Why other sites don’t provide some basic features

We recently held a discussion with a few of the contractors who have been “pre-pre alpha” testing the WorkGrabber site.  One of them complained about how other sites he’s used don’t allow the contractor profile page to have a direct to link their own website.  Same thing with the contractor’s direct phone number.  These sites often list the contractor’s phone number as an 800 number which, when a customer calls, it is actually the number to the site’s call center.  Then the site charges the contractor for the lead.

It’s pretty clear to see the reason these sites do this.  It’s not in their best interest for potential customers (leads) to just browse on over to a contractor’s site and contact him directly.  These sites need the customer to make a request through their site so they can charge the contractors for the lead.

That’s definitely not our intention with WorkGrabber.  In fact, we’re adopting quite the opposite approach.  Nothing could make us happier than a customer coming through WorkGrabber.com, leaving to your site and posting a lead directly with you.  Even better would be if that customer never returns to WorkGrabber to look for another roofing contractor and you’ve gained a lifelong customer.  Other sites need the request to be submitted through their own site so they can charge the contractor for the lead.  These companies need to start understanding that their success is based on how successful their customers are, even if it means missing a lead sale.