New horror stories about lead gen cos - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

mark the coach · 04-04-2009, 04:47 PM

I recently met a major lead gen company at the National NARI business meeting in Atlanta. They said they are trying to improve the service to our contracting industry. Well read the following post on the Linkedin NARI group and see if they changed.

Group: National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI)
Subject: New comment (4) on "Online Lead Generation Companies"

"Our experience has not been good either. We were with Service Magic for awhile and most of the leads we received from them were "tire kickers" and either had no budget (we had one lady that wanted to do a complete kitchen for $3,000), had already chosen someone or never called back. I feel, though that Service Magic is probably the most reputable one with which we had experience...my impression is that they are an honest company...I just don't think the concept works well. Then we went with Reliable Remodeler and the experience was less positive. Our experience with them was similar but the leads were expensive and in order to call the customer you had to pay for the lead (anywhere from $40 to $120 each) up front plus a $29.95 monthly fee. We are slow learners so actually went with another company called EveryContractor.com. This company "guarantees" a certain amount of "work" for your money. We only did a very basic agreement, fortunately, with them and have received a couple of dead end leads so far. The thing about them, however, is that they began calling relentlessly and trying to "upsell" us (pay $7500 for $120,000 worth of work) and when Dan didn't answer their calls (he was with clients both time and legitimately could not take a call) they left a voice mail calling him a coward (literally) and accusing him of "hiding". I won't go into all the detail but these guys are scafry. This same conversation happened with a couple of other people and once they even called his cell phone and had cloned our office phone number with one digit different than ours. When he answered it they once again said, "see we knew you were hiding and being a coward". Stay away from them...they are not honorable people for sure. My other concern is that they are maybe operating under different company names as well which may be the case with Robert's experience but don't know that for sure. After they cloned our phone number, however, I would believe anything! I applaud John Murphy for doing the mystery shopper thing...it is nice to hear it from the customer's side of things and agree that we should see if Remodeling Magazine or Qualified Remodeler could help us by exposing these companies. I would be happy to float the idea with them if you want. Thanks for the good comments...I hope someone else can learn from our experience and avoid wasting their time and money."
Posted by Debbie Mackey

silvertree · 04-04-2009, 06:03 PM

Well, you might find this ironic, but some of these lead services are partnered with the magazines you would like to expose them with.
Think about that, and NARI sells member information to vendors. Which I think is a conflict of interest. NARI in Minnesota is about 430 members and 200 of them are vendors. This is fine by me because it is about the industry as a whole, but it makes it less likely NARI will increase membership with the smaller contractors who don't see it as a wholly trade related group. That would include you too Mark, since you are a consultant. So in effect NARI is a networking group first and remodeling group second. And the remodeling mags partner for revenue which they need and would not likely write an expose on lead services.

mark the coach · 04-04-2009, 09:25 PM

Hello Paul
Last week when I was in Atlanta at the NARI conference I met Kirsten from Service Magic. They have just joined NARI as a national member. She was joined by Dave Lupenberger their new spokesperson. I asked him if he was aware of the threads here on CT and he said he was. He said he recommended that SM join NARI and meet contractors face to face. He admitted that there are strong feelings against lead gen services and that SM is seeking to understand the problems so that they can improve upon them. It will be interesting to see if they change in a way that will provide better service. I do not they will make any headway unless they qualify the leads and improve their model.
I met many of the Minnesota NARI leadership and they seem to have their act together. The high percentage of vendors can be a deterrent to contractors. Our chapter in Boston is 2/3 rds contractors and 1/3 vendors. This seems to be a good mix. I do appreciate your insight.

silvertree · 04-04-2009, 09:56 PM

I hope Service Magic does better, but many of us here have been blatantly lied to, had our credit cards misused and been rudely dealt with by Service Magic. Lets see what happens.
NARI as an organization has stayed at 7000 members nationally for years, founded in 1982 I believe and still less than 2% of contractors are members.
I am a member, a roundtable leader an acquired 3 certifications, you could say I'm active, but this is my last year as a member. I get more out of CT than NARI by a long shot. Its too bad contractors have this "independent or die" attitude, because of that we have few ways to set standards like other professions can and do. That doesn't mean we should stay stuck in place either. But we are sometimes our own worst enemies.
As for NARI partnering with Service Magic and Home Depot, that's obviously good for NARI as far as getting money for marketing and other expenses, but think about this; how good is that for getting new members, you join an organization that gets its largest funding from companies that either misuse the trust of small contractors, or compete directly against them. Doesn't make sense to me as a member. If I was selling to contractors though, I would certainly join NARI.
What happens when it becomes 50/50. That sure shrinks the client base for those marketing dollars.

rbsremodeling · 04-04-2009, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvertree

I hope Service Magic does better, but many of us here have been blatantly lied to, had our credit cards misused and been rudely dealt with by Service Magic. Lets see what happens.
NARI as an organization has stayed at 7000 members nationally for years, founded in 1982 I believe and still less than 2% of contractors are members.
I am a member, a roundtable leader an acquired 3 certifications, you could say I'm active, but this is my last year as a member. I get more out of CT than NARI by a long shot. Its too bad contractors have this "independent or die" attitude, because of that we have few ways to set standards like other professions can and do. That doesn't mean we should stay stuck in place either. But we are sometimes our own worst enemies.
As for NARI partnering with Service Magic and Home Depot, that's obviously good for NARI as far as getting money for marketing and other expenses, but think about this; how good is that for getting new members, you join an organization that gets its largest funding from companies that either misuse the trust of small contractors, or compete directly against them. Doesn't make sense to me as a member. If I was selling to contractors though, I would certainly join NARI.
What happens when it becomes 50/50. That sure shrinks the client base for those marketing dollars.

Yep you nailed it. This is my last year as well. For all the reasons you mentioned

brushmasters · 04-16-2009, 08:09 AM

Posters - great question. What is the balance between successful networking and learning about your industry from peers? How do you combine an offline network like NARI with your online presence if you aren't a member of an offline network?

Chris Johnson · 04-16-2009, 08:10 PM

Do lead service companies actually do anything for your companies? I refuse to join, I have no interest. All my business is through referrals, either past clients or suppliers I deal with. Maybe I'm wrong, but with what us as small contractors do and the limited market we cover I would think everyone could survive by referrals only.

mhillc · 04-16-2009, 08:25 PM

service magic, they magically take your money for nothin.Them no good

:censo red:

Mitch M · 04-16-2009, 08:51 PM

I got a call a few weeks ago on my cell phone from a guy at Service Magic. Long story short I have not signed up recently (several years) and he made it out like I had signed up just a few weeks ago. I told him that I tried it a few years ago and decided it was not for me. He blasted me. I told him that I was not interested anymore and I do not know how he got my number (cell phone at that). He blasted me again. Before i could really lay into him he hung up.

I decided after hearing comments from the likes of you guys and what little experience I had, I decided that I will take my chances locally with my referral base as well other marketing concepts. Money is too precious now days to throw it out to the wind and hope for the best.