ADVERTORIAL Contractors reduce miles and hours on the road! Fix It Queen™, was born into the ser- vice and trades industry, and has run her own contracting businesses since B idMyVid® founder and vision- ary Amanda Metzger, aka The she was fiſteen. The BidMyVid® app was born of Metzger’s profound frustration with the way the dot- com bubble rigged the industry against smaller businesses. “The first challenge I had with the lead-gen- eration platforms or home advising sites was that they had predatory algorithms and practices that hurt contractors,” she states. With her firsthand experience of how lead- generating platforms and social media sites can ruin hard-working small business owners, Metzger set out to make BidMyVid® radically different. “The lead platforms that have been established over the past twenty years have created a trauma in contractors, where they are not wanting to deal with a lead company out of fear from the endless fees. They would like leads, they would like opportunities, and that’s what BidMyVid® does. It helps provide opportunities versus leads they have to chase.” Skip the DRIVE, Win the BID, Save the TIME. A s contractors sign up for their seven-day free trial on BidMyVid®, they immediately get access to a special service provider video portal. They can pick the categories of jobs for which they are able to offer services. It gives you a courtesy landing page with all the information that prospec- tive clients want to see, in one convenient place. Plus, you get a QR code and digital link that takes people straight to your private vid- eo portal. You can place it on your service vehicles, business cards, door hangers or ads. It’s especially helpful to have on your service vehicles, as it gets your company’s name directly out into the com- munities that you’re looking to service. No more chasing leads that lead to loss; now you can have opportunities waiting for you! BidMyVid® creates a radi- cal transparency between the 24 contractor and the client by providing before-and-aſter videos and photos from your past jobs instead of “star” reviews that may have been purchased through third-party sites. “Every other platform may or may not have soſtware, may or may not have video integration, but they still depend heavily on Yelp reviews and Google reviews, because they don’t understand that the function of those platforms is a purchased capacity,” says Metzger. Many of those sites also have pre- priced services based on national averages that are not always ac- curate for your specific location. With BidMyVid®, contractors can set their own prices, and avoid unfair review sites. Aſter almost losing all of her business a few years ago because her phone lines got disconnected during a transfer of services, Metzger wanted to ensure that BidMyVid® would help contrac- tors keep their clientele through moves and more. When you work with a client through BidMyVid®, you stay in their database! This also helps fortify work in slower seasons with customer retention, explains Metzger: “One of the bigger things that we pride ourselves on is creat- ing a way to help with automated retention. If they’ve been in busi- ness for one or two years, chances are they already have enough business to last them for the rest of their career. When they go out and search for leads or buy them, it’s because they don’t have proper retention programs in place.” Your time as a contractor is valuable, so stop giving it away for free. “Contractors right now are discovering with rising gas prices and the cost of the time to drive out, these lead-generation programs and home advis- ing sites are creating more of a marginal loss than contractors track,” Metzger says. Between lead fees, gas, personnel hours and time wasted on chasing leads that don’t convert, contrac- tors relying on lead-generation platforms are playing a los- ing game. Metzger found that 30 percent to 40 percent of a contractor’s gross revenue can end up going to customer cost of acquisition. In place of preda- tory lead fees that have contrac- tors splitting their time between customer acquisition and actual paid work, BidMyVid® has a set subscription fee for less than a dollar a day, depending on your plan. APRIL 7-13, 2022 WESTWORD | BACKBEAT | MUSIC & VENUES | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | SHOPPING & SERVICES | CONTENTS | westword.com
