available!

Well, let me begin by saying, like others, I too was about to get scammed by a heating and air company! I was told that my unit was too old and that anything manufactured over 20 years ago, the parts are impossible to find. My only option was to replace the entire unit that cost $5,000. I contacted Guardian and talked with Eveline. She was very courteous and explained their company’s policies, services and options for financing available to me. Richard Eppers was scheduled to come to my home and just as Eveline explained, Richard was very prompt on arriving. It only took him about twenty minutes before he had determined that, I did not need to replace my system, it only needed a condenser and coolant. The level of professionalism exhibited by Richard surpassed all I have ever experienced with the heating and air industry. Before Richard arrived the temperature in my home was 80 degrees and within an hour, I was enjoying the comfort of my home of 72 degrees. I can not begin to tell you how fortunate I was to contact Guardian. I know that eventually my unit, being 22 years old, will need to be replaced. When that time comes, I definitely will be using Guardian to replace the entire system. Trust me, Richard and Eveline are the very best in this industry. They definitely “save the day with Expert Service” for me and my family! I highly recommended Guardian for all of your heating, air, plumbing and electrical needs!

I look at the reviews as I did when I first tested Thumbtack and I read stories like , I wasted time and money on Thumbtack and unless you have 200 reviews and seventy five hires you’ll just be spending money with no return. Those statements couldn’t be more wrong. I could only speak for myself when I first started using Thumbtack I didn’t know how to make the site work for me as well but I didn't give up just like any business you have to invest in advertising and have an angle that works for you. Through the tips they offer and seeing what other people have done in the past you put together a system in place that works for you. I’ve only been with Thumbtack for two years and yes I started with no reviews but I did what they told me I looked up old clients and asked them if they would write a review for me and as long as you did the right thing by that customer they were happy to so I sent them a link. Like I said it’s been two years and so far I have 28 reviews and twice that in hires. Not everyone likes to take the time and writes reviews but some do. I ask all my customers to , and so far it’s been 28 for me my rating is 4.8 out of 28 I’m happy with that. Nothing in this world just happens you have to always shoot for the stars and work hard for it.

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I would love to say Thumbtack is okay for someone just starting out. But I honestly can’t because when you’re just starting out you have a low cash flow. This service will ALWAYS MAKE 100% profit when you pay for their leads, but you will will find yourself losing money on the very same leads they send. They have an OPTION to leave their number and email address or not. So these leads they send you, you may only have one way to contact them and that’s through THUMBTACK! How is it a viable lead if you don’t supply their phone number, email address or anything but the contact on the app. They also used to send only THREE companies bids to one customer.. now they send 5+! So your closing ratio goes down but guess what... YUP YOUR PRICE FOR THE LEAD STILL STAYS THE SAME! A lot of the people on here are looking for “deals” and when you’re a REAL company not just someone looking to “make extra cash” these things can chew into your profits tremendously. I would recommend anyone with a cleaning/janitorial business to utilize SEO and email marketing instead. Your CPL (Cost per lead) will go down over 100% from using this service. Not going to lie, I love the concept they have and what they’re trying to do but it’s cookie cutter, not industry specific and expensive for the startup company or novice who isn’t paying attention to their numbers or bottom line.

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If you are new you will not be able to compete with someone that has 200 reviews and 75 hires. They apparently got in when Thumbtack started. There is a flaw in this logic. So the 4 others have to pay and that person will win again. Their quote isn't any better than the others. They just lucked out and have more reviews and hires. If you don't believe me just go pretend you are a customer and see who quotes you. Then you will see who your competition is. On the Insights page you can see who is hired and 9 times out of 10 it's the one that has the highest reviews and hires. I decided to put $100 in and I have not received any hires from my quotes. The majority get viewed so I lose my money. After my credits get used up I am done. I have never written a negative review on apps, but this one deserves it because of the flawed logic and I don't want you to be scammed either!!! Update 6/4/18 - I thought I would give it a try again. 30 quotes and $115 later still no viable business from any of them!!! BEWARE Update 6/8/18 - still nothing from the quotes. 1 person went back and forth with me. Unrealistic budget wanted a 20+ person Hotel/Villa/Resort for less than $1500pp for flights and lodging in Hawaii for 7 nights. I also sent reminders to the ones that viewed my quotes. In the past the quotes where cheaper per credits and you only competed against 4 other people.