Has anyone used Quotify?

[Meisterin]

Hi Everyone,

I have recently started a painting business with my husband and am considering signing up with Quotify.com.au.

This is how the business model works: Quotify gives you leads and you pay a certain amount for the lead( between $35-70 depending on the size of the job). You control the number of leads that you want to receive per week. That is you can control the marketing budget.

I have signed up today and asked for only two leads a week for a total of 5 weeks. Within hours of activating my account, I received two leads. When I called, both within half an hour of receiving the notification, they seemed all genuine. With one of them I will be heading out to the property tomorrow.

As part of the package, the first two leads are for free. Now I have to decide whether to continue with the service as any further leads will cost me between $35-70 per lead, regardless of whether I win the job or not.

When I signed up I thought it will take at least 3-4 days to get the first lead. And it will give me a few days to think about it. Now I have to decide before next Monday. And here is where I require your opinion.

1. When people use such services as Quotify to get quotes, how genuine are they? How likely are they to use one of three (quotify only gives the leads to three contractors) given by quotify or are they going to look at other avenues ?

2. What kind of things do the people who use these kind of services look for? Are they likely to decide on price? If I do get the leads, since I am competing against the other two, how can I be more competitive? I do try to give a competitive pricing.

3. Right now our painting business is on the right track, even without the leads from quotify- we source work from other means of advertising and words of mouth. But I would like to grow the business and have a few teams of 3 in about 2 years time. We are currently painting a small hotel, shopping centre, and couple of domestic work and some small off-shoots from these work. I just want to make sure that our painters (we have casual employees and they do understand we will only call them when we need them) don't go without work for a long time as they are good workers and we do not want to lose them.


All your opinions are appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[wobbycarly]

Can't answer your question directly, but until I saw this post, I'd never heard of quotify.

As a consumer, why would I want to use them, as opposed to the Yellow Pages or the trade page of the local paper?

I vaguely recall hearing some radio advertising a couple of years ago advertising a similar service. "trades on call" or something? I don't even remember!

If quotify can justify their prices to you (or you justify their prices to yourself), then great, but maybe the "traditional" means are working well for you.

FWIW, I just did a Google search for "commercial painter" quotify was 6th. I probably wouldn't have used them, as a local company "Geelong Commercial Painting" came in at 5 and would seem more relevant to me. (with a "house painter" search they don't even show in the first 20 results)

Maybe your own online presence, with a high Google ranking (I know, everyone wants THAT! ) could be better? Especially if you have a specific geographic area you service and/or have a niche.

Just my 2c - hope it helps.

 

[Quotify]

Quotify

Hi

I would love to know how you got on with your trial @ Quotify.

Regards
Ken
Quotify.com.au

BTW good to hear you got leads so fast we have a lot of consumers requesting quotes.

 

[skater]

Well, I've never heard of them. I just did a search for painters and couldn't even find them. Personally, I wouldn't use them even if I could find them through a Google search, as I usually just call someone local to me.

 

[BlueRidgeHomes]

I used Quotify last week. I'm astounded that they charge you as the painter so much per lead. The reason I'm astounded however is due to out of the 3 painters that it recommended me to - who I immediately called and left messages for and they got sent my details - not 1 has come back to me with a quote. The potential job is two large brand new houses to be painted inside and out. If painters are so busy with work that they don't need to quote then I'm astounded that they waste their money with paying Quotify for leads they don't use.

 

[Meisterin]

Hi everyone

I've got two leads from Quotify quite immediately and the leads were all genuine. I do plan on using them in the future, when I have internal management and policy issues all sorted out.

The costs of leads seem reasonable, but from the two leads which I received, I do get the impression (I have restricted the leads to Sydney region), that people who go to internet sites do seem to seek the cheapest service.

When I contacted the first lead, it was all about costs. How much does it cost to paint a 2 bed flat. The potential client was determining the terms such as the the length it will take, and how much it will cost.

The second lead was also about costs. Just broke down the costs in to labour & materials and just wanted to pay for labour.

My thoughts are: if the painting jobs are about costs only, for the internet leads, I have to think about how to make a profitable venture with minimum costs outlay rather than putting emphasis on coverage/quality. So if I have no work coming in from other avenues I will rely on Quotify.

 

[nsgd]

I hated it and would never use the system ever again.

 

[wobbycarly]

I hated it and would never use the system ever again.

As a tradie or as a customer?

 

[Jaggannath]

I think the problem with a system like that is there's no obligation to go with one of the tradesmen, which prevents collusion but means you'll get tyre-kickers costing you $35-70 a pop. If it was closer to $30 a go you might be willing to tolerate it, but people willing to go through quotify are the ones likely to haggle.

I think I'd just use word of mouth or the yellow pages to be honest.

 

[Meisterin]

I think the problem with a system like that is there's no obligation to go with one of the tradesmen, which prevents collusion but means you'll get tyre-kickers costing you $35-70 a pop. If it was closer to $30 a go you might be willing to tolerate it, but people willing to go through quotify are the ones likely to haggle.

This is exactly what I found.

I starting to doubt about their model after being pushed out of the market for price on several occasions. (From customers feedback) If I want to use their model to grow I have to think of a way to model my business on cheap price. Namely using subcontractors, or only employing apprentices.

For a job requiring 16 day labour for one person, I quoted $38.50 X 8 X 16= $4,890 I was out priced by a company for more than $1,000.00. (Fixed price quote but this is the way I calculate quotes). I don't think I was being unreasonable but the other person was only charging $30-32 per hour.

I could have quoted $30.00 as well but when the market price for licenced labour is $30.00 per hour and in this case the company is barely making anything, unless they have many subcontractors on their books who are willing to provide insurances, tools, ABN etc for less than $25 per hour. And for these subbys to make money they could only be employing apprentices in their team. And for them to be making money they would have be pushing their employees constantly to make them work harder so that they can reduce the work days.

When I quoted $35 plus GST per hour to potential clients who I got through other forms of advertising, they had never said to me our price was too expensive.

 

[coastymike]

That is the problem with sites like quotify, groupon, etc. You end up with people always looking for cheap deals, cheap prices and saving every single dollar. Despite that they still want to be treated as a premium customer, work done on time, high quality work and materials and experienced providers. They are the type of people you never want in your business. They will drain your time, resources and health. They always complain, never praise for work done and when the job is done will still try to bargain another $100 off the price. I find two particular "groups" to be like that and is why I personally never do business with them. I always say I'm too busy when those "groups" call. Never liked them, never will.

However I do feel for you when trying to find work and struggling to do so. Sites like these seem to offer at least something which seems better than nothing. It is the same in almost every other profession. Not sure I know the answer. Maybe teaming up with a local real estate agent, property developer, government authority, etc where you offer them a good deal but you also get decent coin. Maybe get some brochures together and go visit them and show them your work, prices and how you might be able to help them. I think this would be far more enjoyable than a penny pinching tight ****.

 

[Doovalacky]

Had heard of them but never used quotify.

I always do a Google search linked to my area and required trade. Lot more informative in allowing me to select who I want to contact. Those who have taken time to set up a semi decent website are often my 1st choice.
After that its yellowpages and the local free paper.

I find it a lot easier to be able to send a plan/etc and get a written quote back.

 

[goonandtell]

i assume its like service central which i have used, as a customer i have tried it twice once for a smaller job, once for a larger job. Both times i got no call backs.

 

[Meisterin]

Had heard of them but never used quotify.

I always do a Google search linked to my area and required trade. Lot more informative in allowing me to select who I want to contact. Those who have taken time to set up a semi decent website are often my 1st choice.
After that its yellowpages and the local free paper.

I find it a lot easier to be able to send a plan/etc and get a written quote back.

This is something that I am looking into- setting up a decent website where people ask for free quotations through the website. I've got the domain name so the next step is figuring out what I want on the website and talk to website professionals to set it up so that I can manage it on fortnightly/monthly basis.

 

[Meisterin]

i assume its like service central which i have used, as a customer i have tried it twice once for a smaller job, once for a larger job. Both times i got no call backs.

I guess quotify is very similar to service central.

The worst thing with quotify is that when you get an obscure job request- jobs which are not in your best interest of doing. One example, a job request where the client actually wanted the waterproofing done but came through painting, because he couldn't get other tradespeople, such as roofers and builders to take on the job. So he can through painting and said he wanted it painted. But before you can paint it, do the waterproofing, please.

To be really frank, sometimes the site gives you the job descriptions which you do not really want to call the client, but you do politely, because you do not want to get a bad review from the client. When these kind of jobs come through, you think is it worth paying the money for the leads? But then again you need to slowly build up your business and the question is you have to start from somewhere.

 

[Meisterin]

However I do feel for you when trying to find work and struggling to do so. Sites like these seem to offer at least something which seems better than nothing. It is the same in almost every other profession. Not sure I know the answer. Maybe teaming up with a local real estate agent, property developer, government authority, etc where you offer them a good deal but you also get decent coin. Maybe get some brochures together and go visit them and show them your work, prices and how you might be able to help them. I think this would be far more enjoyable than a penny pinching tight ****.

Businesses do have to start from somewhere.

I have thought about getting a brochure together and making cold calls to local real estate agents, builders etc as I know from my experience that people who come through other people tend to be better clients as long as you serve their purpose very well.

Despite the difficulty of converting the leads into work, this will be one resource that I will have to rely on until I can build the client base from other sources- words of mouth, web-site and web advertising, mail drops, through connections etc.

 

[Roma]

Hi Hiflo,
I was checking the comments on quotify and learnt about your wish to have a web site. We are a graphic design office and we do web sites as well. please visit our web site (www.talentgraphic.com.au) any time for a free quote.
I wish you and us a very good luck

 

[jrc]

Businesses do have to start from somewhere.

I have thought about getting a brochure together and making cold calls to local real estate agents, builders etc as I know from my experience that people who come through other people tend to be better clients as long as you serve their purpose very well.

Despite the difficulty of converting the leads into work, this will be one resource that I will have to rely on until I can build the client base from other sources- words of mouth, web-site and web advertising, mail drops, through connections etc.

Aswk some of your satisfied clients if they will give you a testimonial

 

[Brake]

Hi Hiflo and Everyone,

We have started a new website which may be of interest to you as a Business and as a consumer looking for quotes.

As a business we offer you a free business listing on our directory and job leads emailed to you. We only accept Qualified ABN registered Businesses.
The cost to you to quote on a Job is only $5 - there is no obligations or any long term contracts. You only pay for the jobs you want to quote on.

As a customer if you need quotes From Trades and Services you post your job details online and Businesses will Send you Quotes, a free service for customers looking for Quotes online.

www.quoteseeker.com.au

 

[womble66]

You end up with people always looking for cheap deals, cheap prices and saving every single dollar. Despite that they still want to be treated as a premium customer, work done on time, high quality work and materials and experienced providers. They are the type of people you never want in your business. They will drain your time, resources and health. They always complain, never praise for work done and when the job is done will still try to bargain another $100 off the price.

Read several feedbacks like this from various tradies on several forums. This type site or lead seems to attract those looking for the cheapest price and those not willing to pay a reasonable price for quality work or simple just tyre kickers.

Could get expensive both in money and time if leads are not converted.

Maybe reasonable if your a new business and trying to build your business to increase your personal referal business.