Marketing Advise

[dmcintyre86]

Hey guys,

I have been contacted by a group called "Home Adviser" for marketing in the business. (they are kinda like AngiesList i think) They sound and look really good...but i'm still kinda hesitant to bite on their offer. Its not cheap...

Has anyone used this service before for Locksmiths and if so, can you share your experience with it?? just trying to get as much input before i make a leap of faith with em..

-Dave

[NinjaLlama]

I performed a quick google search and found out HomeAdvisor (formerly ServiceMagic) has a very bad reputation it seems.

[billdeserthills]

I think you would do better with a web company that gets you onto multiple sites instead of these guys who only promote their own site. I had Yelp trying to hit me up for $300 a month. After looking over their site online I noticed they were actually showing several scammers, with addresses in my area, who did not actually have stores in the advertised areas. I explained that I could not in good faith pay Yelp, when they were promoting lying scammers and not even verifying their addresses. Have you gone online to examine these guys?

[Divinorum]

Hey Bill, what did Yelp have to say for themselves?

[dmcintyre86]

I think you would do better with a web company that gets you onto multiple sites instead of these guys who only promote their own site. I had Yelp trying to hit me up for $300 a month. After looking over their site online I noticed they were actually showing several scammers, with addresses in my area, who did not actually have stores in the advertised areas. I explained that I could not in good faith pay Yelp, when they were promoting lying scammers and not even verifying their addresses. Have you gone online to examine these guys?

I have been using a web based listing service and that seems to be going well...but these home advisor people keep following up with me weekly and i see their commercials on tv...just was curious if anyone else had any experience with them...

[billdeserthills]

Hey Bill, what did Yelp have to say for themselves?

Yelp told me that They aren't responsible for scammers advertising on their site, and that further, if Yelp's customers don't like the scammer's then it is up to the customers to initiate bad comments against the scammers. I told the guy I wouldn't pay anything until the thieves were removed from their site, and they finally told me that I didn't hafta pay anything for basic service, so I requested my Free ad on yelp and I'm up between two scammers, who both appear to be out of business.

[dmcintyre86]

hey bill,

how long did it take yelp to confirm your listing? i have been waiting for days now! I can view my listing there...but its not live for the public until its confirmed?

[billdeserthills]

hey bill,

how long did it take yelp to confirm your listing? i have been waiting for days now! I can view my listing there...but its not live for the public until its confirmed?

I wasn't even looking, but I think you should click on Go to yelp for Business Owners then click on Advertising also at the top. I think you need to get the advertising people's attention. I would just be honest with what you can afford. I had YP hitting me up, I told them I had $25 left in my advertising budget, they found something for me. Unfortunately it wasn't worth $5 so I'd skip on YP. Just remember, local splash charged me $200 per month, but if they make you $1,000 per month who gives a ? I'm just glad I finally tried it, after telling them to get lost for Years.

I just put my business name and the town in my browser, like:
Walt's Lock, New Haven, CT and the zip code. See what page your business is on. If you aren't on page one I think You know why you aren't getting any phone calls. I guarantee when You are on page 1 you'll be making money.

[dmcintyre86]

I am so frustrated with these yelp people...it has been weeks since i created the business listing...they still havent reviewed or verified the listing. when i call the phone number it refers me to the website...and when i go to the website i cant send an inquiry until they issue me a business login and password. GRRRR !!

How long do these people usually take to verify these things. the site said about a week...but now its been close to 3. mabey im just being impatient here but geez, lol

I am going to give Bill's recommendation a try this next month...what the heck...might as well. haha

Ill let you know how it goes!

-dave

[billdeserthills]

I am so frustrated with these yelp people...it has been weeks since i created the business listing...they still havent reviewed or verified the listing. when i call the phone number it refers me to the website...and when i go to the website i cant send an inquiry until they issue me a business login and password. GRRRR !!

How long do these people usually take to verify these things. the site said about a week...but now its been close to 3. mabey im just being impatient here but geez, lol

I am going to give Bill's recommendation a try this next month...what the heck...might as well. haha

Ill let you know how it goes!

-dave

Yelp is all about making money for doing next to nothing. They don't really want to give away anything, but in order to make someone pay for their ads they need to give away a certain amount of free advertising. You prolly hafta play along with their game a little, maybe suggest that if you could see your ad working, you would be more likely to give them money. Have you uploaded Your business pictures yet?

[dmcintyre86]

Yea I have uploaded pictures and updated all the information for the profile...i have the URL for my page...but when i go back to the yelp main page and search for Locksmiths in my zip...my profile isn't in the results. Its like its just not live yet. When i created the page a few weeks ago i remember seeing a msg. that told me their staff needed to review my submission and approve it and that that process usually takes a week...but its now been 3 weeks and the listing still is not live. I really don't like these people...haha

-dave

[dmcintyre86]

Early last week i was very busy!!, Monday and Tuesday were both "4 Job Days" Wednesday I had 3....and then Thurs, Fri, Sat and now Sun have been completely DEAD! Not a single job, and maybe 2 calls in 5 days....WHATS GOING ON...I have been checking all my online marketing and listings to make sure what i have is up and running and everything looks fine...The sudden drop in activity in my business is odd. But i guess thats what happens sometimes?

-Dave

[billdeserthills]

Early last week i was very busy!!, Monday and Tuesday were both "4 Job Days" Wednesday I had 3....and then Thurs, Fri, Sat and now Sun have been completely DEAD! Not a single job, and maybe 2 calls in 5 days....WHATS GOING ON...I have been checking all my online marketing and listings to make sure what i have is up and running and everything looks fine...The sudden drop in activity in my business is odd. But i guess thats what happens sometimes?

-Dave

It is what happens, I like to call it "Feast or Famine" I would prefer to do 2-3 jobs a day, mon-fri
but what I get is like you. One job, then 4 & I can't ever guess when or how much. It's just how my business has been. I have rekeyed enough other "gone broke" businesses to know that I have to save all the money I can, all the time.Two years ago when I wrecked my shop van, I had to go get another one & that costs. The real to me is you coulda just went on a 3-day vacation, but you didn't know the phone wasn't gonna ring.
I'm sitting here now, waiting for some guy who called hours ago to call back to do a job. He may never call me back, and there isn't anything I can do to take back the shaving I just had to do because I might have a job to do...

Far as Yelp goes, I betcha they will get around to calling You if you wait that long. Why not just call them? Tell them you wanna give their service a try and you'd like your page to be activated. When they hit you up for money just tell them that you have a very limited advertising budget and you want to see how well their site works before you invest anything.

There are other free sites out there too, google is the one I hate the most due to their incessant phone calling. I actually believe they are continuing to call in order to harass me and if I wasn't about to build a house I would find a special lawyer to sue the cr@p out of them. However the folks I pay to get my name around online do use google, so unfortunately they are getting money from my pocket.

I haven't seen anything work faster at making new business that getting your business on page one
of whatever search engine you are looking yourself up on. Especially for rekeying, new guy buys a home, they will either get a realtor recommendation or look on their phone. I guess you can go to realtors and leave some business cards

[dmcintyre86]

I always enjoy your responses Bill! You have been exceptionally helpful to me in the last few weeks.

I would estimate that about 30% of the business i do get, are referrals from Realtors...the other 70% comes from mobile searches on Google or Bing.

As for Yelp, I will just wait them out i suppose...i tried calling their phone support lines the other day but they "were not accepting calls" haha...of coarse they aren't! I sent an email to their support center so we'll see what happens...maybe they are just backed up or something.

And in regard to business volumes: I have learned very quick that a weekly or monthly expectation or average is out of the question. Its so up and down that it is nearly impossible to plan for a specific budget to come in. Your exactly right, Saving as much as possible is the way to go...call it the "rainny day fund" haha

Thanks again for your input Bill!

-Dave

[cledry]

Early last week i was very busy!!, Monday and Tuesday were both "4 Job Days" Wednesday I had 3....and then Thurs, Fri, Sat and now Sun have been completely DEAD! Not a single job, and maybe 2 calls in 5 days....WHATS GOING ON...I have been checking all my online marketing and listings to make sure what i have is up and running and everything looks fine...The sudden drop in activity in my business is odd. But i guess thats what happens sometimes?

-Dave

Most of our business is commercial and is repeat business so advertising is probably only a small part of our business. We tend to do an average of 15 jobs a day but that is 5 guys on the road, so not really that busy. I only did a couple on Friday. I had to open and repair a Hollon depository safe and later in the day I had to install a Von Duprin 99 VR device. Our residential guy has hardly had any jobs lately, most of the foreclosure sales are finished.