Anyone registered with servicemagic.com to get more business? I haven't had any job offers come thru yet and am beginning to wonder if anyone else has had any luck with this referral service? Any info is appreciated.

I think someone mentioned this in a previous post. It didn't sound too promising. What are the specifics for membership?

Bizman,

I was looking at this company, as well as others to see if they would be worth recommending to the membership and visitors here. Is there any cost to join? What is the commission that the contractor has to pay for job referrals and does that include going on estimates?

Bill

Membership is $99.00 a year and commisions range from 8-33 dollars depending on the size of contract referred to your business. Along with annual fee, you have to submit proof of insurance and electrical contractors license number. If you want to be certified (they just put a stamp of approval on your listing) then you have to provide three credit references and have at least three good comments from ServiceMagic customers. It's been almost two weeks now and I have yet to get a referral from them. Kinda wondering what's going on.

Being a homeowner, I tried servicemagic and got very poor results.

The contractors that were listed for my inquiry never followed up w/me.

Also, when I sent a complaint in to service magic, it was ignored.

You're better off using that $99 for flyers or something else.

So if a homeowner won't recommend it...

Interesting info Bazooka, thanks. I can't imagine why any electrical contractor would jump through all the hoops with SM to get more business and then ignore the referrals. You must be in a busy area of the country where contractors can be very picky about the jobs they take on.

Bizman,

I don't think that you should be discouraged after only 2 weeks, but it would be interesting to see how it works out for you.

Some of the other Referral sevices had no membership fee at the time when I was looking, but the commission fees paid to them could run much higher (I'm thinking thousands). I really didn't like that idea. It sounded like the Consumer was paying a higher price and not getting much more out of the bargain. Because it seems to me that they could perform the same "pre-screening process" with a call to the local dept of Consumer Affairs. I always recommend that consumers check credentials and that someone with nothing to hide will be happy to provide any information or references they are asked for.

Does Service Magic have some sort of Customer satisfaction guarantee? I'm just curious if they are willing to make good if one of 'their' contractors doesn't.

Bill

Bill,

They do say they will give unhappy customers up to $500.00 in additional labor to "make the job right". You are right in saying 2 weeks may not be sufficient time to gauge the effectiveness of this service. I was just wondering if anyone (electrical contractors) had any experience with this outfit.We get a great response from local advertising and from our yellow pages ad...this was just another way I wanted to reach potential customers.

BizMan,

So, they are getting some sort of guarantee, that's good. As far as this service goes and others like it I think that you cannot compare it directly to responses from a printed ad yet. Maybe a couple of more years from now will be much different.

I think that you have to look at what you are spending on this service just like advertising. After 2 weeks you've spent $4 in advertising. That same 2 weeks could easily cost $200 in the telephone book. So, if you get about 1/50th of the calls you're even.

Bill

Bill,

Yes the math speaks for itself. Out of my total marketing budget it is a small drop in the big bucket! The other positive is one decent job in the year will pay for the service 20 times over!

BizMan

To get referrals, you have to be a member?
But a list of contractors is on the web page, with this disclaimer.......
The pros listed below are not members of the ServiceMagic network and work they perform is not covered under our Service Guarantee. Use of this directory is subject to the Directory Use Terms & Conditions.

I recognized many of the contractors names.. along with there phone numbers..... I am a bit confused about how this "referral" service works......if contractors and phone numbers are listed.......even though they aren't "members".

Am I looking at this from the consumer point of view?
what I did "look for" was electrical switches, on an addition, time flexible.

? Tiff

Tiffany,

You were looking at it from a consumer viewpoint. For contractors, we pay to compete for consumer requests for electrical work. The contractor members are "checked" by ServiceMagic for current insurance and licensing info...this helps direct a consumer to a licensed electrical contractor versus a fly-by-night outfitor those too lazy to prove they are legitimate. There are many places contractors can list their business for free (ServiceMagic is no exception) but that doesn't always mean they are qualified to take on the work.

BizMan

Well, I got a call from them today.
Does anyone have any information to update this older post?

SM has recently acquired Improvenet, another referral website. During the merger they would call and ask me to update my company info. I updated my info using their website link on Aug 8th or 9th. I am now getting phone calls and emails saying that my info needs to be updated.

Improvenets customer service was terrible. I am still getting inquiries asking if I am persueing about a job I declined back in April this year. When the support line is answered the rep says that they they will note this. A few months go by and the cycle repeats.

The customers I have talked to from the leads provided seemed to be mostly tire kickers that had no interest or already had the job done by someone else.

FWIW, contractor.com also has a similar service. They have 3 levels of membership, gold, silver and bronze. The more yearly dues you pay the closer to the top of the heap you are. I cannot figure out how they price the lead fees. Similar sounding jobs seem to have fees ranging from $18-40 to purchase the customer contact info. I do not believe that paying the lead fee guarantees that you will get the job as some leads show that there are others competing for the same job. Most times it is 3 or less competing.

Thanks for the "heads-up" Jim.
Good info.