These companies have complete control of the internet. They consume almost the entire first page of Google and bing. And we as contractors have to deal with calls acting like they are potential clients when in fact they want us to pay to get leads that they can afford to steal from us and drive down the cost of our services just to compete just to get new clientele. Well I say enough is enough. I am a professional who loves what I do as I’m sure all of you do but this is as bad as the $99.00 house wash special guys who go out of business in northern climates on year one. I truly wish all contractors of all sorts would just stop sending bids and trying to cut one another throats just to drum up new business. I can’t remember who said this line on here but I have made it my aspersion. I’m not staying busy I’m staying profitable. I’m sorry I can’t recall who said it but it resonated with me. I am fast becoming one of the top pressure washing companies in my new area. But is it enough for us to just sit back and allow these companies to basically take over with contractors blindly helping them. OK my rant is over. Your thoughts?
I have a love/tolerate/hate/despise relationship with these companies. On the one hand, they’re predatory and sometimes downright deceptive in their tactics. On the other hand, they can be leveraged for good.
When someone searches for window cleaning in my area, this is what they see:
I believe those star ratings next to multiple listings for our company does much to reinforce our authority in the market. I don’t really rely on H/A or TT for leads anymore. It’s mostly those profiles I want people to see when they search for us.
I have been in business for 23 years. I see them come and I see them go.
Just like my dad and mom used to say when I was a kid, “If you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen.”, competition is just part of being in business. Offer something unique , like great customer service, and be better than everybody else and you will always stay busy and charge whatever you want.
I’ve used thumbtack a few times and have about a 20% success rate. I learned you have to pick and choose your bids. I target only our high end zip codes and will do the driveway/pool deck requests. If I have to SLIGHTLY low ball a driveway that will take me 30 mins to do and I can up sell a $900+ house cleaning or $1500 roof then I’ll do it. The prices most of the guys are doing things for on there you can’t support a business… So I use the little stuff to get my foot in the door. You have to realize that people are going on those sites because they have no idea who to call and they are looking for guidance. If it’s a roof cleaning listing I’ve had several people still select me even though I was 40% high than the other bidders because I was a more professional company.
Really hit or miss with all of these the ones that are actually that you pay for always better but you got a lot of shopping and you have to go to the house or you’re not going to get the job so it all depends on how much time you have to spend doing estimates rather than doing work if you’re big enough and busy enough and you have a estimator then they can follow up on the leads all day and then you can just go crazy and have lots of people working for it if that’s what you’re into
