Servicemagic

[ACE]

The following emails document the 8th dead-end lead in a row servicemagic has sent me:

Sun 11/1/2009 8:42 PM
New Customer Match!
Dear Mike Hughes,
You've been matched to a Clean Upholstery and Furniture Lead!
Customer Information
Customer Name: Kyle Britton
Customer Comment: I have a tan and off-white striped sofa that needs cleaned. The sofa has been stored in the garage for the last three months where it has been abused with small, light stains, and smoked on. It is a nice sofa, and I am planning on moving it into my room in the house. However, I need to get the couch completely cleaned and deodorized. Please help!


Sun 11/1/2009 8:56 PM
Dear Mike,

Thank you for your time regarding my project: Clean Upholstery and Furniture.

After considering my options I have decided to hire another company to complete this project. I appreciated your efforts and wish your company the best in the future.

Regards,

Kyle Britton



Kyle,

I received a ServiceMagic referral to provide an estimate for upholstery cleaning then got an email less than 15 minutes later saying you found someone else to do the work. Do you realize every Servicemagic referral cost me money?

Mike.


Mike,

I apologize. I didn't realize that you paid a referral fee every time ServiceMagic paired you up with a potential client. This is the first time I've ever used ServiceMagic. I filled out the required information on the website, and then received three matches. Within five minutes of receiving my matches, I received a phone call from one of the three referred businesses. After talking to the individual and getting a quote, I decided to go with them. It is nothing against you or your business. I received a phone call, received a very reasonable quote, and set up an appointment for the middle of this week. It all came down to timing. However, with that being said, if you would like, you can quote me a price for the cleaning (the removal of a few stains) and deodorizing of a couch, love seat, chair, and ottoman. Send the quote by the end of the day, and I will compare and consider it. The quote I received was well under $100 for the cleaning of all the furniture. Again, I apologize, I didn't give the proper time to consider all of the quotes, and I also added a couple items to be cleaned (they aren't as dirty as the couch is, though). Give me your best offer and I will seriously consider it. Also, if you can, tell me about your method of upholstery/furniture cleaning and your cleaning system. Please send me a quote, I didn't mean to dismiss you so quickly.

-Kyle Britton

Kyle,

Yea, no big deal sorry to snap at you like that. I’m just upset at myself for signing up with servicemagic. Every lead the send me is a dead end. I find it odd that someone would reply so fast after getting a lead at 9:00 PM on a Sunday. Last time I checked there were no other carpet cleaning companies doing servicemagic in our area. Is the company from Douglas County? My price for cleaning those items would be $200.00. That is truck-mounted hot water extraction AKA Steam Cleaning by an IICRC certified Master Textile Cleaner. www.iicrc.org It takes allot of time to properly clean upholstery. Good luck with the other guy. Let me know how it turns out.

Mike.

 

[Walrus Gumboot]

SM sucks. I dumped them after a couple of months.


But, you need to drop the tude,dude. If I had been that customer, I would have told you to F-OFF.
Your crappy advertising blues is not their problem.

 

[Ron Lippold]

I think both of you need to look in the mirror. They do not pass out bad leads. When the customer is checking them out they want something done, NOW. They dont want to talk to someone later. If you are not calling them back with in minuters you loose. Not their problem.

 

[rhino1]

SM was the worst marketing gimmick I have tried so far.

Do the numbers: if you pay $20 per lead, and you actually schedule 1 $200 to $300 job out of 10 leads, you only break even or make $100 off this deal. I found that most of the leads were price shoppers, just looking around, or apartment renters wasting my time.

I was the only one getting leads in my area and I was still only getting 1 job for 8 to 10 leads, and getting charged for exact matches on every one. The rep told me when I called that they also give 1 or 2 other companies info that weren't registered so that the customer has a choice. I pay for my leads and they just give the others to competitors for FREE?

I told them to stuff it!

 

[Brian R]

If I were an O/O it would have worked pretty well.
considering I had to give up 50% of the job....I broke even after a couple of months....so not worth the time to break even.

It can be a good service...but it's not perfect. Just like any advertising, it comes down to who is calling you and how well you take care of them.

Ron is right, you have to call back as soon as you get a text, email, or call.

Although, I will admit...sometimes I would get a text...I would call in seconds (I just pressed one button on the text and it would ring the number)
And they would say "I've already scheduled with another cleaner" :shock:

So it was abvious to me that some other cleaners were getting their chance a good amount of time before my text...enough time to schedule and that part bugged me.

Was it Sprints fault for not sending my text through? Was Service Magic's system screwed up?
It was not me and that is the only part I have control over...wasn't worth the end the result to me.

 

[Guest]

"Cleaning by an IICRC certified Master Textile Cleaner."

yeah that will show them they could have had you.

 

[Brian R]

:roll:

 

[Torn]

It sure is nice to be able to read about this stuff and find out before signing up. I was considering Servicemagic but after reading comments from others I did not find that it was worth it.

I have a friend that does well with Servicemagic. He does hard wood flooring. The difference is that his average job is a few thousand not a few hundred so the margins make it work for him.

Thanks for the post.

 

[ACE]

I think both of you need to look in the mirror. They do not pass out bad leads. When the customer is checking them out they want something done, NOW. They dont want to talk to someone later. If you are not calling them back with in minuters you loose. Not their problem.

It was 9:00 PM Sunday. I alway call fist theing durring normal business hours. I'm not calling if I get a lead after 8:00 PM.

"Cleaning by an IICRC certified Master Textile Cleaner."

yeah that will show them they could have had you.

I challenge you to compose a more convincing sentence to convince a customer you are an expert.

 

[Bjorn]

tell them you got one of those big ass suck machines in your truck

I know find out what cleaner got the job from you sign up using hot mail new email open a service magic account and have some fun

It was either Chavez or Brummet that stole your job

 

[joeynbgky]

its your fault you didnt respond quick enough.

 

[ACE]

Brumett Maybe, Mr. $.50 Sq often lowballs when he is slow. Chavez dosen't need to undercut me and he would have a hard time turning a buck if he did.

I just got another lead. I called withing 30 Sec of getting it. Straight to voicemail no reply. That's how most of the leads go, no reply.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Expect a call from them.

I just got off the phone and lowered the boom on them.

I asked them if their program was lead generation or closed sales. He said lead and I told him I don't like the way that works out. He said most cleaners do, I said not Mike Hughes in Lawrence.

His voiced changed when I told him how unhappy you were and that you were telling other cleaners.

 

[Nate The Great]

Expect a call from them.

I just got off the phone and lowered the boom on them.

I asked them if their program was lead generation or closed sales. He said lead and I told him I don't like the way that works out. He said most cleaners do, I said not Mike Hughes in Lawrence.

His voiced changed when I told him how unhappy you were and that you were telling other cleaners.

Right on!! Accountability has to start somewhere. I do find it BS if you ask me. I take a call and talk with that person, give the details, then they say there only getting quotes. Next thing I get is a phone call from service magic with the same Fing person on the line.

Imo, it should be on closed sales but then if you're a sh!tty closer, they done make any money. My pops uses it for new flooring installation and flooring inspections. I think it's a waste of money.

 

[duckster]

Servicemagic IMHO should not collect per click-thru which is all a lead really amounts to in the click and order vs brick and mortar world of business. SM should be required to EARN their money by adding to your bottom line otherwise they are about as welcome as free loading in-laws in your home.

If SM gets paid per sale having all sales go through them and the customer does a prepaid with no cancellation possible and you receive your money upon completion of the job or immediately after the job was canceled from your friends at SM minus a commission, now that is a working arrangement.

Of course, pigs don't fly so what seems fair won't either. Those guys would go out of business first before they would do like the rest of us and actually earn their money.

Who here wouldn't pay good money for booked and serviced business? And if you would, what would be the percentage or flat dollar amount you would lay out for a profitable job? Understand that once you service the customer they by all rights become your customer.

Let's dream big here.

 

[Royal Man]

The magic is that SM makes money while you pay them for nothing.

Whala!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ACE]

UPDATE:

Mike,

I will contact the other company, which is located in Ottawa, and find out if they are IICRC certified. My guess is they aren't. If they aren't IICRC certified, I am sending my business to you. I really need this job to be done really well. The couch is a wreck, and needs some serious TLC. I don't have a lot of money to spend these days, and I really only need the couch done at the moment. What can you quote me for only doing the couch? Or, how do each of the different pieces break down price-wise? I might have the couch done now, and have the other pieces done at a later time.

Thanks,
Kyle Britton

Kyle,

Cleaning of the Sofa only would be $80.00
Chair $60.00
Loveseat $40.00
Ottoman $20.00

I think B & B is the only Certified firm in Ottawa. You can see a list of certified firms in the are here: http://www.certifiedcleaners.org/locator.shtml

Let me know,

Mike.



And the lady did call back and I booked a small job with her $20.00 Exact Match fee for an $80.00 Job. Maybe Ron is right you have to be Johnny on the spot when you get that lead and really aggressive for it to work. I have never talked to a customer the way I did this guy. Allot of the leads come in around midnight when people are surfing the net I call back first thing in the morning and never get hold of them. I still think I’ll drop the service. If I wanted to fight for broke dick customers I will post ads on craigslist for free.

 

[Brian R]

Who here wouldn't pay good money for booked and serviced business? And if you would, what would be the percentage or flat dollar amount you would lay out for a profitable job? Understand that once you service the customer they by all rights become your customer.

Let's dream big here.

I would be willing to give 50% of the total job. :mrgreen:

 

[ACE]

Who here wouldn't pay good money for booked and serviced business? And if you would, what would be the percentage or flat dollar amount you would lay out for a profitable job? Understand that once you service the customer they by all rights become your customer.

Let's dream big here.

I would be willing to give 50% of the total job. :mrgreen:

Not if you had to do the work and they where someone elses customer. It gets old fast.Ivebeensold.

Servicemagic might be a better deal if i was in Cali and the average ticket was allot higher then what I scrape by on here.

 

[Brian R]

I DO do the work...and the customer is up for grabs.

The job totals are relative to the areas I am sure.

 

[Brian R]

I just emailed them to ask if they would bring down the price of each lead to $5.00.

I'll post their response when and if I get one.

 

[rhino1]

Who here wouldn't pay good money for booked and serviced business? And if you would, what would be the percentage or flat dollar amount you would lay out for a profitable job? Understand that once you service the customer they by all rights become your customer.

Let's dream big here.

I would be willing to give 50% of the total job. :mrgreen:

IF profit margins are in the 25% to 35% range, then 50% is way too much. I could see more of an arrangement where you pay 15% to 20%, no more than that, but then I'm not exactly hurting for work.