Dealing with PM Yelp price shoppers

Joined
May 24, 2013
Messages
266
Location
Sacramento
Name
Lyon
Yelper that send PM for estimates never call. Maybe they're just all price shoppers or I'm terrible about responding. I tell them to call for a rough estimate and that we can come out for a exact quote. 1 lady said I was the only company out of 9, that didn't spit out a price. Told her that we are not the cheapest cleaner, we focus on quality and happy clients. Our reviews reflect that.
 
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Papa John

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Aug 19, 2013
Messages
6,587
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San Francisco, CA.
Name
John Stewart
I get these Yelp Pm's all the time. I have form letters saved in my android clip broad to answer their questions quickly and easily.
Price shoppers are going to price shop regardless of weather they talk to a human being or through the internet.. I just answer their questions and don't really care if they choose us or not..
I'm just glad they didn't tie up our phones.
 

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
Hi, We are moving out of a 2 bedroom house and need carpet cleaning. The cleaning would take place 3/31 or the 1st. Please sedn me a quote Thanks, Chris
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We are moving in to a condo at 4800 Opal Cliff Drive,, Capitola and wanted a quote to clean the carpets. The unit is 1400 sf with tile in the kitchen, 2 bathrooms and entryway. Carpets in the living room, 2 bedrooms, 1 walk-in closet and one reg bedroom closet. We were hoping to schedule cleaning for 4/6 at 3PM...is that possible? How long after cleaning before the carpets are dry enough to move in furniture? Thank you. Dave
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Hello! How much would it cost to clean the carpet in a single bedroom in my house?
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How much would you charge to come out to Salinas, CA to clean a 36ft by 17ft piece of carpet and a 12ft by 12ft hallway
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Hello, I live in Watsonville and just need basic carpet cleaning. I'm hoping to have it done sometime this month. We have 3 standard size rooms and then two smaller rooms, one that is attached to another room and one that is on its own but smaller than your average bedroom.
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Hello! I rent an apartment, around 700 square feet, and I was hoping to get a quote for how much it'd cost to clean the carpets. Thanks! Scott
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Moving out of a townhouse rental. Need carpets blinds and Windows cleaned.
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Could we get a quote for carpet shampooing for 3000 sq ft? -Francine Besson fbesson@
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and on and on....not a damn one of them responds back



 

Goomer

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Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
3,398
Location
Bronx, New York
Name
Frank Mendo
I get these Yelp Pm's all the time. I have form letters saved in my android clip broad to answer their questions quickly and easily.
Price shoppers are going to price shop regardless of weather they talk to a human being or through the internet.. I just answer their questions and don't really care if they choose us or not..
I'm just glad they didn't tie up our phones.

I am working on a few boilerplate responses I can paste into inquiries also.

It can be frustrating to respond individually to each and every inquiry, especially when it's obvious that the potential customer is ignorant to the different levels of service available, and seemingly shopping on price alone.

Having generic, informative responses that can be plugged in certainly make it easier to respond, and make one less likely to dismiss such poor inquiries, leaving potential money on the table.
 

jcooper

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Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
3,232
Location
IL
Name
Jerry Cooper
and on and on....not a damn one of them responds back

I agree, was actually considering shutting the email feature off. Til I had a former client find us and email through yelp. So, that's one good think about it, I guess....



Anyone had any luck with thumbtack?

No... Small time, imo(not enough use it) in my area anyways. If I'm spending my dough, it's gotta be a site lots of people use.
 
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Beeks

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2013
Messages
391
Location
Orlando
Name
J.R.
Yea same here, lots more PM from Yelp since they made that change but yea we notice more price shoppers, my GM just said the same thing the other day.
 

Cleanworks

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Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
26,927
Location
New Westminster,BC
Name
Ron Marriott
I think it might be an age thing. People in their 40's and older are comfortable calling a company and talking to a live person. Younger people, particularly, those in their 20's, prefer to email or text. We just had a tenant change in a little rental suite we own and we were pulling our hair out trying to communicate with the young tenant's to try and schedule a date for the move out inspection. Even though we requested them to call us, we received numerous texts about how and when they would be available. I am not paying for yelp yet and don't plan to for the next little at least but when I see the responses that you are getting, they seem legitimate. I think that you need to take some time to respond to them, knowing that they have sent out the same message to your competitors. Let them know what makes you different. It's no different than having a full page yellow pages in the past. I used work for a company that had 2 full pages of advertising and they got lots of price shoppers. We had a professional sale person answering them to convert them into customers. When someone calls you on the phone, they get a warm, friendly, helpful person who can answer all their questions, when they get a cold, impersonal email, it's just not the same.
 
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Papa John

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Aug 19, 2013
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San Francisco, CA.
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John Stewart
Let them know what makes you different.

Darn-- I forgot that part in my pre-saved form letters-- thanks for the reminder. The info is in my yelp page though.

I think the PMers like to be able to get things done while standing in line, riding a bus or just waiting around in other pubic places where it would be rude or an invasion of their privacy to have a phone conversation.

But before you spend money on Yelp, You should give Wiis's FaceBook technique a try.. If it works well for me I'm going to dump Yelp. Traffic to my site has dropped about 50% since increasing my spending from $80 to $575/month :hopeless:
 
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
470
Location
New Port Richey, FL
Name
Ross Martin
Thumbtack emails me tons of price shoppers. Haven't had 1 call yet. Anyone had any luck with thumbtack?
Most of thumbtack request are small and price shoppers. And there are more than enough "pros" to fill those requests.

But if you pick and choose, some of the leads are good.

I've given a 6k quote thru Thumbtack, didn't get the job, but well worth the $3.50 fee.

I've crossed paths with Thumbtack housekeepers doing Move-In/Out cleanings who say they have kept them busy 6 days a week. But, they also told me as Thumbtack has gotten more busy, there are more service providers driving prices down.

I'm currently not using them.
 
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tres davis

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Joined
Mar 1, 2015
Messages
171
Location
texas
Name
tres
Agree on thumbtack, if you pick and choose it can be good. Have gotten 4 jobs over $2k from there and another 25-30 in the 300-500 range
But the traffic has increased a lot with more "pros" and seems the prices must be much lower than before. Haven't gotten anything from them in last 40 days or so
 
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Ken692

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Joined
Jul 12, 2015
Messages
405
Location
Boston
Name
Kenny
Home advisor 35 leads, called and left a response for all but the farthest out, $17 - $22 a lead, got one job, 1 room 10 stairs $100
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tman7

Supportive Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
414
Location
Tacoma, WA
Name
Tony Gillihan
I don't know that I EVER converted a PM from my Yelp page to a job. But I rarely get any I have a free listing. I do convert a fair amount from my website contact form.

I used to get a lot of calls from Yelp trying to sell me. I told them I wasn't impressed enough with "others" results for the paid listing. And told them I didnt want to be locked into a yearly or even six month contract. Recently they have been trying to sell me a no obligation package. Month to month, I think.
 
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SamIam

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Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
11,094
Location
California
Name
sam miller
I get some messages I email them all back or message them immediately. I'm per room pricing so it's easier to ballpark $35 a room up to 200 sq ft. $15 for a hall $10 for bath rooms and walkin closets $3.00 per step.

I have no clue how big it is! Can you come look????

Which I don't mind but if I'm making 2 trips there will be no discounts or breaks.

And free estimate are if I'm in the area at my convenience.
 

Jim Williams

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Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
1,462
Location
Bynum N.C.
Name
Jim Williams
Seems Yelpers arent quite as high quality as Angies list shoppers. I've gotten a few customers from Yelp but I wouldn't want to be paying $10 per click for price shoppers.
 
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
1,191
Name
Noble Carpet Cleaners
I pulled my email off my page and what a freaking relief. The group emails were stacking up asking for price price price for insane job descriptions; 1-2 rooms with pet pee or the opposite end a whole house bidding war. Yelps cocky demographics got sideways on them and they knew this many many moons ago. Hence they hound the world for paid campaigns.
 

Kathleen

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Joined
Jul 18, 2016
Messages
5
Location
Canberra, Australia
Name
Kathleen
Your not the only one mate. I wouldn't worry much about it. If clients, not just on Yelp, are only interested in having their cleaning done as cheap as possible, then you didn't miss out on a good job anyway!
 
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