At my age I’ve had a lot of opportunities to look back and wish I’d followed some of the advice given over the years. If I’d listened, I might be healthy and wealthy beyond my dreams. But I’m human and I’m not alone. We received the note below from a contractor with excellent hindsight.
Michael told me not to get involved with Angi. What follows is a distillation of my experience for the last four months:
Their rep, Kira, called me and talked to me, maybe 5 conversations. I explained that I’d been burned by Angie’s List before, and I didn’t want to do it again. She called me over and over and wore me down and I finally agreed to sign up. She asked if we could talk again, and I said OK. I was polite and always returned her calls. Little by little, she wore me down, and made it sound like this was going to be a great plan.
The very first lead that came in was totally unvetted, tire kicking, and unqualified. In fact, none of the leads are vetted. There are tire kickers and rental owners. I have no doubt that by the time someone wades through the pile of garbage leads that there may be one good one. Then there’s a fight to the bottom dollar to sign up for that one good lead. Meanwhile we’ve spent our profit knocking on the doors of all the other garbage leads.
You know the story, you told me the story.
I asked politely to be removed and let out of their system. Then I got calls from Client Services telling me that I had not fulfilled my commitment and that they could not help me to be removed from their system. Then they sent me more leads.
Kira won’t respond any more, she was great at getting me to sign a contract but not at helping me be removed from their system and returning my money.
This is all my fault. I don’t know why I allowed this to happen. Michael told me to stay clear of Angi.
So, hear my warning! My warning to contractors near and far: Stay clear of the Siren Calls of Angi. Hang up when they call! Run as fast as you can! I have paid money so that I can have the experience to let you know!
If you’re looking for subject matter for a newsletter, please feel free to use my experience to help keep others safe from Kira and the other predatory sales reps from Angi and Home Advisor and all the other ones out there.
Thank you for listening. You guys do a great job!
Our thanks to this contractor. I’m sure it wasn’t easy and a bit humbling to share this note. But his advice is sound.
A well-designed website is the best marketing tool to generate new work for your company, and the leads will cost a lot less money. With a little time and effort, you can generate better leads than any lead generating company will provide.
You know who your ideal clients are, so you can market to those clients. You know your most profitable work, so your website can focus on that type of work. The lead generating companies don’t know that information and it isn’t important to them because they get paid regardless of the quality of the lead.
Generating leads with your website does take time. According to Brian Javeline with MyOnlineToolbox, there are many factors that influence how long it takes but once your website is properly built, “the average time to get good leads is six months. The wait is worth it, though because once the momentum starts, it can be good leads for life, not just any tire-kicking leads. The transition from volume-oriented-tire-kicking-leads to consistent-quality-leads is the magic.” Brian has helped many of our clients reach that “consistent-quality-leads” stage.
If you want your business to be successful, long-term, you need to be in control of your marketing and your company name. Invest the time and energy to properly put together your website.
The knowledge and experience Michael Stone gained in his 60+ years in construction has helped thousands of contractors improve their businesses and their lives. He is the author of the books Markup & Profit Revisited, Profitable Sales, and Estimating Construction Profitably, and is available for one-on-one consultations.
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