fair.IDeation

Member voices

11 Responses to “Member voices”

1. And your voices be heard! « fairIDeation, on October 17th, 2007 at 11:18 pm Said:

   [...] Member voices [...]

2. 

   Ron Canizales; AKA(RCBuilders), on November 13th, 2007 at 11:33 pm Said:

   I just joined laborfair yesterday, and i’m relatively new to this whole computer age thing, but, for the way this site is put together and information is given, along with all the great and friendly help to guide us (who are looking for work or to start as entrepeneurs) I thank you with all my heart, for giving me a hopeful and very needed breath of fresh air!

3. 

   Jose Arocha, on November 14th, 2007 at 6:02 pm Said:

   Ron,

   Welcome to Laborfair! We appreciate your generous words. We are glad our Laborfair sites and our support are helpful to you. Please let us know if we can be of further help. We are here for all of you to be successful service providers in your markets.

   Cheers!
   Jose and the Laborfair Team

4. 

   meejee, on March 12th, 2008 at 9:08 am Said:

   Whatever happened to the unlimited leads rate? When you guys decided to do that I started referring people to Laborfair, but it didn’t last long until you took it away. We are working class people that use your services, I can’t afford to accept these leads anymore, they don’t always guarantee work. Please understand that a worker makes many estimates and only a handful of them become a job. I would like to see the unlimited leads deal come back. All of my fellow workers that I’ve referred to the site complain about the cost of accepting leads, and quite frankly I am quickly becoming disillusioned myself.

5. 

   josejarocha, on March 12th, 2008 at 6:15 pm Said:

   Meejee,

   Thanks for sharing your thoughtful and honest views about the lead pricing for painters and your dynamics with consumers searching for estimates. We are discussing different solutions to the issue and would love to have more feedback from you and the rest of the community.

   Could you share with us:
   1. How many of your accepted leads are only estimate requests?
   2. Out of every 10 leads or any other reference, how many of them transform into jobs for you?

   Feel free to comment. Thank you!

   Jose @ Laborfair

6. 

   meejee, on March 13th, 2008 at 6:47 am Said:

   Absolutely.

   Total leads so far: 24

   Total Accepted: 14 (2 actually got back to me for an estimate and one has turned into a job.)

   Declined: 5 (declined for lack of info., or did not have the funds to accept the leads.)

   Expired: 5 (3 of these leads were offered after you increased the acceptance fee to 10 credits. These 3 expired while I was trying to decide whether or not it would be worth paying the money for the leads.)

   More interesting facts:

   While looking back at these leads I wrote down what happened with each of them.
   -Out of the 14 leads that I accepted, only 4 of them resulted in actual phone calls (as soon as I accept a lead, I initially email the prospective client to confirm their interest in an estimate and set up a phonecall.)
   -2 of them resulted in actual estimates
   -1 of them resulted in a job

   Total credits used: 80 credits
   Total estimates generated: 2
   Total jobs generated: 1

   As you can see, because these people are not paying to contact you, they do not feel obligated to return any emails or follow up with a provider. I can assure you that I have many clients from craigslist and that my rate is more than fair (its actually CHEAP) and my work is quality. Most tradesmen know that you go through many estimates to get an actual job, but the real problem here is having to pay for all these estimates.

   If someone is looking for a quality painter, and they are serious about having the work done, they will pay for your contact info. And because they have paid, they will be the ones doing themselves a disservice by not returning emails or canceling appointments. But because its the other way around and we are the ones paying, they have no incentive.

   Many customers I’ve had in the past have said that they would prefer to pay for the contact info of a legitimate tradesman than have to go through the hassle of dealing with strangers on craigslist. For people who are putting money into their home, an extra five or ten dollars to get estimates from quality workers is a small price to pay to avoid wasting their time and ultimately trusting someone with their home.

   Luckily I still have a full schedule from all my CL jobs, but I would like to know that what I am paying for on Laborfair is beneficial to my business, and not just money wasted.

7. 

   josejarocha, on March 19th, 2008 at 10:03 pm Said:

   Wow! Thanks Meejee for your detailed feedback and insights. There is plenty of information to digest. You go through explaining your ROI (return on the investment) in the Laborfair marketing service for your case as painter, the responsiveness from consumers, the alternative of charging to consumers to increase their response and interest, and how trust is important for consumers, among other topics.

   We have read it all and discussed it at Laborfair. They provide a good seed for further discussions and product improvements in these areas. We will keep your comments in mind.

   Thank you very much for your active participation in the Laborfair marketplace!

   Cheers,
   jose @ Laborfair.com

8. 

   Anthony, on March 24th, 2008 at 8:13 am Said:

   i think that laborfair should go back to unlimited leads. just like meejee says sometimes leads are a waste of money. they dont always turn out. 10 credits is too expensive now.

9. 

   josejarocha, on March 31st, 2008 at 9:30 pm Said:

   Hi Anthony,

   Thanks for commenting here. Laborfair Unlimited was indeed a good product. Could you share with us why you liked it? We will consider it again in the future when we are ready to bring it back partially or fully, in the same or other form.

   Could you share your experience? how many leads have you accepted? how many have turned into jobs? As Meejee well illustrated, not all leads turn into jobs. That is the nature of this market. Consumers like to have different alternatives until they find the one they like. But when that job is landed, it should pay for your marketing investment. We have priced our credits so you will cover for them and make good money as well. When you compare Laborfair.com with other similar services out there, you will notice our prices are way lower.

   Please share your experience and we will listen and consider it.

   Thank you Anthony.

   jose @ laborfair.com

10. 

    Joseph, on April 8th, 2008 at 5:16 pm Said:

    Hi,

    I am trying to improve my site trustycleaning1 so far I only had 1 lead and still waiting for more. Any ideas why? I am getting more hits on craigslist with my badge but here on Labor fair I haven’t found any new clients yet.

    New Member

11. 

    josejarocha, on April 8th, 2008 at 6:20 pm Said:

    Hi Joseph (fairID: trustycleaning1),

    Thanks for posting your question on this forum. We are glad the Laborfair badge is helping you get more leads on Craigslist. Way to go!

    Regarding your leads on Laborfair.com, we noticed you were giving out your phone number in your Ad and your customers were probably reaching out to you by phone. Was that the case?

    Regarding your posting of the phone number, unfortunately our policy does not allow for any contact information on the profile pages. We removed your graphics with the phone number and sent you a note clarifying so. Please adapt your profile with these changes.

    I have two suggestions for you to improve your lead generation:

    1. Keep adapting your messaging on the title of your profile until one produces better results. The title is very important as Google indexes your profile title with your choice of words. Use the words your users will use when they go to Google to search for your type of services. That is a good rule of thumb. Test and see.

    2. Get more reviews. You have done a good job in getting reviews. However, they are never sufficient. The more reviews, the better sense of trust and quality you will communicate to your customers. Getting more, good reviews will also improve your placement on the Laborfair search results and improve your chances of getting leads. The pictures are nice if you believe they add value to your profile. However, between getting more pictures and getting more reviews, I suggest to get more reviews. They bring you more and better leads.

    Do these ideas make sense? Hope they help. Please keep us posted and let us know if they work out for you.

    Keep the good work!

    Jose @ laborfair.com

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