ratedpeople ?

[mna78]

Anyone had much experiance with ratedpeople.com?

 

[Dan]

From what I hear it's no different to the rest. You're best sticking to free websites like findtrustedstradesmen.co.uk and putting your cash in a local rag type ad. Though you may get some responses.

 

[LM Ceramics]

rated people is where ive got mst of my workmy this year

 

[Pinnacle Tiling]

Iv joined with them, £10 for three months, the thing i dont like is you have to pay £7 - 15 to quote jobs, its ok if you get the jobs i suppose but not the best if u dont!

 

[mikethetile]

I'm interested in hearing about them. What happens after the first 3 months?
Also, how many trades are you quoting against, do you know. If it's 3 then the £7-£15 goes up to £21 - £45 if you only win 1 in 3.

your right plus the 40 odd sobs they have of you every 12 weeks, not cheap

I was on rated and didnt win a single job , I paid for a lead and rang the woman straight away, she said sorry I have got someone already so I rang rated to get my lead money back, they said theres a form on the site . so I filled it in and got a reply saying that I would need to email the woman and get confirmation. did that and she ignored my mail, I was 16 sobs out of pocket, or so I thought. I rang rated and they refused to return my money so I told them to shove it and cancel my membership

as it happened my bank had renewed my debit card and refused payment on the old card when they applied for the money so i got an invoice which I refused to pay as the lead was duff

I got several calls from management to discuss my membership and how I was using rated as they noticed I had won no jobs therefore was unrated. they tried to tell me where I was going wrong so I gave them a no holds barred assessment of their business from a tradesmans point of view at the end of the conversation he thanked me for my honest feedback which he appreciated as they cant keep tradesmen

3 months went by and then the phone calls started from the sales team which i cut short everytime. then I got a call from management again saying that they had changed the way thing were being done since our conversation and would I like to try again. I refused and they offered me free leads and membership as they were losing leads as no one was taking them up due to a shortage of tradesmen

so I thought if its going to cost nothing I would give it a go and if it worked I would renew my membership. well ive just renewed my membership as I got some lovely jobs from it

what I do know is get in first leaving two oppurtunities to buy and dont buy a lead if someone has already bought one. im going into the jobs without competition and winning them plus im getting the refferal work from those jobs

its expensive and you have to factor the cost into your pricing structure and spread the cost across all your clients

everyone should have a marketing budget of about 10% of their turnover and continiously market. these costs come from my marketing budget

 

[SandyFloor]

A good one is Gumtree.com. It's free and you can build a page with pics etc. The only cost is £4 now and again to bump it up the listings. I've had a few jobs through it.

 

[Ken Bruty]

I have the same experience as Mikethetile with this, it's been a total waste of money so far, and I'm cancelling my subscription with them, I've only had enquiries where they don't want to pay you what you're worth, and travelled outside the area I specified, also you get random things like - a roof needs retiling, or a ceiling has fallen down and ceiling tiles needed :incazzato::mad2: which comes off your total of 100 which you've paid for to receive good leads, I even had one or 2 for plumbing too:mad2: a big imo. Although this is only my experience so far.

 

[DJS]

True what everone says above. My position would be that for the newly established tradesman, it can be a good place to start if your on a tight budget.

I use rated people and only go for jobs where email is validated, budget is reasonable, and the job description sound's like they know what they are talking about. My best advice is to be very dilligent in what you pay for.

I've still had quiet a few duff leads, but as long as you email the customer and don't get a response within 14 days, you will be credited with a free lead (after another 7 days for them to investigate).

I have bought a couple of leads for £4.00, waited a few days till someone else quotes for it. Ring up and get refused to quote. Then a few weeks later, I can buy a £25.00 lead for full bathroom re-fit with my free lead credit. Play them at their own game. rrr:

I always pass on the cost of the lead in the job anyway, so in the long term it costs me nothing.

 

[mikethetile]

handy tip djs

I record everyphone call on my diary page now and send them a mail to confirm every conversation with them

 

[DJS]

My approach is more of a strategy, than beleiving I will get work from every lead I go to look at. It's not nice having to jump through hoops sometimes to keep the customers happy. But I find in choosing my leads wisely, and getting hot leads from the right area's, the referal work can very lucrative.

I am probably lucky to live in a big city where there is alot of work to go around. And not too far from some very affluent area's, where you are likely to meet the kind of customers you do want to work for.

For example, I bought a lead for £12, to do a 3.5m2 travertine floor in a bathroom. Went to qoute, and it turned out to be a full small bathroom of about 25m2 in travertine....kerching. They now want a new kitchen splashback tiling....kerching. The next door neighbours were so impressed with the work, they want me to do a whole bathroom re-fit in porcelain, and some plumbing downstairs....kerching again!! At some point next year they want the conservatory tiling, with possible UFH...kerching. Whilst tiling the bathroom, I went to the local chippy for lunch one day, and they want the floor re-tiling at some point in the future....kerching again. All that work from a £12 lead. Who know's what other work I might pick up whilst working in that area again??

I don't need to pay for extra text alerts anymore. But I will if I get quiet again - maybe next year!! Hope it works out for you

 

[aph257]

Hi Denis,
with all that ringing in the ears are you sure you've not got tinitus.:lol::lol::lol:

 

[DJS]

Definately sure. You must remember me saying I was a bit deaf on the course, but it's been better since the operation :lol:

I'm just talking about getting hot leads from the area's with big houses and wealthy people!! I remember mentioning it on the course - saying I feel I will come across alot of natural stone work. Living near Alderley Edge and Wilmslow where all the footballers and well to do live is what I'm really going on about. Also, Didsbury is a large student area so another hot-spot for meeting Landlords and things like that.

The en-suite I'm working on this week for another customer from ratedpeople, also has a master bathroom to be done in the new year, and he just asked me yesterday to design a bathroom and wet-room for his dad's house!!

The kind of start I was hoping for The only downer so far is I just found out today that I lost a job I offered to do for my cousin who just bought a house in Leeds. It was a cheap price anyway, so I can honestly say I'm not that bothered!!

He's decided to go it alone and get some jack of all trades in to do the tiling. I really don't understand his logic, other than his budget won't stretch to do it to proper standards. He said he doesn't want all squares, so I offered to do a diamond border, which he liked the idea of at the time. My mum went there yesterday and heard the Jack of all trades saying it's really hard to do and get all the tiles the same!!! I smell a rat - I've got a masterpiuma that can do exact matching 45 degree cuts all day long - so he's talking out of his rear IMHO.

Another reason I wouldn't trust that guy is because I've got to go to his mum's (my aunties other house!) to fix a shower enclosure he installed. It's all gone mouldy on the plasterboard/mosaic tiles with cement grout, and the tiles are starting to fail to - it's just proper cowboy work yet I've heard from my Aunty he claims to know what he's doing!!

Sorry for going on a bit!! Rant over!! Just not happy to have lost a job to a cowboy, what's going on? & It's Faaaaamily. :huh2:

 

[Davesax]

I too have had a lot of luck with rated people . I think it's important that you make sure your customer leaves feedback and rates you , as everytime you buy a lead the customer gets a link to your previous ratings . It's definatley paid for itself for me .
There is one thing i'd like to know though - if you buy the first lead - is there a way of telling later whether anyone else has bought it?

 

[DJS]

Don't think you can tell.

You know if your the first to buy it, as it displays a stopwatch symbol against the lead. If no-one buys it after 3 days it displays a key symbol against the lead.

If 2 tradesmen already bought it, it will say only 1 opportunity to buy remaining. Same if 1 person has bought it - only 2 opportunities to buy.

Nothing for 'you were the quickest, but your not the only one'?

 

[Davesax]

I don't suppose it should matter , your quote should be the same whatever - but it would be good to know if you didn't win the job whether your quote was beaten or they just changed their mind etc

 

[DJS]

Also very true Dave. Your quote/price is to ensure a quality long lasting installation. Not cutting corners just to beat the opposition!!

My no.1 saying in business 'If you cut corners, you loose your edge'.

Customers can email you and let you know via rated people, but in most cases the succesful tradesman or customer can change the job status to 'accepted' or 'won job'. I think this change in status will generate an automated email to any other tradesmen that are quoting, giving them the bad news!!

 

[Fred]

Did it last year through the rough times and got nothing, a waste of money.

 

[mhtiler]

i was with rated people years ago,what alot of mileage for very little gain,not worth wasting YOUR spare time or diesel.