sgreanbeans
Treeaculterologist
Has anybody signed up with Service Magic? is so, hows it working
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Service Magic
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the Aerialist
Addicted to ArboristSite
Good Service Isn't Magic ...
Here's what Angie's List says about Service Magic:
Best local Contractors and Doctors | Find reviews in your area
Of course they are competitors so you wouldn't expect them to praise Service Magic. Somehow I'm another "Award Winner" with Thumbtack they've made me an "Elite" contractor because I paid them $5 for a lead. It never panned out, I never got called back.
I expect Service Magic is similar, you can buy a lead for $5 or give them a percentage if you get the job I think it's 8% on Thumbtack. Ether way it about like the crystal award scam you can be an "Elite" contractor once you buy in, even if it's only $5. Now I constantly get email from them trying to get me to buy a lead, they just get deleted, along with Service Magic's emails.
The hard part about Angie's List is that it takes time to build your good reputation. Building a bad one is easy, if you don't get excellent reviews in all cases you might as well not bother.
Here's what Angie's List says about Service Magic:
Best local Contractors and Doctors | Find reviews in your area
Of course they are competitors so you wouldn't expect them to praise Service Magic. Somehow I'm another "Award Winner" with Thumbtack they've made me an "Elite" contractor because I paid them $5 for a lead. It never panned out, I never got called back.
I expect Service Magic is similar, you can buy a lead for $5 or give them a percentage if you get the job I think it's 8% on Thumbtack. Ether way it about like the crystal award scam you can be an "Elite" contractor once you buy in, even if it's only $5. Now I constantly get email from them trying to get me to buy a lead, they just get deleted, along with Service Magic's emails.
The hard part about Angie's List is that it takes time to build your good reputation. Building a bad one is easy, if you don't get excellent reviews in all cases you might as well not bother.
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ducaticorse
Addicted to ArboristSite
I use service magic and KILL it in my area. First dispatch I received I bid and won a $5800 job. Talk about a positive ROI.... I will say though, the reason it works so well for me is that the oher services that use it in my area are larger, more established companies, and their prices are always WAY over my head. Whenever I bid and win a job, I ask the customer what the others come in at. There have been times whaen they're close to double my bid.
The only negative thing I can say about te service is that sometimes a custy is "just looking" and you still have to pay for the lead. Small price to pay in my opinion.
the Aerialist
Addicted to ArboristSite
Good Score ducati !
I'm glad you've had a positive experience, had mine (with Thumbtack) been that way out of the gate I would have been willing to stick with it. Maybe I busted them on a single data point (one lead) and should have hung in there. I'm so busy with A-List referrals that I don't bother to do any other form of advertising. Craigslist ads produced more spinning wheels than actual customers so I quit that long ago.
I'm glad you've had a positive experience, had mine (with Thumbtack) been that way out of the gate I would have been willing to stick with it. Maybe I busted them on a single data point (one lead) and should have hung in there. I'm so busy with A-List referrals that I don't bother to do any other form of advertising. Craigslist ads produced more spinning wheels than actual customers so I quit that long ago.
ducaticorse
Addicted to ArboristSite
Well, CL sucks because you're competing with uninsured illegals, and heroin addicts looking to scrape enough together for their next fix. And the customers are cheap as F--K too, so F CL all together.
A-List is entirely different than Servicemagic. A-List, the CUSTOMER pays to be a member of, and is a community based rating system for local contractors. Servicemagic is a LEAD service designed to supply verified contractors with legitimate leads. It's a totally different concept. Does A-list do criminal back ground checks? NO, Service magic does though. Does A-List verify a business license? NO, Servicemagic does though. I like A-list too, don't get me wrong, but they are entirely different. AND to correct you, the customer does get to pick their own contractor out of the pool of contractors supplied to them when inquiring about work they'd like done.
the Aerialist
Addicted to ArboristSite
You get what you pay for ~ as always ...
Angie's list claims to do all those verifications as well, but I wouldn't know how well they vett the contractors who get listed. I would expect that the customers themselves would weed out the fly by nights operators as part of the review process. You are correct that Service Magic as well as Thumbtack provide homeowners with multiple contractors, all who have paid for the lead in the first place, so the HOs do get some choice, but it is a blind choice, with the A-List they get to read reviews from the contractors previous A-List customers. Poor performers are weeded out very quickly.
It takes time to get a good reputation built up in the A-list, whereas with the others all it takes is $5 to get a lead.
Angie's list claims to do all those verifications as well, but I wouldn't know how well they vett the contractors who get listed. I would expect that the customers themselves would weed out the fly by nights operators as part of the review process. You are correct that Service Magic as well as Thumbtack provide homeowners with multiple contractors, all who have paid for the lead in the first place, so the HOs do get some choice, but it is a blind choice, with the A-List they get to read reviews from the contractors previous A-List customers. Poor performers are weeded out very quickly.
It takes time to get a good reputation built up in the A-list, whereas with the others all it takes is $5 to get a lead.
sgreanbeans
Treeaculterologist
Think I am gunna give it a whirl. I am on A-list as well and I do post on CL. I KNOW I KNOW! Many hate CL. Here is my reasoning. Many hacks post on there because it is free. Many people cruise CL while at work, the new solitary. If they see nothing but the hacker adds, then there is no alternative. I post on there, slam the hackers and direct them to my site. Have picked up several nice jobs. It is free, so why leave the general public, who go there all the time, with no other options, other than the hackers! Even if they are not looking for a tree service, but bored and just surfing, I put weird titles like "No Joe Dirts" just to get their attention, if they click on it and read it, they may become curious and hit my site. Like I said, its free, so why let the hackers have all the free advertising.
The other thing I am looking into is the Super Pages, kinda like a A-list/Service Magic combo. I dropped outa the phone books this year, nervous but the numbers don't lie, it was a waste. Now I am trying to find better ways to spend that money.
gorman
Addicted to ArboristSite
I posted on CL a couple years ago for about a month and couldn't believe it.... People literally wanted me to cut down their freaking trees (over house, garage, utility lines) for the wood. Just the wood, nothing else. I had one guy ask me to clear four acres of crap for wood and split/give him three cords or it. It's a waste of precious time and fuel to even look at these jobs and the other guys posting on it just want to clear overhead. My three cents.
But this is interesting to me as I thought a-list and those other lead companies were a bunch of bologna. Now I might give them a shot.
But this is interesting to me as I thought a-list and those other lead companies were a bunch of bologna. Now I might give them a shot.
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sgreanbeans
Treeaculterologist
YEAH, I love the "free firewood, just remove tree" adds!
Awhile back, someone posted "free birch branches" bet they had alot of takers
Awhile back, someone posted "free birch branches" bet they had alot of takers
ForTheArborist
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'm still a tiny tree service mind you, but as far as posting on CL my ads get deleted all of the time.
I had that thing masterminded and cornered for years until this fall when my whole CL ad campaign was tracked and deleted by somebody. Noboy else's business is getting shot down like this. Not sure what is going on in that uni-bomber's head, but it must be a personal vendetta because it is not so simple to get ads deleted. I just keep posting ads in spite of that f'r, but I don't get nearly the calls I used to get with the tried and true, ol' streamlined CL ad campaign. :msp_thumbup:
I haven't focused on A-list yet.
I had that thing masterminded and cornered for years until this fall when my whole CL ad campaign was tracked and deleted by somebody. Noboy else's business is getting shot down like this. Not sure what is going on in that uni-bomber's head, but it must be a personal vendetta because it is not so simple to get ads deleted. I just keep posting ads in spite of that f'r, but I don't get nearly the calls I used to get with the tried and true, ol' streamlined CL ad campaign. :msp_thumbup:
I haven't focused on A-list yet.
the Aerialist
Addicted to ArboristSite
I get requests for Birch branches and trunk sections from handicraft people. My wife bought a piece of stump root with a little birdhouse in it for $25. I dump stuff like that all the time.
Craigslist got me going though, my advertising budget was zero and with contacts and that all I could afford.
I just got this from A-List:
Two A reports in two months doesn't seem too high a bar for "honor role" standard, but a special page in their print magazine's February issue might be worth it to pull me out of Winter.
I just signed up by phone, very easy to send the $172. here's the example page of what they'll be sending out in February:
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ForTheArborist
Addicted to ArboristSite
I want to know if that will put you over the top, Aerial.
What am I saying? We'll be on the same thing only soon enough. :msp_thumbup:
What am I saying? We'll be on the same thing only soon enough. :msp_thumbup:
treemandan
Tree Freak
He said his ads get deleted:wink2:
You will get to bid quite a few jobs from SM and the like. I tried it for a few months some years ago then dumped it. It seemed Ok, then it seemed they didn't understand I only attend a few surrounding zip codes. Kinda like when you tell a used car salesman you want 4x4 and they keep selling you a 4x2.
And since I changed my name to Incognito Tree, well, its sure has saved a lot in advertising and its busier than ever out there without the storms.
How do you get your ad deleted without you having a say or a explanation why? That sounds weird.
Jeff
Jeff
Grace Tree
Impossible Access
I post this one on a regular basis. It never lasts long. Usually and hour or two.
cleveland craigslist > for sale / wanted > free stuff
If you want trees cut down in exchange for firewood email me
Date: 2011-10-29, 6:28AM EDT
Reply to: your anonymous craigslist address will appear here
If you want your trees cut down in exchange for firewood please email me. I'd like to come and see you and knock on your head and see if it sounds hollow.
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 2674672585
Oh, I did not know. We don't use it.
Jeff
Jeff
Grace Tree
Impossible Access
We normally use it to line up chip or wood dumps if we're working any distance from our yard. That's been a useful cost saver but you really have to sort through the responses. We sometime post informational stuff but it's seldom kind or subtle and it never last long.
Phil
Phil
ForTheArborist
Addicted to ArboristSite
CL is kind of a democratic facility. You can post up whatever, and there are no administers or regulators except the viewers themselves. If anyone has beef with say tree services that are competing with a license or what not, then you have the power to tear them down because they must be cutting into your profits. I was using the venue for 4 years, and never a problem, then suddenly around August somebody guns it all down. It just complicates things.
Really that capability is for miscategorized ads or prohibited BS.
Really that capability is for miscategorized ads or prohibited BS.
Grace Tree
Impossible Access
And overposting which is what most of the CL hacks do.
treemandan
Tree Freak
Why would you? Unless maybe you were looking for a dresser, used lawn mower, small equipment. Its a yard sale page with forums for queers and all sorts. Tons of shade being cast by any and all contractors who would run their name through the muck that is CL. Shysterdom to its most intense frenzy, everyday running rampant, never to stop only let to grow.
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