I’ve been using Thumbtack for a while and wanted to share my views on this service. I grew up DJ’ing in the Los Angeles area, but moved to Arizona in 2008.  Because of work, I didn’t continue until around 2012 when I started it back up again.   As you can imagine, not being from the area meant I had to start from scratch.  So, I decided to join Thumbtack and have had pretty good success.  Of course, I don’t win every bid nor do I expect to, but I’ve done well and wanted to share my experience with others that may not have the same results as I have.

First, let me begin by explaining what it is. Thumbtack is a basic lead-generation service for event and service professionals such as DJs, bartenders, photographers, musicians, waiters/waitresses, handymen, magicians, etc.

In short, people will post their events and the site will email you the event details based on your preferences (e.g., event type, travel distance, etc.)  People can then submit their bids but the site will only allow the first five bidders.  My guess is they do not want to over whelm the clients.  Depending on what type of professional you are, each bid will cost you credits which can be purchased individually or in bulk.  I cannot speak on behalf of other professions, but DJ bids cost 5 credits.  I personally only buy the smallest bulk package because I am picky of the events I want to bid on and I don’t want or need to have gigs every weekend.  Of course, this is really up to you based on your needs.  The clients will then have 48 hours to view each bid, or else the professionals will have their credits refunded back to them.  If clients eventually view your bid, you can treat it as a free bid.  This happened twice already where I was eventually hired.

Pretty simple, right?  Well, I’ve been reading some posts people made on Thumbtack’s Facebook page and wanted to respond to a few comments.  Here are a few quotes:

• “I have been with thumbtack for quite some time and spend I don’t know how much money given people quotes only to be hired twice what a waste”
• “I spend over $200 and not one of the leads panned out THIS IS A Scam…”
• “I have spent $100 in proposals and have not gotten a single gig… Even at half price.  I’ll stay with referral business”

I started off by explaining what this site is.  Now let me explain what this site is not.  This is not a service to guarantee you clients.  I looked around their website and did not find one place where they guarantee you business.  It is a lead-generation service where all they are basically doing is introducing two parties.  It is no different than paying for marketing space in say a church bulletin.  The vendor (you) still need to work your magic to win the gig which means putting in the effort to write a personal yet professional proposal, adding content to your profile (e.g., pictures, music, videos, etc.), and of course getting clients to add reviews.

Proposal:  You want to start off by being personal, so starting off by saying “Hello Mike” instead of just “Hello” is a good starting point.  You want to make them feel like you wrote the proposal just for them.  Of course, it goes without saying spelling their name correctly is a major plus. You also want to include a short bio of yourself to let them know who you are.  I also include a statement reference their event date, time, and length.   Now for the professional part.  Some of the key points I have in my proposal are what the bid is (total amount or hourly rate, if they didn’t provide total hours), what it includes (e.g., lights, video, mics, etc.), what your booking fees are (e.g., $100 non-refundable deposit to book the date with balance due one week prior to the event).  For DJ’s, provide a sample list of genres that you are comfortable playing.  For example, I have country music but I don’t really know it.  I will explain it to the clients so I can be upfront about it and only include it in the proposal when they indicate they want it.

Follow-up:  Clients are extremely busy planning their special day, and I am sure the quotes they receive via Thumbtack are not their only quotes.  Don’t get bummed out if they view your quote and do not respond immediately.  After a few days, send a friendly follow-up message asking if they have additional questions on your quote or services.  You would be surprised how far this goes.

Work Examples:  Make sure you have several example of your work to include pictures, music, and video.  Even though you may have this on your own website, clients will look at your Thumbtack profile first before anything else.  Yes, I know, double the work to maintain, but definitely worth while.  Again, put the effort in.

Reviews: This is the hardest part because here you have to rely 100% on your current and past clients.  Before I joined Thumbtack, I had plenty of reviews on my own website, but there is no way to import them.  Asking clients that already posted a review to do it again is not always easy either.  Some will, some will not.  Just send them a friendly email with the link.  Also, many of you may have profiles on other similar sites like WeddingWire.com, so asking a client to post on multiple sites, in my mind, is not easy either. All I can say is do what you can and hope for the best.  One thing I do now is I will direct clients to post on my Thumbtack profile.  I will then copy the text, add it to the Comments page on my main website, and reference the Thumbtack profile so others can see the reference of where it came from.

I would definitely love to hear your comments, feedback, etc. on this topic.