So I got a call from Homeadvisor.com the other day. They were saying that for a quarterly fee they will refer people to me. I was wondering if anyone has worked with them or if anyone has any recommendations for other companies to work with to get my name out there?
Yeah, it totally depends on area. I used them in a small area and it sucked. There have been a few threads that had some good information but they might be hiding under “service magic.”
I found a few threads on there. Do you have any recommendations on getting my name out there and driving up some business this time of year? I’ve managed to keep busy until about a week ago and now it’s just dead. But I’ve only been word of mouth and craigslist since I started, So I figure its time to actually join the market.
Humm, my top three are BNI (business networking international), maid services are great resources, and cold call commercial/storefronts.
You cold call commercial? I tend to walk in their front door and use my Jedi powers on them. It works pretty well for me. Do you have any tips for landing corporate jobs, such as banks and stores?
so is BNI just the business owners meet and the idea is that you refer them and they refer you? or is there more to it than that?
Give it a try… You can put me down as a referral and get $100 worth of free leads. I’ll also teach you how to work the system.
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I like the sound of knowing how to work the system. I might give them a call tomorrow and give it a try. Worst that’s going to happen is a loose $80. $80 doesn’t sound like much when your working but this time of year $80 seems like a whole lot, Thats all I made today in the full 1.5 hours I worked. Does this time of year get easier once you’ve been through it a time or two?
I’ve supplimented with HA for the past 2 years to get extra work and I’m grandfathered in to a pay per lead no quarterly fees. Don’t waste your money on it now you won’t get a lead until April. Depends if the winters are rough by you. I don’t hear a peep from them with leads December-March.
That’s about what I was thinking. It’s probably a sales pitch but the guy I was talking to said they have work and no one in my area.
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I would never trust “no one in my area”. Straight up ask them how many people are in your city doing what you do.
I personally use them quite effectively. I have 2 other people to compete with but it’s still at the point where if you call quick enough you can beat out the competition easily. I have a decent sized work area and only a few competitors like I mentioned so that’s why it has worked for me. Use one of us as a reference and you’ll get some free lead money. Honestly, I have done so little marketing, all I know is that HA has been my best ROI so far.
Don’t do it! they are totally scam and waste of money! same company service magic, same owners…
They do well for us here in Cali.
It seems more GM and Supervisor Types are using it to weed out some of the “just about anyone shows up on google maps” these days
Instead of HA, why not build a reputation and use word of mouth? Isn’t that what you would pay HA to do?
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If you want to expediently grow your business, word of mouth and reputation alone will not cut it.
All tools at your disposal that you can afford will help you “carve” out the market way more effectively
Home Advisor is ok. Expensive and you have limited control over what leads you get. Thumbtack is cheaper and you have way more control. I recommend them over HA any day
That’s exactly where I am right now. Word of mouth and reputation has treated me well for the first year of business but I’m hiring an employee this year and growing my territory. So I want to make sure my business explodes this spring.
What other means would you recommend to achieve this? I’m planning on doing eddm is late March (any recommendations on where to order mailers from).
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There has been a lot of strong views on HomeAdvisor, either love it or hate it. I think it’s more important to understand the factors behind the experience than to take someone’s word of “hate/love it”.
I am a sole prop. in a decent market with only 2 other wc’ers who use homeadvisor. I had a good salesman who helped me get some reviews from past clients (while setting up my homeadvisor account).
You are going to get some bogus leads. Some are morally opposed to paying for leads for whatever reason. But here are my numbers- including all the money I spent with the company (even for leads that went nowhere or were lost to competition)…
My ROI was between 3:1 and 4:1.
If you already have your methods of advertising good for you. But if you’re just starting out like me, it helped me a LOT.
That’s my experience, take it or leave it.
So i just want to update this thread. So I rolled the dice and paid the $80 for homeadvisor on the first of the year. Before I paid they were telling me how there are all kinds of leads available, and then as soon as I joined they transfered me to someone else and I asked how many leads I can expect and the answer was that they aren’t forecasting any for my area until at least April. So I was a bit upset but what ever it’s getting me out there and helping my SEO. Well last week (The 28th day into my first quarter with HA) I finally got a lead and landed a $360 job, plus got a bunch of referrals out of it. So I can see how people can both love an hate it, I’ve done both, but at the end of the day I came out on top and grew my business in January. So all I can say is it doesn’t hurt to give them a try. This is just my opinion and my experience with them today.
I have an ambivalent relationship with HA. I hate the way they misrepresent themselves as a window cleaning company (JT Window Cleaning). The first couple of years I got very little from them, and a bunch of bad leads that never even answered the phone. Last year was quite a bit better. I now have probably 4 or 5 regular annual clients that I got from HA, probably over $1,000 per year. I have a link on my website that connects to some good reviews on the HA website. I don’t like their methods, but my ROI has been pretty good with them.
I used them for a short time. I’m small potatoes so I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on leads. The minimums were more then I spend on marketing in a couple of months so I just put it on hold. All the leads I got were way out of my prefers area and never materialized or bogus numbers. My marketing and word of mouth is giving me enough work completely booked through January and have stuff on tap for Feb. I think it all depends on what you want from it. If you have the money to spend and the time to chase down leads, some good some bad, then I think you can make it work.
