[epicheather265]

Has anyone tried Home Advisor for leads for their cleaning business? I was listening to a podcast that said that you can get 3-4 leads per week from Home Advisor for a yearly fee of just a few hundred dollars and a small $20 project fee. True? If so, are they quality leads? Thanks.

 

[BayouCitySteam]

Hey BDJanitorial... You should be able to sign up and get your listing all clean and input correctly just to have the link to your site. You still allowed to limit a monthly budget arent you? We will be signing up for homeadvisor this week.

 

[carpetcleaningnorthbay]

Website Leads

Homeadvisor - Porch etc.

You don't need to use HomeAdvisor or Porch or any other lead source.

If you use them you are competing with other related businesses and usually
lowest price gets the job, which erodes your margins.

You can have your own Lead Generation site built out for you so you get
all the EXCLUSIVE leads and your not on a stage sharing them with others who are bidding on the same job. Usually it's the lowest bidder that gets the work.

My lead gen website gets about 1-2 leads everyday and we close 80% of those leads. All my phone calls are recorded which helps in training staff etc.

Let me know if you want me to hook you up with my web seo guy who builds these things all over the country.

Thanks
PAUL

 

[BayouCitySteam]

Homeadvisor - Porch etc.

You don't need to use HomeAdvisor or Porch or any other lead source.

If you use them you are competing with other related businesses and usually
lowest price gets the job, which erodes your margins.

You can have your own Lead Generation site built out for you so you get
all the EXCLUSIVE leads and your not on a stage sharing them with others who are bidding on the same job. Usually it's the lowest bidder that gets the work.

My lead gen website gets about 1-2 leads everyday and we close 80% of those leads. All my phone calls are recorded which helps in training staff etc.

Let me know if you want me to hook you up with my web seo guy who builds these things all over the country.

Thanks
PAUL

That's about what people have told me they close. 75-80% good to know.
I use localsignal.com

 

[junipergrnclean]

I agree with the others. I don't think you need to compete with low-ball bidders or pay for leads with residential house cleaning when you don't even know if they will convert to buyers (I actually spoke to a sales rep who cold called me, and after some digging she told me the average is 40% - of bid estimates that actually turn into buyers from their website. That is not good. By that time, you've already paid Home Advisor to set that up.

It is so easy to get leads for residential house cleaning that I think it's silly to pay someone for leads. Try Craigslist. I think HomeAdvisor might be interesting if you're a contractor and each job is worth so much, but not for house cleaning. In my opinion.

 

[epicheather265]

Craigslist seems to be full of scammers, low-ballers, and one timers; plus it's $25 now.

If I'm going to spend $25, then where should I put it to get long lasting, weekly, 1 year contracts?

I get my best customers from word of mouth and leads are trickling in, but I need more to grow.

 

[junipergrnclean]

That's the great thing about marketing...every method seems to work different for different people, based on so many different factors including the town you're in, your ads and you and your business presence. I've always gotten great results from Craigslist - and I'm not sure what you mean about $25, it's always been free to post (Services>Household). I always suggest trying different things and see what works for you .

 

[epicheather265]

My bad...Craigslist ads for jobs are now $25. Not for services.
I just learned that they could charge up to $75 now for job posting.

 

[epicheather265]

Home Advisor is not a great deal.
What is out there that is worth putting money into? :huh:

 

[WhiteGlovedMaid]

Interesting what is a lead generating site? I'm not familiar with that, but it sounds better than home advisors..

I just talked with home advisors. They will allow you to see the types of leads that would be sent to you. Some are people just price shopping and there are some people ready to actually get a cleaner. I'm holding off though because it is a one time fee of $300 to get going and for the good leads it is $25.

I think thumbtack does make you cut your margins to compete for the job. If you could provide more information to your customer why you are worth more money than it might be better. The cost is between $5 -$20 to bid for a job.

 

[epicheather265]

I am all about going out in the neighborhood with business cards and door hangers. Better than figuring all that mess out--->I'll get my own customers :thumbup:

 

[Simpo Cleaning]

I'm currently subscribed to hipages and my experiences so far has not been good. I end up having to pay $20 - $30 each lead and most of the time the guy using the service is just using you as a cost comparison. Waste of time and money in my opionion.

 

[Janitologist]

Your better off making some nice easy to read fliers and spending that $200+ on a few kids to go door to door and pass out the fliers.. besides they need the job

 

[Bunga]

epicheather

I have tried HomeAdvisor 2x (1x under their old name, HomePro?)

I have gotten leads BUT never did get a job from the leads.
1 lead was a guy called me thru Homeadvisor and wanted some janitorial work done in my state but he lived in another state.
2 4 -5 x got the leads from Home Advisor but never did connect with the customer or customer never returned my call.
HomeAdvisor would charge your on file credit card for every lead whether you got the job or even connected with the customer. sometimes leads were sent to you for job requests which were outside of the listed fields you were experienced in.
Lastly, getting HomeAdvisor to refund a credit card charge for an erroneous lead took lots of verbal arm twisting.
Perhaps HomeAdvisor has cleaned up their act, You might look at ThumbTack.com--I have gotten PAID jobs thru them.
Brad

Thanks for sharing this. I really wonder about the value of services like home advisor, Angie's list, etc. They seem to have a terrible ROI.
:whistling2:

 

[WhiteGlovedMaid]

Your better off making some nice easy to read fliers and spending that $200+ on a few kids to go door to door and pass out the fliers.. besides they need the job

I was told by a woman who worked at a marketing firm if I went the way of fliers. That you really need to be consistent with them, by that she was saying you really need to send 2-3 fliers at different points in time in the same neighborhood to make them effective.

 

[epicheather265]

I was told by a woman who worked at a marketing firm if I went the way of fliers. That you really need to be consistent with them, by that she was saying you really need to send 2-3 fliers at different points in time in the same neighborhood to make them effective.

This woman was right about staying consistent with flyers. That goes the same with every aspect of your business. Have a plan and document results.

I don't remember where I first heard it but the more times a customer sees your name, the more likely they'll remember it and call you when they are ready to buy. It makes sense to hand out flyers more than once if you look at it that way.

Along with flyers, I also recommend getting yard signs for busy intersections (just look for Trump and Hillary signs and put them there).

Putting your business' name where potential customers can see it is always a good thing.

 

[airhealth]

Homeadvisor tends to drive leads that are coming from people looking for lowest cost. If your strategy is to be the low cost bidder then it could be a good route. Otherwise it tends to be low conversions. Angies List seems to be more targeted at people looking for quality so you might try it. For my duct cleaning business I tend to focus on SEO and my web site and that works for me, plus referrals of course.

Eric
Air Health Services Marysville

 

[Bunga]

Funny timing - just got a BS call from HomeAdvisor

I received a call from HomeAdvisor this morning. Guy starts the call by telling me that they have lots of leads for homeowners looking for a cleaning business 'like ours' in Sacramento.

Hmm. Since I have a restaurant hood cleaning business, I figure they started this conversation with a blatant lie. I think I'll find other sources for leads than a company that uses that tactic for their salespeople's phone script.

-Bunga

 

[epicheather265]

So, for someone starting out, what's the best way to use a website to get customers fast?

Doesn't it take a long time to get to the top of Google?

 

[Bunga]

So, for someone starting out, what's the best way to use a website to get customers fast?

Doesn't it take a long time to get to the top of Google?

Speed to get to the top of Google depends on many factors but can be pretty easy in a local market depending on your type of business.

What kind of business do you have and in what city? I could do a quick peek and tell you my opinion on your likelihood of getting there.