Lead sharing websites like hi-pages and service seeking are popular and easy ways to obtain leads.
The premise is simple: you pay monthly fees and get access to their quote requests.
These platforms receive lots of quote requests because they’ve done years of marketing and SEO, essentially taking that hurdle out of the equation for you.
However there’s a swag of downsides to using it, so here they are.
It Encourages Price Gouging
You’re sharing leads with other businesses on these kinds of websites.
Usually, the fastest to respond and with the cheapest quote will win the business.
Unfortunately this tends to “train” the people who use platforms like hipages to actively use this type of criteria,
Leading to price gouging and a lot of tradies with their time and energy wasted.
It’s Their Brand, Not Yours
The advantages of leveraging their platform are simultaneously disadvantageous too.
You didn’t have to marketing to receive the lead, but you didn’t receive the benefits from the marketing either.
You didn’t generate brand awareness.
You didn’t plant the seed.
You didn’t show your competitors, “Hey, look at what I’m doing, I’m dominating this space”.
The ultimate price you pay is loyalty.
You didn’t generate a customer, hipages did.
You just got the job… hipages has their business.
You see what I’m saying?
The next time they need this done, they’ll head right on back to hipages again.
They’re not thinking, "Boy what a great experience with this company!",
They’re thinking, "Boy what a great experience on hipages!".
It’s Their Website, Not Yours
They can shut it down anytime they want.
They can ban you anytime they want.
They can jack up the prices, introduce new prices, introduce new mechanics, alter the system,
Anytime they want.
Look, don’t get me wrong, lead sharing can be beneficial to many tradies.
But ultimately, this is not the million dollar strategy.
This isn’t in the best interests of you, your business, or your future.
When you control the space, you’re in control.
Alan Frye