The idea behind a lead generation service is simple: it allows customers and professionals to connect. The customers won\u2019t need to do hours of research, and the professionals won\u2019t need to spend excess time and money trying to reach potential customers. Today we\u2019re going to take a close look at a commonly used service, Porch, and then compare it with Pro In Your Pocket to see how each measures up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Porch is a lead generation site that\u2019s designed for home projects. It’s is unique in that it has two professional networks. The first is composed of Porch Service Pros\u2014professionals who work directly for Porch. The second is a separate Porch Pro Network\u2014professionals who work for their own companies, but are contracted to find customers through Porch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Customers who go through Porch will need to answer a few questions about their project in order to determine pricing and find the right Pro for the job. Once this is completed, Porch sends out the project proposal to the relevant Porch Service Pros nearby. Up to four of these Pros are allowed to respond with a bid. If there isn\u2019t one available in the area, Porch will recommend nearby professionals in the Porch Pro Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the customer\u2019s perspective, Porch\u2019s system seems pretty flawless. It\u2019s easier than many other services because the Pros come to the customer, instead of the customer needing to sort through a long list of Pros to find the right one. However, there is one problem: because there\u2019s a limit of four Pro responses, the options are extremely limited. From the customer\u2019s point of view, you might be getting four responses from mediocre or overpriced Pros because the best Pros just weren\u2019t fast enough in their response. Other services like Pro In Your Pocket are much better equipped to help customers find the Pros with the right skills and prices. With Pro In Your Pocket, there\u2019s no limit to the number of Pros who can bid for each project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to the Pro\u2019s side of things, Porch is by far one of the most expensive and least beneficial options for lead generation services. To be a Porch Service Pro, there\u2019s a yearly subscription of $359 (the first year is discounted to $259. And remember, the only way you can bid on a project is to become a Porch Service Pro). On top of that, each lead will cost between $10 and $30 to respond to, depending on the scope of the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With that in mind, a professional would be much better off picking a lead generation service that doesn\u2019t cost so much. Even if you can afford the subscription and lead fees, you\u2019re guaranteed to be paying for several leads that won\u2019t work out. Instead, look for a service that either doesn\u2019t charge for leads or has a low subscription fee\u2014or both! (Hint, hint: Pro In Your Pocket hits both of those points.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As if Porch\u2019s fees weren\u2019t bad enough, there\u2019s a huge issue with the system of only allowing four Pros to respond to a project. It\u2019s designed to not overwhelm the customer with responses, but it seriously limits the amount of bids you as a Pro will even be allowed to place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only that, but this system inherently favors the bigger businesses with more overhead funds. Only four Pros are allowed to respond, which means that the fastest businesses will win out over the slower ones\u2014and the fastest ones are generally bigger businesses that can afford to keep a person or two specifically on the task of responding to leads. It\u2019s the smaller businesses that suffer with Porch\u2019s system, since they don\u2019t tend to have enough funds to keep a person on staff to hunt down leads and will instead need to respond at their leisure. Ironically, supporting these smaller businesses is the reason why services like Porch were created in the first place. But with Porch\u2019s market-stifling system, the big businesses will grow while the smaller ones are pushed out. Professionals would do much better to find a lead generation service that doesn\u2019t limit the number of bids on a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a service for customers, Porch isn\u2019t too bad. Its system definitely makes the process of finding a professional much easier than other sites like Takl<\/a> or Thumbtack<\/a>. As a lead generator for professionals, though, Porch is definitely not a good option. The subscription rate is extremely inflated, the pay-per-lead system is inferior, and the limit of four Pros\u2019 responses to a lead suffocates the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you\u2019re part of a business that can afford to throw thousands of dollars at a service without a guarantee of even making that money back, Porch is not the site for you. Instead, try out a service that improves on Porch’s weaknesses. Take a look at a lead generation site like Pro In Your Pocket<\/a>, which has only a $24 monthly fee, no pay-per-lead system, and places no limit on the number of bids per project request.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The idea behind a lead-generation service is simple: it allows customers and professionals to connect. Today we\u2019re going to take a close look at a commonly used service, Porch, and then compare it with Pro In Your Pocket to see how each measures up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n The idea behind a lead-generation service is simple: it allows customers and professionals to connect. The customers won\u2019t need to do hours of research, and the professionals won\u2019t need to spend excess time and money trying to reach potential customers. Today we\u2019re going to take a close look at a commonly used service, Porch, and then compare it with Pro In Your Pocket to see how each measures up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Porch is a lead-generation site that\u2019s designed for home projects. Porch is unique in that it has a network of Porch Service Pros\u2014professionals who work directly for Porch\u2014as well as a separate Porch Pro Network\u2014professionals who work for their own companies, but are contracted to find customers through Porch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers who go through Porch will need to answer a few questions about their project in order to determine pricing and find the right Pro for the job. Once this is completed, Porch sends out the project proposal to the relevant Porch Service Pros nearby. Up to four of these Pros are allowed to respond with a bid. If there isn\u2019t one available in the area, Porch will recommend nearby professionals in the Porch Pro Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the customer\u2019s perspective, Porch\u2019s system seems pretty flawless. It\u2019s easier than many other services because the Pros come to the customer, instead of the customer needing to sort through a long list of Pros to find the right one. However, there is one problem: because there\u2019s a limit of four Pro responses, the options are extremely limited. From the customer\u2019s point of view, you might be getting four responses from mediocre or overpriced Pros because the best Pros just weren\u2019t fast enough in their response. Other services like Pro In Your Pocket are much better equipped to help customers find the Pros with the right skills and prices. With Pro In Your Pocket, there\u2019s no limit to the number of Pros who can bid for each project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to the Pro\u2019s side of things, Porch is by far one of the most expensive and least beneficial options for lead-generation services. To be a Porch Service Pro, there\u2019s a yearly subscription of $359 (the first year is discounted to $259. And remember, the only way you can bid on a project is to become a Porch Service Pro). On top of that, each lead will cost between $10 and $30 to respond to, depending on the scope of the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind, a professional would be much better off picking a lead-generation service that doesn\u2019t cost so much. Even if you can afford the subscription and lead fees, you\u2019re guaranteed to be paying for several leads that won\u2019t work out. Instead, look for a service that either doesn\u2019t charge for leads or has a low subscription fee\u2014or both! (Hint, hint: Pro In Your Pocket hits both of those points.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As if Porch\u2019s fees weren\u2019t bad enough, there\u2019s a huge issue with the system of only allowing four Pros to respond to a project. It\u2019s designed to not overwhelm the customer with responses, but it seriously limits the amount of bids you as a Pro will even be allowed to place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only that, but this system inherently favors the bigger businesses with more overhead funds. Only four Pros are allowed to respond, which means that the fastest businesses will win out over the slower ones\u2014and the fastest ones are generally bigger businesses that can afford to keep a person or two specifically on the task of responding to leads. It\u2019s the smaller businesses that suffer with Porch\u2019s system, since they don\u2019t tend to have enough funds to keep a person on staff to hunt down leads and will instead need to respond at their leisure. Ironically, supporting these smaller businesses is the reason why services like Porch were created in the first place. But with Porch\u2019s market-stifling system, the big businesses will grow while the smaller ones are pushed out. Professionals would do much better to find a lead-generation service that doesn\u2019t limit the number of bids on a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a service for customers, Porch isn\u2019t too bad. Its system definitely makes the process of finding a professional much easier than other sites like Takl<\/a> or Thumbtack<\/a>. As a lead generator for professionals, though, Porch is definitely not a good option. The subscription rate is extremely inflated, the pay-per-lead system is inferior, and the limit of four Pros\u2019 responses to a lead suffocates the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you\u2019re part of a business that can afford to throw thousands of dollars at a service without a guarantee of even making that money back, Porch is not the site for you. Instead, try out a service that improves on their weaknesses. Take a look at a lead-generation site like Pro In Your Pocket<\/a>, which has only a $24 monthly fee, no pay-per-lead system, and places no limit on the number of bids per project request.<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":445,"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions\/445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.proinyourpocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Porch: The Essentials<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Customer\u2019s Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Pro\u2019s Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Stifling the Market<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Bottom Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n