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Advice on home advisor? #6732307
01/17/20 12:20 PM
01/17/20 12:20 PM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 483
Van Buren, Arkansas
T
TravisJerden Offline OP
trapper
TravisJerden  Offline OP
trapper
T

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 483
Van Buren, Arkansas
Anyone use this service or is it a complete scam?
Had a call today from them, soliciting a $300 a year membership with a $30 finders fee.
Thanks and sorry if this has been hashed many times.


NaturalStateWildlife.com
Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6732519
01/17/20 03:19 PM
01/17/20 03:19 PM
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 776
MN, USA
star flakes Offline
trapper
star flakes  Offline
trapper

Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 776
MN, USA
If this is about finding reputable home repair contractors and services, you can do the same thing throughout the year in asking people you work with, friends, family etc... who they get to do jobs, the costs and how good they are.
I know different areas of the country have different levels for friendly, but in my region, I am always jawing with people in stores and they get to know you, and things come up in conversations in who screws who over in business and what the costs are. There never are guarantees, but there is a reality that in order to get things done in life, you have to do the work in relationships.
Once you get a service, ask for people they worked for and then talk to them. The time to do this is before you need something done.

Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6732664
01/17/20 05:26 PM
01/17/20 05:26 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,809
Lower Alabama (Daleville)
L
LAtrapper Offline
"Professor"
LAtrapper  Offline
"Professor"
L

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,809
Lower Alabama (Daleville)


Note to self- Engage brain before opening mouth (or hitting the ENTER key/SUBMIT button).

Ron Fry

Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6733022
01/17/20 08:28 PM
01/17/20 08:28 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,550
Rodney,Ohio
SNIPERBBB Offline
trapper
SNIPERBBB  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,550
Rodney,Ohio
Run. Wasted more time getting rid of bad leads than jobs.

Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6733129
01/17/20 09:22 PM
01/17/20 09:22 PM
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 733
Schenectady, NY
E
EatenByLimestone Offline
trapper
EatenByLimestone  Offline
trapper
E

Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 733
Schenectady, NY
It's worked great for us. As with any lead service, you get some bad leads, but your sales should be far greater than your expenses.

Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: EatenByLimestone] #6733878
01/18/20 11:20 AM
01/18/20 11:20 AM
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 95
Florida
B
bjansma Offline
trapper
bjansma  Offline
trapper
B

Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 95
Florida
Leads are leads for the most part. The question of if you can pay $30 a lead for them and still be profitable depends on you.

Rough math: it takes 3 leads to sell a job $30x3 is $90. If you are making an average of $300 a job, your advertising cost is 30% which is pretty unsustainable. If the same job that cost you $90 brings in $1000 then your advertising cost is 9%. Now you have something. So it really depends on how you charge and if you also offer repairs and exclusion as well as trapping.

What this means for me is I can use some categories on Home advisor but not others. Small animals and bats and birds makes a lot of sense. The pest control categories including rodents did not.


Bob Jansma
Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6735415
01/19/20 09:18 AM
01/19/20 09:18 AM
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 377
New York
Jim Comstock Offline
trapper
Jim Comstock  Offline
trapper

Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 377
New York
I was going to try it, signed up and backed up when they told me the "rest of the story" accidentally. At first I thought I would have a clear shot at a lead, not so. The leads get sent to many. With no one to man my phone but me I realized that it was going to cost me money to work. If I was out in the swamp fighting bugs, mud, sweating it out on a hot summer day I could easily lose leads that I would still be responsible for, just adding to costs that I could not simply pass on. Sounded reasonable at first, but a closer look exposed the shortcomings. Can't imagine losing a couple of leads while I was gone for an hour or more setting traps. Maybe it could work for some, but not great for a sole proprietor working alone.

Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6735625
01/19/20 10:57 AM
01/19/20 10:57 AM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 483
Van Buren, Arkansas
T
TravisJerden Offline OP
trapper
TravisJerden  Offline OP
trapper
T

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 483
Van Buren, Arkansas
Thank you all,
I appreciate the responses on a relived question.
For those that use the service how defined can you get it?
I don’t want calls about a dog running around the neighborhood or a mean goose at the park. How do they vet their calls?
Jim that was one of my concerns, not wanting to be into a job and miss a call, so by your understanding it’s a race to the call or whoever accepts it first? If you miss the call it still cost you the $25 a month for the membership.
Bj- I appreciate that input. I am a fan of the numbers. I offer exclusion and restoration as well.
I know who my customer is, I just don’t like leaving money on the table


NaturalStateWildlife.com
Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6735763
01/19/20 12:30 PM
01/19/20 12:30 PM
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 95
Florida
B
bjansma Offline
trapper
bjansma  Offline
trapper
B

Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 95
Florida
There are only a couple of categories relevant to our business.
Small animals
Bats and birds
Rodents
Pest control
Mosquitos
Termites
And etc.

They don't vet anything call wise. They just set up landing pages and get people to fill out a form. There is no human in the middle making sure the calls are legit. You will get the geese and cat and dog calls as the categories are pretty generic to someone that lands on the website, also there is plenty of wildlife calls that you don't want either. But the averages work out in some categories.

Its around 300 a year but then how you get your leads you pay different prices for. I pay(roughly) 20 for a lead that can go to up to 3 different companies called market match or 30 for a lead that only goes to myself called exact match. Most leads are delivered by a contact form that has been filled out, not a phone call from the customer. Also different prices for residential vs commercial.

Why would you pay the 20 for a race to the phone to beat your competitor vs 30 for a lead only to yourself? Call volume. The customer who fills out the form decides whether it is going to multiple or he picks a company based on their profile or reviews. Some customers just like the option of multiple bids. If you choose to take both types of leads you will get way more market matches than exact matches. Just the way it goes.

There are a lot of people that hate Homeadvisor, very few that love them. I am somewhere in the middle. They are a tool in your marketing toolbox. That's it.


Bob Jansma
Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6750597
01/30/20 11:11 AM
01/30/20 11:11 AM
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 11,194
Maine, Aroostook
Posco Offline
trapper
Posco  Offline
trapper

Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 11,194
Maine, Aroostook
Word of mouth is the best jobs leads. Do good work and customers will seek you.

Re: Advice on home advisor? [Re: TravisJerden] #6759171
02/05/20 06:01 PM
02/05/20 06:01 PM
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,968
Peoria County Illinois
Larry Baer Offline
trapper
Larry Baer  Offline
trapper

Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,968
Peoria County Illinois
X2

They hound everyone. It's not exclusive and you have to decide yourself if it is worth it. I could never justify it in my glass business and I have been on several of those things. Angies list is OK but you have to pay for that too. You are your best advertiser. Do a great job and people will tell others for you.


Just passin through
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