Tradespeople FAQs
Q. Why should I use your site over any of the other similar sites which offer tradesman lead services?
A. We have tried to differentiate ourselves by providing a completely free service to join, allowing you complete control over how much you spend. Many competitors insist on membership fee's subscription packages or even worse where they send you each and every lead and automatically charge you for all the leads whether you wanted them or not. There are no backend success fee's or bidding down against competing tradesmen. Its simply more work as and when you want it.
By offering a free to join and transparent service there is no cost outlay or risk in simply trying our website. If you do start receiving leads which fit your needs then simply purchase them and grow your business.
Q. How do I find jobs on your site?
A. In order to start receiving leads you must first become a member. Membership is completely free and you are under no obligation to purchase any jobs you do not wish to quote on. Once a job matching your requirements is posted you will receive a free text message and email outlining the details of the job with the opportunity to then purchase the full details.
Q. Why do you need my email address?
A. It is very important to provide a geniune email address so that you can receive lead notifications and job description emails from us. Providing inaccurate information will lead to you not receiving the best level of service from Tradesman4u
Q. Do I have to give a telephone number?
A. Yes - we ask you to provide as much accurate information as possible as providing incorrect information can be a poor start to your relationship with a client.
Q. Can I select more than one trade category as my business covers more than one area?
A. Yes, you may select as many trade categories as you wish. As it is free to receive lead descriptions there is no harm or risk in you selecting trade types other than your main trade as potentially a lead may come through that is something you can do. Often a lead may cover various work also such as a customer requiring a full rewire may also require a decorator so register as many trade types as you like to cover as many possibilities as you wish.
Q. Why should I use your service when I already have a full order book?
A. To help ensure your order book stay that way for the future, to help improve your rating that will help future clients/customers and get your business in front of a growing number of customers needing your services.
Q. I have been emailing and calling a homeowner but have had no response!
A. We recommend that you make contact by phone as soon as possible after purchasing the lead. A delay may mean they have placed the order or have changed their mind on the work. Whilst emailing is great we often find customers respond much quicker and easier when they receive a phonecall. Emails can sometimes be caught in Spam filters or simply not be delivered for some reason. Also people can sometimes go days or weeks between checking emails unlike phone messages which are generally picked up daily. If you geniunely feel a customer has no intention or returning your contact simply report them from your account page and we will look to apply a credit.
Q. How many tradespeople will I be competing against?
A. Dependant on where you live or what catchment you cover you could potentially be competing with 100's of tradesmen registered on our site for the lead details. The crucial thing is that if you see a job description you are interested in to purchase it quick, as the customers specifies how many quotes they wish between 3 and 5, so if you buy the lead and receive their contact details you will be quoting against potentially 2,3 or 4 other businesses. We only pass the lead out to the specified number so if the customer only wants 3 tradesmen to contact them you need to make sure you are one of the first 3 to buy it. Should you try and buy a lead that has already received the allocated number our website will inform you that the lead no longer exists.
Q. How long have I got to contact the customer?
A. We will send you a text and email as soon as you purchase the lead. Obviously it is up to you when you choose to contact the customer but clearly the sooner the better. Waiting 3, 4 or 5 days before calling could mean the customer has already had other tradesmen through the door thus reducing your chances of winning the work. Just like in any form of contact be conscious of the time of day and whether it is appropriate to make a call. A customer may log a job at 11.30 p.m for which you buy the details, however, it would not really be appropriate to call them at that time. Perhaps though you could send them an email intruducing your business and that you will contact them tomorrow. The customer will also specify a best time to contact them and we would recommend you respect the time slot they state as best.
Q. What if the customer will not grant access to give an estimate?
A. Ultimately it is the customers decision who they wish to let in and we are powerless to influence the customers decision. Often they may feel they can provide information over the phone that would be sufficient. The decision is then yours as to whether you feel confident in providing a 'conditional' quote i.e a quote subject to a visual inspection or whether you just wish to walk away. We find if you sell the merits of a visit and the accuracy that will give to the quote almost all customers will grant access to you as a tradesmen. We try and outline to all posting customers that their job must be geniune and that most tradesmen wish to visit to provide a quote and if they cannot conform to this then do not post the work.
Q. Does a customer have to choose a tradesmen that has come through Tradesman4u?
A. No they do not. Just like any person selecting a tradesmen they have the option to select a tradesmen from whereever they see fit. We simply aim to put you infront of more customers and allow you to quote on jobs that you are capable of. If you are issueing lots of quotes but not winning work you need to look at your own practices and prices and how you can amend things to win more work. Can you provide examples of previous work, can you make your price more keen, can you offer add ons (warranties/service plans), ultimately if we are generating leads it is down to your business to then win the job. We cannot guarantee that you will win any work if you are uncompetitive for whatever reason.
Q. How much does it cost to use your services?
A. Membership is completely free. No membership fee's, no renewal fees, no fee's for receiving texts or emails, no monthly or annual fee's, its completely free to join and start receiving enquiries. You only pay for contact details of jobs that are of interest to you. Unlike other websites which to try to ratchet up the costs if they think the job is more lucrative we offer a completely transparent charging structure. In order to enable you to act quickly on new job leads we operate a prepay credit system, so after registering your account we recommend you put some credits onto your account straight away. 1 Credit costs £10.00 plus vat and all leads with a customer budget of £250.00 or above cost 1 credit to accept. Any leads under £250.00 are completely free to you providing you have available prepay credit within your account. This means over the course of a year purchasing small and large leads through us your average spend will be much less and its a very simple and clear pricing structure.
Q. Do you provide an invoice or VAT receipt?
A. Yes once you purchase a lead as well as the customer details you receive a VAT invoice and receipt of payment via email for you to print.
Q. I've received negative feedback. What can I do about this?
A. The idea behind our feedback system is to enable future customers to make a decision over your business based on others experience. As such feedback is critical. We do wish for customers to be as honest as possible and we do not wish to be the arbitrators of disputes between yourself and a customer should one ever arise. You have the option to comment on negative feedback and also rate the customer, however, clearly a tradesmen rating is more important than a customers. If a negative feedback is left and you feel this is wrong we would ask you to email us explaining why and we will give consideration to removing it if it can be clearly demonstrated that the feedback was wrong. If however, the rating has been given and you have been at fault you will need to be prepared going forward to be asked about it by future clients. Clearly if
you have 50 positive feedback and 1 negative this will not have any impact, however, if you have 3 feedbacks 2 of which are negative then you will need to accept the feedback.
Q. I have just joined and have no ratings - how will I win work?
A. Having no feedback will not stop you from winning work if you are professional, well priced and courteous in your quoting. Our feedback is simply designed to be an additional decision maker for a customer. If you are new it might be worthwhile taking customer testimonials to your quotes initially as a way of showing prior feedback. Once then you have carried out work encourage the customer to rate you and you will quickly see your feedback levels increasing.
