Yellow pages a new low

[TREE-SURGEON-ESSEX]

Had the yellow pages rep today and now there using a new book its tiny and all the adverts are alot lot smaller now but guess what we still pay the same price for an ad 1\3 smaller.

 

What do you guys get quoted i got £1670 double quater colum full colour not including art work

 

Is it time to quit using yellow p???

[redmoosefaction]

That dosh could go along way to a really nice advert on the truck and chipper the stumpy even the chainsaws, some nice fleece's, some hoodies.... you get the idea

[Graham]

I had the rep phone me. I couldn't help it but launched into most vicious verbal abuse against his product and the slimy people who sell it. As you may have realised I've not had good experiences with them in the past....used them since '87.

 

I can't believe how thick-skinned this guy was. Even after questioning his parentage he still keeps calling trying to get me to sign up.

 

After two months of not returning his calls he finally gives up.

 

Yellow pages is dying.

[Rupe]

Only you know how much work you get form YP. Most on here will say quit if you can!

 

My theory is that if a customer gets a quote from YP then they will probably get 3-4 quotes. Sometimes one person will stand out as "better" than the others, but I reckon 99% of the time its cheapest price wins.

 

So if 4 poeple quote maybe one screws up a little and gets the job. That means that 99% of jobs done via YP are under priced, so have minimal profits, yet it costs a lot of money to advertise.

 

It doesn't add up. Paying extra to earn less is not good business sense. The only companies I know that make it work have to screw the employees into the ground to get the turnover of work fast enough to make profit.

[redmoosefaction]

Is it worth doing a small ad to keep in there, as some clients can only find your name in there?

 

Hmmm!

[Shane]

When you are looking for a service - where do you look?

Find the Yellow pages, find the section (only to find it says 'see another section') then thumb through - or google search using your town/subject - hey presto!

I get loads of leads through the net - If you have a website you can update it when you want, not anually when it suits yellow pages.

On-line is the way to go. Maybe settle for a smaller YP ad for those without computers (I live in Worthing where a lot of the population is over 80 and could not use a computer so you just need to know your audience).

Try telling the YP rep that you don't get much response and their answer is

A Bigger Ad!!! - surprise surprise. When you go to quote - alwats ask how they heard about you.

One final soapbox bleet.. YP enquirers tend to phone loads of people and usually just go for the cheapest quote.

Shane

[Tom D]

This thread has just inspired me to check my quotes for the last 10 months, out of about 150 jobs 3 came from yellow pages, and about 20 from leaflets, the rest were split about 50/50 between the internet and referals from other clients, I also count prople who stop us while we are working as referals.

The three yellow pages jobs made a total of £3150, thanks to two of the jobs being £1k plus, even so at a 20% profit margin thats £630, that doesn't buy much in the YP, I spent around £400 so I "made" about £200 form YP. I spent about £500 on my website and it will easily have brought in £30K over 10 months.

 

It pays to do the maths.

[Rupe]

Sure, but that 20% profit margin isn't necessarily all available for advertising. Up to you if it is, but profits can go towards many things advertising is a small part of it.

 

But your sums do prove the point! 20% profit from YP seems good, but you probably get 30-40% profit from referals and more work overall. It is a no brainer IMO.

[Tom D]

TBH I think it was lucky that the YP jobs were big ones, my average job is probably £750 three of them makes it seem even worse. The way I see it if you want to spend a set amount on advertising each year, there are other ways which give far more bang for your buck. I do find that internet generated leads are often from people getting more than one quote, I convert virtually 100% of the referrals into jobs so these are the best.

[Rupe]

Agreed, referalls nearly 100% success and at reasonable % proffit.