Hoist Home Field Advantage
Announcement details, frequently asked questions, and more.
Hoist Home Field Advantage in home estimate appointments is guaranteed, predictable, better for cash flow and far simpler than our current approach of using monthly marketing invoices.
Current Approach: Monthly Marketing Invoices
Currently, for every month of marketing we set a budget together working to try to hit your goals. Hoist then generates an invoice for you for the balance due and the owner pays in a lump sum. This approach gives the owner no guarantee of outcomes, it’s hard to predict the volume of appointments and is not great for cashflow.
New Approach: Hoist Home Field Advantage
Soon, you'll just tell us how many estimate appointments you want on your schedule. We’ll get to work, sourcing and qualifying customers and handling all the logistics of getting your foot in the door. You only pay for scheduled estimate appointments at the time they are confirmed. This new approach gives you a guarantee of outcomes and lets you predict your volume and costs.
Here’s an overview of the differences. Or, skip ahead to frequently asked questions.
Monthly Marketing Invoices
Hoist Home Field Advantange
No Guarantee
You have to pay for marketing regardless of how many Appointments are scheduled.
Guaranteed
Only pay for scheduled estimate appointments.
Hard to Predict
Volume of scheduled Appointments would depend on the performance of call center, landing pages and ads that Hoist is running.
Predictable
Only pay for scheduled estimate appointments. Hoist takes on all the risk of conversion and performance.
Not Great for Cash Flow
You had to pay in large chunks at the beginning of every month.
Great for Cash Flow
You pay per scheduled estimate appointment as they come in.
Complicated
A lot of considerations and complexity had to go into channel allocation, volume and conversion forecasts for your business.
Simple
You tell us exactly how many Appointments you want in a month and that’s all you’ll pay for.
Pricing
Confirmed estimate appointments cost $215 each.
About this price
- With this price Hoist is still subsidizing a part of the real appointment cost, passing along this advantage to our owners.
- This isn’t a lead. This is a confirmed estimate appointment. You don’t pay unless you get your foot in the door.
- For an average job size of $3,500 and a 40% conversion rate, your marketing spend will be just over 9% of gross revenue exactly below the 10% Industry Benchmark. For higher ticket jobs, this works even better.
- Hoist will be offering additional incentives such as discounts and free appointments based on business performance. We’ll be providing additional details before the official launch.
Why this will be better for your business
- We drastically reduce your risk of spending money without seeing conversion. You’ll only be paying when we get your foot in the door.
- 100% of your budget spend goes to scheduled estimate appointments, a real opportunity to book a job.
- You’ll be able to forecast revenue and business performance more efficiently and accurately.
- You won’t have to pay anything in advance and will have more working capital to operate your business.
- You’ll need to put more money and effort into doing the same if choosing to purchase raw leads from digital marketing channels
How it will work
- You’ll have the option to order appointment packages in the Hoist App. You won’t get charged until appointments are scheduled in your calendar.
- Upon receiving an order the Hoist team will configure a custom acquisition strategy depending on your company profile and historical lead performance. This process should take between 1 and 2 business days.
- Once your acquisition campaigns are live you’ll start receiving appointments in your calendar.
- You’ll be charged for every scheduled estimate appointment until reaching the corresponding limit from your purchase order.
- You’ll have the option to request new orders in advance. If a new order is in place, your lead acquisition will remain on until reaching the new appointment target. If there are no pending orders, your campaigns will be turned off, and you won’t receive new estimate appointments.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Hoist Home Field Advantage compare to HomeAdvisor?
With HomeAdvisor, you get the same lead that many other businesses are sold, you don’t have any guarantee of converting that into a scheduled estimate, and you or someone else needs to be waiting by the phone and chasing down leads to turn them into confirmed estimate appointments. With the Hoist Home Field Advantage, you only pay when an estimate appointment is scheduled. There’s no risk or unknowns.
What You Get
Confirmed in Home Estimate
What You Get
A “Lead”, some contact info to try to chase down
Appointment Cost
$215
Appointment Cost
$185- $271
depending on your ability to schedule appointments
(given a 40% qualification rate and a $65-$95 cost per lead)
Cash Flow
Only pay when an Estimate Appointment is scheduled.
Cash Flow
Pay upfront at the beginning of the month for raw leads, not confirmed appointments.
Logistics
Hoist call center qualifies and handles all logistics of all lead source channels to schedule Estimate Appointments.
Logistics
Owner needs to handle themselves or staff to make sure that all leads are quickly followed up with and scheduled.
Intent
You only get high intent customers who are ready to meet you in person.
Intent
This lead is sold to many other companies and you are racing to try to schedule an estimate.
Overhead Cost
$0 for Hoist call center (included)
Overhead Cost
Either doing it yourself, or hiring back office support starting at least $1,200/mo.
Risk
Risk free. Hoist absorbs the variables within lead source costs and qualification rates.
Risk
Business Owner responsible for variable lead cost and qualification rate performance.
Confirmed in Home Estimate
A “Lead”, some contact info to try to chase down
$215
depending on volume
Hoist call center qualifies and handles all logistics of all lead source channels to schedule estimate appointments.
You only get high intent customers who are ready to meet you in person.
$0 for Hoist call center (included)
Risk free. Hoist absorbs the variables within lead source costs and qualification rates.
Only pay when an estimate appointment is scheduled.
$185 - $271
depending on your ability to schedule appointments
(given a 35% qualification rate and $65-$95 cost per lead)
Pay upfront at the beginning of the month for raw leads, not confirmed appointments.
Owner needs to handle themselves or staff to make sure that all leads are quickly followed up with and scheduled.
This lead is sold to many other companies and you are racing to try to schedule an estimate.
Either doing it yourself or hiring back office support starting at least $1,200/mo.
Business Owner responsible for variable lead cost and qualification rate performance.
What is a qualified estimate appointment?
A qualified estimate appointment is defined as a lead that meets our standard minimum job size criteria (2 or more rooms), falls within your service area, meets the type of job that you can service and lastly, has been scheduled for an in-person estimate.
Can I get refunded for estimate appointments?
You can request a refund on any appointment by filling out our refund request form. Hoist will process refunds on a biweekly basis. Here are details on which appointments are eligible for a refund:
Eligible
- The customer canceled the appointment and did not reschedule. Note: You will need to provide verification. Verification can include a screenshot of a text thread or email.
- The customer no-shows your estimate appointment and you have not been able to re-confirm with them after 3 attempts in a 7 day period.
- The customer's contact information is incorrect.
- The customer is outside your service area that Hoist has on record.
- The scope of work is outside your services offered that Hoist has on record.
- The customer is a duplicate lead that you already received.
Not Eligible
- The customer is not calling you back after the estimate has been completed.
- The customer already found someone to complete the work.
- The customer changed their mind or is just "shopping".
- The customer wants the work to begin later in the future.
- You did not win the job.
- You contact us more than 30 days past the date on which the appointment was received.
Other: There are some other reasons that may qualify for a refund. When submitting refunds for instances other than those above, please submit documentation (text conversations, communications, email) to support@hoistup.com so we can process those requests.
What happens if I get sick or want to take a vacation?
Our estimate generation stack cannot be instantly turned on and off. We need 2-4 business days to ramp up the lead sources and to ramp them back down. As such, you’ll need to do your best to plan ahead when it comes to holidays and purchasing qualified estimates. Our availability tools can help you manage a temporary absence such as an illness or unexpected life event.
Why am I paying a monthly fee for Hoist and then $215 for your call center to qualify a lead? Doesn't this mean I'm paying for the call center twice?
The $215 is for all the marketing investment we make at the front end to get that lead for you, not to cover the call center costs. Instead of pre-billing you a fixed amount of marketing money at the beginning of the month without clarity on what you get, we just bundle the marketing costs into one fixed thing you actually want. A scheduled estimate with a homeowner.
Can’t I get leads cheaper through other channels?
With us you aren't actually buying leads. You are buying a scheduled estimate appointment. On other platforms such as Thumbtack, Porch or HomeAdvisor, you risk not being able to convert those leads into appointments, and you'd have to do the work to chase those leads down. Even within Hoist, you'd be potentially paying for leads that the call center wouldn't convert, this is all just more risk and work for your business. You can have the confidence that you are only paying for scheduled appointments.
The average lead needs to be contacted in under 5 minutes. Your time is better spent working face to face with your current estimates, prospects and managing ongoing projects. The less time you get to spend hunting down leads means more time spent building your business. Let us take all the hassle and risk of qualification out of your hand.
So how do I pay you for these? Do you invoice me?
Once you set your target volume and price for the month — we charge you every time we schedule an appointment at the moment we schedule it. That way your cash flow isn't hit with a big chunk, it's spread throughout the leads we are able to close. At the same time, you have a total monthly budget and volume you can rely on.
What if you can't get me as many appointments as I want?
We'll do our best to hit your targets, but depending on your market, seasonality and other factors we might not hit your target. You only pay us for appointments we schedule for you.
So I don't have to pay $215 every time you pick up the phone right?
No, you only pay for new estimate appointments that we schedule that come from a lead that Hoist generates for you. You don't pay any additional costs for leads you get on your own, or for any customer support or other inbound we manage.
Can I get charged for more than the appointments I requested for?
No, you would only be charged by the volume you requested.
How do I order estimate appointments?
- As of March 5th you’ll see a new tab in the main navigation of the app — Marketing
- From Marketing, select “Buy Estimate Appointments”
- Select your package and confirm your order.
- You won’t be charged until estimate appointments are scheduled.
- You’ll be able to do this from your computer or phone through our web or mobile apps.
How long will it take for you to deliver my purchased estimates?
- An order of 5 will take 2-3 weeks
- An order of 10 will take 2-3 weeks
- An order of 15 will take 3-4 weeks
- An order of 25 will take 4-6 weeks
When does Hoist Home Field Advantage launch?
March 5th, 2022
Will my marketing stop between March 1st and March 4th?
If you had a marketing budget in February, it will be extended through this period at Hoist's expense. Your daily spend will be equal to what it was during February. This will continue until March 8th. If an order for estimates isn't place by then, your marketing will be paused.
What is a Hoist Home Field Agent?
A Hoist Home Field Agent is a member of our team who focuses on booking estimates on your calendar. They respond to incoming calls and reach out to potential customers within minutes of receiving their information.
How do I reach out to Hoist for support?
If you need support from the Hoist team, please email us at support@hoistup.com rather than calling our agents. This helps us assist you better and allows our agents to get you more estimates!
Have more questions? We're here.
Schedule a call with our team.
