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Thumbtack Website for Clients
Has anyone used thumbtack to get new clients? The way it works is you pay a fee to contact customers who are looking for a specific service. If not thumbtack, have you used a website like that? Consideration and advice welcomed. ETA: found this in a search: https://www.modelmayhem.com/forums/post/924294 Anyone with recent experience? Mar 09 15 07:40 pm Link I use Thumbtack... No luck so far.  Mar 09 15 11:33 pm Link They just sent me an email for 18 free credits. I'll use those to experiment but after reading more I doubt that I'll end up purchasing credits. Mar 10 15 08:21 am Link Been using Thumbtack for almost six months and they have been very good as well as honest. I've spoken with customer service a total of four times and they always solved the issue. To date I've spent about $1,200.00 on bids on jobs and that has gotten my over $12,000.00 in jobs or revenue. As a previous post has stated, it is about the images on your Thumbtack and your profile. I will add that it is also about communication with the client, something that a lot of photographers are not very good at. The work I get and do from Thumbtack is high-end corporate, unlike MM, and now I'm getting referrals from previous clients I've found on Thumbtack. My only complaint so far about Thumbtack is that I am use to dealing with corporate AD's or Fortune 500 PR departments who know exactly what they are doing, what they want and how much they want to pay for it. Most, not all on Thumbtack do not have much experience dealing with purchasing or commissioning photography. Half the time when I tell someone I'm discussing a shoot with from Thumbtack that all of the images I produce are over 7,000 by at 300PPI in aRGB color, they do not have any idea of what I am talking about. I come from the good or bad old days of agents who took a 40 to 50% commission of all work that they found, the cost of a Thumbtack bid is nothing compared to that. In closing, I like Thumbtack and trust them. They provide a valuable service to me. I have a hard time believing that they make bogus post just to make a few bucks. But hey you all should stay away from Thumbtack so that I can work it without any competition......... Just My Opinion, Chuck Mar 24 15 06:46 pm Link see Adam's description here: https://www.modelmayhem.com/forums/post/924294/1 Mar 24 15 07:29 pm Link SayCheeZ! wrote: Thanks for the compliment. Mar 27 15 09:06 am Link After more than a year of using Thumbtack and crunching some numbers, it appears that It costs me about $120.oo for each job I get via Thumbtack. Considering that each job is billed at from $500.oo to over $3,000.oo, that is not bad. In the old agency days the agent took 50%. I have had some minor problems with bids and when I call Thumbtack they refund my bid credits on the sport. In My Opinion Thumbtack is OK and works for me, but I am an experienced photographer with over 10,000 watts of strobes and 30 plus years working for major clients all over the world. Chuck Sep 28 15 08:56 pm Link So glad to see this post because I am on my third bridal negotiation through Thumbtack and it's a thorn in my side that I need to walk away from. I have successfully booked about a quarter of the clients I've given bids to. However, I find that I almost ALWAYS have to lower my prices significantly to get a catch on an initial bid. And most of clients who do reach out to me after seeing my bid try to negotiate pricing even further, and honestly, it's become so annoying that I'm done with Thumbtack. For every 3 brides I book, 2 of them give me nothing but a big headache. The main problem is the bidding process. There are inexperienced makeup artists who offer bids well below industry standards, and they make the experienced ones look too overpriced to consider, even though we're not overpriced at all. The other problem is that when vendors' bids are not accepted by prospective clients, the vendors are never told why. Was it our portfolio? Our price? Our reviews? I feel Thumbtack should ask the prospective clients for feedback on why they did not choose whomever. Also, did you know that prospective clients have NO IDEA that we vendors PAY to bid? Yep. I've asked every single bride I've booked on there if she knew I had to pay almost $7 just to give her a bid, and each bride was shocked. Oct 17 15 09:25 pm Link My experience seems to pretty much jive with Adam's. I haven't thrown any more money away on them for awhile - although what I did was pretty much reimbursed in free credits. Won two engagements - in the end they were individuals, who never actually followed through to shoot. Never seen any corporate work on there - I really question that it exists. Oct 17 15 11:05 pm Link Ronnie D wrote: What is the composition of your client base? Yes this matters... If you service primarily retail (non-commercial clients i.e. bridal) then you'll likely be dealing with "price shoppers" Been there, done that and now rely on referrals and my web site only... This has work well for me for quite some time now... Ronnie D wrote: Ronnie the industry standard for bridal gigs is WeddingWire... My hair stylist gets a HUGE amount of bridal work from this site... I have a presence there also... That said they work differently than Thumbtack... you pay for positioning in WeddingWire search queries... there are mixed thoughts about one's "return on investment" here... Oct 18 15 05:50 am Link If you like bottom feeder clients then thumbtack may be for you. Not my kind of client. Oct 18 15 08:01 am Link Thomas Van Dyke wrote: I totally agree with the review from the photographer on youtube. I would say unless you are a low end makeup artist and want low budget clients I would not recommend Thumbtack. Oct 18 15 08:03 am Link I dont know if other types of artist have more luck on Thumbtack but as a makeup artist i have had none! Ive spent sooooo much money buying credits to answer a client just to have them not contact me back, i just think thats crazy. Why should i have to pay to have someone tell me "no" or just not answer me all together? Who pays $200 in rejection fees anywhere else??!! I know i dont, the client says no and we both move on, done, no damage to wallet or reputation. I think its bad for business, in my opinion. What Thumbtack SHOULD DO is charge you if you get the job, then i actually wouldnt mind paying because they kind of brought the client to me in a way. Anybody else feel the same? Nov 08 15 12:13 pm Link MUA Dani B wrote: You are paying for the lead. There are too many ways to circumvent their system if you are only paying for the close of the sale. Furthermore, if you can't close the sale, why should they have to pay the penalty for that? Their job is to bring you a lead. If you have sent out dozens of responses to potential clients and haven't closed one sale, perhaps it's not all Thumbtack's fault? Nov 09 15 08:32 am Link Just to ad, After a bit over two years on Thumbtack I'm turning down work. It is a great service for photographers that know what they are doing, even though the clients often do not understand what is involved in the work that they are requesting. It is a much better deal than an agents 50 or more percent. Jun 20 16 09:32 pm Link I started on Thumbtack this past April/May and only spent $30 on credits. I sent out various quotes priced depending on the service and I did not get a single client. Mostly because according to Thumbtack, I charge too much in comparison to a few artists in my area that are charging $50-$75. Every request I receive asks for a "Make up artist; lashes and airbrush, budget: $50 or less". So I gave up on it because it was a waste of money for me; I did not get a return on my small investment. Now my friend, he started at the same time, and he gets bookings all the time. I still can't figure out how but it worked for him. Now I'm just focusing on my vendor profile on weddingwire. Aug 04 16 10:59 am Link Despite following Adam's advice to a "T", I've had absolutely no luck with Thumbtack. I would only put bids on specific jobs in an even more specific category (a category that most photographers don't do or have the equipment to do). I'd clearly explain why they should choose me over the competitors, and even invite people to my location to check it out for themselves. According to Thumbtack, my pricing was usually the same as my comptetitors, too. I probably put out 100 bids during the last 3 months, and only got a reply from 2 people who requested more information. Of the remainder, about half didn't even log back on to read the bids (which is refunded to me after 48 hours). I have no clue as to why the rest didn't choose or even contact me. In live marketing events I'm able to close a sale quickly and easily, with a huge customer statisfaction and retention rate. On Tumbtack I could hear a pin drop. Thumbtack does provide analytics, which now makes sense. The average amount of gigs for this type of photography service where the customer hired someone from Thumbtack is 7%. I have 6 credits left, and then 'poof'... I'm out! Aug 04 16 06:56 pm Link Get a load of this! Even though I have several credits left, I decided to delete my Thumbtack account, and.... I CAN'T! I've tried TWICE and got a different message both times, one because it was a 'technical error', the other because I supposedly have another account' What kind of shit are they trying to pull? Aug 10 16 05:27 pm Link SayCheeZ! wrote: I'm not sure what specific leads you are going for on TT. I've been having much more success with them over the last year however I bid on a LOT less jobs. I've noticed that people looking for portraits, boudoir, or headshots are either lowballers or are too flaky to work with so I don't even respond to those job requests. In fact, I wound up having Thumbtack disable the email feeds on many of those categories so my in-box wouldn't get bombarded with people looking for $100 studio headshots or $20/hour birthday parties. I don't even bother with those. All I do now is focus on the larger corporate events and I've been having substantially higher luck with those as I co-own a separate business just focusing on corporate photography. As such, over the last 6 months, I'd say that probably 1 in 4 bids I put through I've gotten the job for and with some, they have been really good clients. Aug 11 16 07:19 am Link It has now been almost three years of dealing with Thumbtack and for the most part I am happy with them. Yes it is difficult separating the "bottom fishers" from the real catches, but that is life in 2017. I have cut down on the number of requests that I respond to and for a former agency photographer, Thumtack is a valuable resource for me. Jan 31 17 10:10 pm Link |
