A couple of weeks back, HelpHive managed a booth at the Seattle Home Show. We had a lot of interest from homeowners in our referral model for finding a quality home service professional.  We had some volunteers who wore the HelpHive “bee” costume! Kids loved talking with and getting their pictures taken with the bee! Here are 3 of the, now famous, bees…

How much does HelpHive cost?

Many people at the Home Show asked, “how much does HelpHive cost?” We cheerfully responded, “HelpHive is free for homeowners!” Almost everyone immediately changed demeanor from skeptical to beaming!   Many people had heard of Angie’s List and said they wouldn’t use a paid service for finding service professionals. People also loved the fact that HelpHive is an open, independent review platform. Everyone can post reviews and everyone can see everyone else’s reviews. This creates a level of transparency and accountability not offered by paid subscription services like Angie’s List.

Referrals from friends

We then went on to explain how HelpHive was a new kind of independent review site where reviews of businesses by your friends and neighbors are highlighted for you.  HelpHive creates a unique-to-each-person personal referral list of home service professionals.  We bring your word-of-mouth referral network online saving you lots of time and benefiting from the experiences of your existing trusted sources.

Referral Pro Well Received

We also had a lot of inquiries from home service professionals about how the HelpHive referral system worked for businesses.  We explained that we have designed a performance-based referral service called Referral Pro.  When homeowners find and contact a business through HelpHive which results in a job, Referral Pro businesses pay HelpHive a small commission.  So, homeowners win because they are getting friend and community vetted service professionals and businesses win as they pay (HelpHive) when they earn a real job.  Referrals are a win for everyone!

Tags: angie's list, bee, free, performance marketing, referrals, seattle home show, seattle homeshow