The Sad News for Contractors/Services Business

I have spent the last month doing a lot of research on contractor leads services. Specifically, HomeAdvisor Pro Service for service pros. Searching, talking with and messaging dozens of small businesses that have or still use lead services. Some still use them, most don’t. After listening, I decide the title to this article would be “HomeAdvisor Horror Stories”.  It does make for a good thing to tell their sales reps when they call…once a week. Hey, go to this article I wrote.  I wonder if they do?

Want to know what they charge per lead? Click here.

For every positive, there are about 20 negatives.  Epic fail in my book.  But, why with all the horror stories are contractors and service businesses still flocking to the lead gen companies like ThumbTack, Home Advisor (They bought Angie’s List in 2017), Porch, etc.?

What I have found is a few reasons.

1. Contractors don’t have the time to market themselves.
2. Contractors don’t know how to market themselves.
3. Contractors have had bad results when they marketed themselves.

Time:

I spend quite a bit of time each day for my clients marketing their services.  Even with all the automation, systems and software, it still takes many hours.  Most contractors couldn’t spend this amount of time, doing the research, writing a sales oriented ad and tracking the results.  Contractors are extremely busy and just don’t have the time.

HomeAdvisor takes advantage of this.

Knowledge:

Sure, you can read thousands of how-to’s to market your business.  But, what I have found is that with all this knowledge, comes being overwhelmed.  So one of two things happens, they try everything or nothing.  I try to learn something new about marketing every day.  But, I still use the proven ways that have worked for me.  I add or improve as needed.  For a contractor to stay on top of all the tactics, would eat up that TIME thing.  The information is out there, it’s just a matter of knowing how, when and where to use it.

HomeAdvisor knows this and they take advantage of it.

Results:

I hear the same thing over and over again in my talks with contractors.  They say, “I tried that, it didn’t work for me.” or “That doesn’t work”.  Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.  Failing at something doesn’t mean it won’t work.

You have to stay consistent, have patience and tweak the ads or platform to get results.  Most give up, before the ad, platform or campaign gets any traction.  They get no results and they give up.

You guessed it. They know this and take advantage of it.

HomeAdvisor Prey’s Upon This Knowledge

The lead gen companies (HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List and others) know these three things, so the prey upon it with emotions.  They know two things as all marketers should, people either want gain or no pain.  

So they push the “You will get more business” (GAIN) or “Stop losing customers” (Pain).  They also make it effortless for you to get leads (Not necessarily good leads).  But, the cost is high.

They sell a convenient dream, to contractors.  You’ve heard the sales call pitch. Out of all the people I talk with, it always is the same thing.  It starts out great, the contractor gets a good boost in business…then it gets expensive and the leads get worse.  

Find Out About the HomeAdvisor Class Action Lawsuit Here.

A very common thing mentioned in all my talks with contractors.

Want to Know One Reason Your Website Doesn’t Rank?

One of the main reason your website doesn’t get first page ranking is because if you are using a lead gen services, they are spending your money on SEO, buying Keyword ads, so they get the leads to sell to you and a few other guys.  If it costs them $15 to get a lead when someone Googles “House Painter in Houston”. They do one of or both of these things. They have their inhouse SEO experts rank the webpage for that Keyword + Locations or they buy ad space on Google. 

People are lazy with searches and normally only get to the first page or first couple of sites that match their search query.

The lead gen company sells you that lead for $25+ then to your competition.  (Get the HomeAdvisor Lead Cost List Here) How fair is that?  

You have to be fast in responding to the lead too which is tough when you are busy working.  You don’t know the quality of that lead until after you buy it.  That lead could be old, not qualified or just tire kicking.  You have know idea, until after you buy it. The cost is still the same.

You can read some stories about Home Advisor here.

You can read about ThumbTack here.

You can read about Porch here.

You can read about Angie’s List here.

So what is a contractor to do?

1. Keep using the high costing lead service like HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List and have them own your customers.
2. Learn how to market your company.
3. Have a marketing company that only works for you, your type of business and in your marketing area.
4. Struggle

Stop paying the lead generation companies your hard earned money.  Start building your business marketing.  With help or not, its your business, take action.