They have been hounding me to join…representative is Ted…finally, I told him that when I got ready to join, I would call him…he has not called me in almost a month.
If I were in a better area and if I were trying to make a living doing this, I might be more inclined to jump through the hoops of learning the in’s and out’s of HA.
Been in business 25 years walk many neighborhoods with door hangers never did not have a response that paid for the door hangers.
The hard part now is getting my cheap Financial Officer to allow us to spend the money
At 8:30 tomorrow morning I have an estimate for a housewash from a HomeAdvisor lead I lost last year. Another company beat me to it. That company never showed up and he got busy.
I keep all the lead contact info and he got a marketing email. HomeAdvisor just keeps on giving.
@Tsjmiami1010 all those leads are yours forever.
Good to know! That can come in handy
I have yet to feel good about signing up with them. Part of their sales pitch was that there were hundreds of unfilled leads because of a lack of service pros in pressure washing in my area. I have received very few leads and most of them are either a,) people fishing for pricing & not ready to hire, b.) think they need a pressure washer when they really need a painter or carpenter or other, c.) need a 120 sf concrete patio cleaned, are 45 minutes from me, & won’t pay the minimum fee for such a small job (totally understand but I still pay for the lead), d.) go with the low ball guy charging $99 for a house wash who uses pressure to clean vinyl and has never heard of “down-streaming” or “soft-washing”, or e.) I try to contact the lead multiple times and never hear back. Lead fees are about $20 minimum (plus you pay an annual fee) and so when a lead does come in, you have to drop everything hoping you are the first to respond. If you do have a false lead, you have to call Home Advisor to request a credit (because their online credit request will always deny you even if you meet the criteria) and they don’t answer the phone at night or on weekends (don’t know about you but that is when I do most of my admin work). And you get a different person & different answers each time you call them. I have learned the hard way that Home Advisor is not for me. Some guys say it works for them so maybe it all depends on your physical location. I would rather spend my marketing dollars elsewhere.
I’ve been using home Advisor for two weeks now to get my new business going. So far I’ve received about 30 leads from them and have allready done about 10 decent paying jobs and am pretty sure I’ll get more work from those same leads…
Jim
Ultra Wash USA
Boston Ma.
If you do 5 arounds and call all 30 of those leads next year, even the one’s who didn’t do business this year, I’d bet a couple of large pizzas you get 20 jobs from all those leads.
That would be great.
What is under your Profile??? under my profile is has painting?? with pressure washing under that topic… Don’t like that Painting, I had a call from a guy to paint his house… I got charged for the lead trying to get it off… i go to Edit Services but it does not have pressure washing by itself…
This is how HA works. They charge 4 people $20+ for the leads, some leads where already sold days prior and they are just screwing you, they hire outside cust. serv. companies to deal with the contractor, and rarely credit garbage leads back. Its a scam. You will probably make more than you spend, however i dont like spending $500 to make $800. Its not a solid business plan. Especially once you factor in the HOURS of time holding on customer service just to be told your not getting credit.
After a week, you will never speak to your sales guy again. Once your on for 72 hrs, you cant be refunded your signup fee, then the deal is done and he doesnt care. He got his commish!
Breaking down the hours dealing with HA, its a tuff/expensive way to get work. I much prefer Adwords Express for ROI. Nextdoor app, craigslist, bing ads, yelp. Set them up, check in weekly, adjust accordingly. I feel i put a great deal of time and effort into HA. I got my money back, however, not how i choose to spend my time. I can do 5 arounds at any job. And look up service magic on ripoff report. Thats the old HA. Companies like this and Ugly Duckling(now drive time) are not those I wish to associate with my business.
Businesses surrounded by this much controversy are rarely a solid option for any business. I wonder if some of the popular vendors frequently discussed on here had as much controversy as HA has, would they be where you spent your 4 grand on a machine? Not if there were other proven vendors. If your begging for work, its an easy place to put your hopes. But you may find that money is better spent on adwords with cheap call/click ads. You have much more control over your investment!
I would completely and wholeheartedly disagree. Also, if you’re bad at homeadvisor you very likely thought that you’d get customers without having to put in work to learn it and make it work for you. Or you could use some sales training or study that hasn’t been a priority.
HomeAdvisor doesn’t work for everyone, because they got sold by a biased party that leads would land in your lap and then blame HomeAdvisor because they didn’t take the personal responsibility to learn the system via the resources that are also, ironically, provided by HomeAdvisor.
There’s my personal opinion and anecdotal response to your personal opinion and anecdotal comment.
Nobody has to like HA, but anyone that has a business should take personal responsibility for learning what they’re investing in… I don’t know the actual numbers, but there are hundreds easily, if not thousands of companies on HomeAdvisors with 100+, 200+, 300+ reviews and have been with them for 5 and even 10 years.
Why is it working so well for them? Are they in on the “scam”?
@Nashvillewash Here’s the most requested pressure washing company in Nashville with 168 reviews and 5 years time. Looks like they figured out the system.
Music City Garage Doors has been on HomeAdvisor for 3 years and 264 reviews…
If they’re in on the scam that means they’ve scammed 1000 customers easy. Couldn’t be that they figured out the system and provide a positively reviewable service.
Also, incorrect.
If you’re a new guy reading this thread, make your own decision after your own diligent research, but no matter what you choose work and learn to make it work for you… because it’s obviously working somehow.
I didnt say it doesnt work. For me however, its too much work for the return. They bank on you giving up on credits. Literally. Also, for the cost of leads, I feel the customer service is junk. Rude punk kids saying things that sound very much like what your saying. I cant sell, I dont know how to close a deal, its not HA fault Im not a professional blah blah. Walking door to door works if you put the hours in! I will say tho, its odd how defensive you get about HA. You put a lot of effort into each discussion about them.
Id also like to add, I was very good at sales for the several years I made my living at it. Still take occasional coarses too. But of coarse I never got into it enough to go to an online forum and peddle the products.
Agreed, for someone starting brand new HA can give them some busy work…but you should never build your business dependent on another. After a year or two you should be drowning in work that HA isn’t even a viable option. Can be great for start ups in their first year, not sustainable/needed in the long run
*course/courses
I don’t get paid by Home Advisor for anything, but I do know I wouldn’t be in business very likely without HomeAdvisor and hustle.
I “got into it” enough to find out more about it Nashville in 3 minutes.
My only problem is when you talk trash about something that’s obviously working for some people when business owners have enough doubt to deal with. Especially when some of the things you said are just flat wrong.
I figured out how to make it work. Ultimately, that’s what matters to me and I’m glad their are people who don’t work to make it work. Makes it even easier. And I’ll gladly help anyone else that wants to make it work for them.
To each their own.
Again, would disagree. It may not be needed, but there are plenty of companies that have made it a sustainable part of their business for 5 and 10 years. Maybe they’re much larger companies with 20 trucks and 40 employees, etc, etc, and it makes financial sense to market multiple platforms.
If the big companies are making it work… I should probably make it work too if unless I want to be a two truck operation with part timers forever. Which I don’t.
