Seattleites now have more options when it comes to finding professionals for-hire.
Just last month, Amazon started rolling out a home services offering in its hometown. Now, TalkLocal, a Washington D.C.-based startup that connects consumers to professionals in a local services marketplace, is expanding to Seattle.
TalkLocal, which has raised $4 million to date, is already operating in 60 cities across the nation where it helps match professionals with those that need help completing a service.
“For consumers, we simplify the search for the right local pro,” said co-founder Manpreet Singh. “For businesses, we offer a way to market to the right online consumer and connect, even if the business doesn’t have a strong online presence.”
TalkLocal’s platform lets users fill out an online form to describe their request with details like location and time required. Once that is submitted, the company’s algorithm sends the request to nearby vendors who can accept or reject a job. From those that have accepted, the customer can assess which professional he or she wants to hire.
Singh said that TalkLocal primarily serves consumers who are in the market for home services, like plumbers, HVAC pros, and handymen. It joins a bevy of other companies in the Seattle area that are trying to make home services as high-tech as hailing cabs and delivering meals have become — Porch, Pro.com, HomeAdvisor, TaskRabbit, and now Amazon, are just a few.
However, Singh said that TalkLocal doesn’t see those companies as competitors.
“Our objective is not to compete,” he said. “We’re interested in bringing real-time talk and call analytics to those platforms as well. We want to make our seamless experience a ubiquitous part of the local search scene.”
Singh also noted that TalkLocal is unique in that it is “the only learning-based, conversation-powered local services platform” that lets businesses pay per conversation instead of per lead, or per month. He said that the startup differentiates itself by focusing on enabling phone conversations.
“All businesses need is a phone to benefit,” he explained. “Other local services companies want to disrupt the way local entrepreneurs do business. We know that SMBs prefer phone-based leads and phone calls are only getting more valuable when so many shop via smartphone. So, rather than ask SMBs to adapt to the digital age, we help the digital age adapt to them.”
