In our February cover story, which takes a look at home-service review sites from the contractor’s perspective, Shaun Kanary suggests contractors should tailor their offerings on these sites to the type of customers who use them.
“Be aware of the type of consumer that are using each site and match your product pricing,” says Kanary, who is marketing director for Weed Pro, based in Sheffield Village, Ohio, and a frequent LM contributor.
Before abandoning home-service review sites altogether, Justin Shigley, owner of Lightning Lawn & Landscape in South Lyon, Mich., said he’d create what he called “economy plans,” specially designed for “tire kickers” or price-shopping customers. Some examples of these offers include discounted mulch specials or a package where the customer would pay for 26 mows and get two extra cuts for free.
“All (customers on home-service review sites) are looking for is the cheapest price they can get, not the highest quality service,” he says. “Tailor certain plans that get you in front of these people.”
Giuseppe Baldi, general manager for Baldi Gardens in Arlington, Texas, said his company uses deals and promotions to catch customers’ eyes. For example, on Angie’s List, he sells irrigation evaluations, where a technician visits a property and gives a report on inefficient or broken elements of a homeowner’s irrigation system. Baldi Gardens charges just $60 and Angie’s List gets a percentage. Baldi says the job doesn’t cost much to perform and gets his company in front of prospective clients. Many of those clients also end up hiring Baldi Gardens to fix or update their irrigation systems. Plus, it helps him build his book of reviews.
“Is it a big money maker? No,” he says. “But when I run that, I can sell 60 of them. Plus, once I do 60 of them, I can get every customer to give me a review.”
Those who understand and adapt to the landscape on these sites are the ones who use them successfully, Kanary says.
“It’s kind of indicative of the type of customers you want,” he says. “Depending on the products and services you’re offering, these sites work really well for some business. For others, it doesn’t work so well.”
