I get several calls a week of some new website claiming they are the greatest online marketer of products "just like yours" and I always say thanks but no thanks. Todl.com woke my interest though. The site acts as a catalog of fabricators and products from fabricators for designers only. Designers need a password, but the site is free to them. Just got off the phone with the "pitch person" and It all sounds very interesting BUT...
$400 a month and they suggest a year minimum, but could do a 6 month membership. Anyone have any experience with the site? They apparently have 70k designers that subscribe to the site
From contributor B.
I was contacted by them about 5 or 6 years ago. I seriously considered it but in the end felt it was way too much money for something that wasn't proven. All I had was their word that it would bring in business. I was doing print advertising at the time and that was a proven medium.
I had belonged to Custom Made.com when it first started up. There were the same sort of assurances with never one serious lead. This was very inexpensive in the beginning though when Custom Made.com was a one man start up company. I liked the idea of supporting him even if it didn't bring any work. Plus it was additional web exposure for not much money.
Given the Custom Made.com experience I felt Todl was most likely going to have a similar result......for a great deal more money.
BH Davis
From contributor Al
No experience but I would guess from the told website if you had a product that a designer could spec and purchase it would be helpful as would houzz, if you are a design to order or make to order one off shop the leads will be far less when reduced for geography and designers and architects really looking for that type of work during the specification process.
If you have something you do that really pops and its repetitive then it could help based on the comments in the reviews.
You could ask them to show qualified leads converted to sales for a similar business over the last two years. When I say similar I mean product, shop size based on annual volume, and similar market area and demographics(big city, suburb near big city, small town middle America etc.)
From contributor ch
I think it would probably be best to start a website like Todl instead of this. I mean times are great right now, but $400 a month?
Too many dollah
From contributor Pa
I used TODL for several years, and found that the time and effort of preparing photos of products, posting them, and then replying to the inquiries (and yes, it did produce inquiries from interior designers) was not worth it for me. Concurrently, I was developing my own website, and supporting it with Googles Adwords, and that was much more successful. For me. If you have no other way to market, it might be worth it. And the price is probably negotiable. You should be able to get the rep to let you log into the site - try looking for a similar but not identical product, maybe custom lighting instead of furniture or cabinets, call that manufacturer, and ask them about their experience.
Last thought: the format rewards those who have products. Not just skills. If you have furniture pieces you want to sell, it might be worth a try.
From contributor Ch
Fantastic insight paul. Why didn't I think of that?? Probably for the same reason I didn't think end grain veneer on my last project would work, though I had done it before successfully. Brain fart. Thanks, I'll do that
From contributor Br
The way I see it is they are selling blue sky. If their service is so great they should offer you six months for free to try it out. (bet they won't) I don't think you will ever recover the money spent. It is just like gambling, the only winner is the "house".
