Knock knock

[Bryce C]

My last client of the day was a bit loopy. Not sure if he was buzzed or just slow, and I thought it was strange that he told me it was a good thing I got there an hour early even though I was on time at 2:30pm. I carried on and as I was cleaning his sofa I heard a knock at the door, and because my portable was fairly loud I assumed he might not hear it so I walked over to the door (which was only a glass storm door one can see right through). There was a notably pissed off hispanic woman at the door saying "I'd like to speak to Richard!". Uh-oh...

So I get Richard and he goes to the door and she says "I'm here for the carpet and upholstery cleaning we have scheduled for 3:30pm!" Richard looks at me and looks at her and says "wow I'm sorry, this is embarassing". She showed him the scheduled appointment on her phone and then stormed off. It was messed up and I did feel bad for her.

Hehe I guess I lucked out, but also so did he. I kicked butt cleaning his place and based on the feedback I've gotten from others in this area we're doing a much better job than most everyone else around. He couldn't believe how good his carpets and upholstery looked when I was done. Turns out the lady at the door was an employee of our local competition we've been surveilling online. And in 1 month we've gotten more 5 star reviews on Thumbtack then they've gotten in 3 years on the platform. Anyways I thought it was funny. And it is very nice to finally meet some of our fellow local carpet cleaners!

 

[hogjowl]

Thumtack?
How much money do they take off the top?

 

[Bryce C]

Thumtack?
How much money do they take off the top?

I'm paying an average of $15-$20 per lead on jobs that are averaging a little over $200 each. I'm closing on about 90% of our leads through Thumbtack. No contracts or any other fees at all.

The only downside to the platform is the "Instant Booking" feature. Which really does suck because you can't turn it off. About 1 out of 10 clients are booking us "Instantly" and when that happens we get whacked about $50-$60 for the lead in total. So I wrote something at the beginning of our bio in all caps: "PLEASE CALL US FOR SCHEDULING, NO INSTANT BOOKINGS." And for 3 days we didn't get a single lead, so I removed it from our bio and we got a lead 10 minutes later. Obviously Thumbtack penalized us with it's algorithms for the addition to our bio. But I figured out a workaround. People who Instant Book us are obviously not concerned about our pricing, so we are charging them 20% more than other clients who don't Instant Book us to make up the difference.

 

[Bryce C]

Thumbtack is interesting. Based on my inquiries with clients, I don't think many people intentionally use the platform, atleast at first. However their SEO is so dialed that their pro's often land at the very top of Google search results in a given area. It isn't just low tier clients one lands on Thumbtack either. In a short time I've gotten jobs ranging from rat nasty apartment cleanouts in very low income areas to lovely 1.5 million dollar homes in the wealthiest towns in CT.

In my experience so far Angi sucks and Thumbtack is awesome.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

My last client of the day was a bit loopy. Not sure if he was buzzed or just slow, and I thought it was strange that he told me it was a good thing I got there an hour early even though I was on time at 2:30pm. I carried on and as I was cleaning his sofa I heard a knock at the door, and because my portable was fairly loud I assumed he might not hear it so I walked over to the door (which was only a glass storm door one can see right through). There was a notably pissed off hispanic woman at the door saying "I'd like to speak to Richard!". Uh-oh...

So I get Richard and he goes to the door and she says "I'm here for the carpet and upholstery cleaning we have scheduled for 3:30pm!" Richard looks at me and looks at her and says "wow I'm sorry, this is embarassing". She showed him the scheduled appointment on her phone and then stormed off. It was messed up and I did feel bad for her.

Hehe I guess I lucked out, but also so did he. I kicked butt cleaning his place and based on the feedback I've gotten from others in this area we're doing a much better job than most everyone else around. He couldn't believe how good his carpets and upholstery looked when I was done. Turns out the lady at the door was an employee of our local competition we've been surveilling online. And in 1 month we've gotten more 5 star reviews on Thumbtack then they've gotten in 3 years on the platform. Anyways I thought it was funny. And it is very nice to finally meet some of our fellow local carpet cleaners!

In the sharing of this story, you are now nearly an official Mikeysboarder.

The final step will be when Marty responds to one of your posts and calls you an idiot.

 

[Bryce C]

In the sharing of this story, you are now nearly an official Mikeysboarder.

The final step will be when Marty responds to one of your posts and calls you an idiot.

No kidding I've been secretly hoping the village gentleman would call me an idiot, then I'd really feel like part of the family. All in good time though. These kind of things can't be bought, only earned.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

The downside is you can’t use it

 

[scotty747]

Some of my best clients I got off Thumbtack. Some from 10-15 years ago. Instant book sucks so I bump up the price too. Make sure you block off already scheduled jobs.

 

[Bryce C]

Some of my best clients I got off Thumbtack. Some from 10-15 years ago. Instant book sucks so I bump up the price too. Make sure you block off already scheduled jobs.

That's awesome.

Good call. Unfortunately I learned the hard way about blocking one's schedule off pretty quickly on Thumbtack . As I read this today it reminds me to stay on it as each job comes in.