If you’ve ever received a request on Thumbtack you know that quotes go fast—depending on the job, you might have less than five minutes. That’s why Thumbtack created Instant Match, with the busy pro in mind.
Instant Match is like your own personal quoting assistant. Even when you’re busy on the job—fixing a heating system or running a group training—Instant Match gets you in front of the customers you want. You’re only charged when the customer contacts you, which means you have a better chance of getting hired, without having to babysit your phone.
Here’s what pros nationwide are saying about how Instant Match is helping their business.
Pick Your Price
For Eric, a personal trainer and owner of Custom Fit Personal Training & Nutrition in San Francisco, Instant Match was the tool his business had been waiting for. “When I’m in the middle of training someone I can’t just stop what I’m doing and shoot off a quote.” Being a trainer in the competitive San Francisco market adds to that pressure. “I have to quote right away or that job will be gone,” Eric told us.
With Instant Match, Eric was able to specify the quotes that best match his specialties and trust Thumbtack to quote automatically for him. But sending more quotes with Instant Match didn’t mean spending more money, a detail of critical importance for Eric, whose business now employs six other trainers. Beyond just saving Eric time and keeping him on top of his quotes, Eric explained how Instant Match also saves him a lot of money.
“I’m only paying for quotes where the customer reaches back out to me.” So even if every customer isn’t right for his studio, Eric’s credits are well-spent on those who are.
Expand Your Customer Base
When caterer Ana Delgado-Hoard started on Instant Match, she had a very clear idea of the customers she wanted—a profile she rarely strayed from when sending quotes on Thumbtack. “Before Instant Match I was just quoting on a specific type of job. With Instant Match that net is much wider and I win far more jobs,” Ana explained.
Instant Match changed that by opening Ana up to a whole world of new customers that she’d never considered before—and who were looking for services exactly like those Ana’s Reseda, California-based company From the Grill Catering offered. Her customer base doubled nearly overnight.
Just how many more jobs did Ana and From the Grill win? Seventy-five or eighty percent, according to Ana—enough to outfit her catering kitchen with brand new equipment.
Save Time
Ricky Godoy had just lost his job when he started YoDog Media, a creative media agency based in Morristown, New Jersey, on Thumbtack. To build his photography, videography and web design customer bases from scratch, Ricky spent a lot of time hovering over his phone, ready to be the first to respond anytime a Thumbtack request came in.
Today, that’s no longer the case—and Ricky told us that’s in large part thanks to Instant Match. “I’ve had to worry a lot less about clicking on every text that comes to my phone because I know I have quotes going out with a price that works for me at no cost unless we get a contact.”
And that extra time has meant a lot for Ricky’s business. “I’ve been able to refine my website, social media profiles and even packages now that I don’t need to worry about losing potential leads.”
Book With Ease
Epic4 Carpet & Vent Cleaning Services in Loganville, Georgia, has been hired over 1,000 times on Thumbtack since joining in 2014, including 644 positive four and five-star reviews. How does owner Carl Robinson do it? Recently, he’s had a little help from the Instant Match scheduling tool.
Before Instant Match, Carl was at square one every time a customer reached out to discuss timing. Sometimes their timelines would match and sometimes they wouldn’t. Now, Thumbtack does that initial work for him.
“It’s a great way for customers to book by seeing what’s automatically open. The customer does the booking online and that’s much faster for me. Every evening I ready my schedule for the next day. I wake up with new business,” Carl told us.
He also left us with a pro tip: If you have employees and a flexible schedule, leave your calendar open to attract as many customers are you can. Only block off times that you really know won’t work for you.
Want more tips? Check out the Instant Match Guide.
