Blue Book /Service Magic for leads

[wberminio]

Has any one used or is using either
Blue Book - http://www.thebluebook.com

Or Service Magic- http://www.servicemagic.com

For leads

I keep getting call from them to sign up.
Don't know if it is worth the expense.
I have my doubts with all these pay per leads programs.
On the other hand-Any help might be a good thing.:confused:

Any thoughts?

[bleeth]

I have advertised in the blue book for quite some time. It is used regularly by Commercial general contractors. Get more requests for bids then jobs but usually get a few jobs a year out of it.

[meatbal80]

I use service magic for my flooring company. I am currently debating cutting them off though. They started putting alot of money into advertising about 2 years ago or so, and at about the same time the number of looky loos, and bargain hunters jumped up.

3 years ago:
I was able to contact 80% of leads, and turned %75 of those into jobs.

Last year or so:
Was only able to contact %50 of leads, and could only turn %50 of those into jobs.

I also found that while the rest of the building community was dropping its prices to stay competative 3 years ago there leads stayed the same, yet the quality dropped signifigantly.

Two more reasons I would not recomend signing up now,
1. When i signed up (dont belive this has changed) you have to pay for a backround check $100-$150.
2. I took me a few months of bidding and not getting jobs to get 2 in the door that got me reviews and at that point i saw a drastic improvment.


With all of that said, i believe service magic to be a good company overall. I still mantain my account (at a cost of the minimun $100 per month) in the hope that when things turn around it will be a valuable source again.

[beacon14]

I also use Service Magic for our closet company. Many of the leads are bogus or impossible to follow up on, but we have gotten some good leads and a few jobs. I'll be re-evaluating the ROI in the next few months to see if we want to continue. I restricted our coverage area and only take leads from the one category that most closely fits our business so the cost is not that high.

I have a friend in a niche business that was getting a lot of leads for work he does not do. When he tried to cancel they offered to keep sending him leads and only make him pay for the ones he wants. Not too bad an arrangement actually.

We have much better results from Angie's List. Once you get a good review it can build on itself. We pay monthly to make sure our listing is featured but there is no obligation to pay. The key is to get one of your existing customers who is a member to write a (favorable) review. Now that we have several glowing reviews we are getting a fairly steady stream of good leads.

[dmidkiff]

Erminio,

I was contacted by servicemagic sometime back. Looked though some complaints on the net. Did not go with them, because of bogus leads complaints. I think that the bluebook might be reputable but have no experience with them.
I found www.custommade.com (http://www.custommade.com) just recently and like the format. They did not find me. They have yearly subcriptions as well as a free subscription. I have signed up for the free version to test the waters. Might be worth a look.
All above is just my opinion.
Dave

[wberminio]

I've heard the same about service magic.I can't see paying good $$ for to just run around for a maybe job.
Blue Book is mainly for commercial work and government jobs.Seems like a lot of paperwork and time to bid for a maybe job

I did look into Angie's List, David- looks promising
So does Custom Made-Dave

Thanks to all

Don't want to waste $$$ I don't have to begin with!

[hrdwrkr]

I agree with Joel, I have used service magic for almost two years now and the lead quality has drastically went down hill in the last year. We signed probably a half dozen construction jobs the first year with their service. The second year has cost me probably $500-$600 a month in bogus leads. You can complain to your service rep but 99% of the time it does no good and you still pay for the lead. I would not suggest going with them at all. I have had them on seasonal hold for three months now and getting ready to turn them off next week.