Yellow Page Advertising

Yikes! This is a problem, but now you are forced to make the best of a bad situation. I think I would do the following:
1. Contact the person you did business with and see what he/she has to say about this. Make them understand the seriousness of their error and refuse to pay for the ad.
2. Check to see if there are any other phone books yet to come out that may do you any good.
3. Figure out your plan from here. Take the $96 per month and find the best way to spend it.
4. You will have to be more aggresive than ever. Use flyers, direct mail, solicit church business, find commercial accounts, try newspaper ads in the right time of year, etc. It’s time to pull out the stops until you can get a good yellow page ad. Always build the best possible relationship with the customers you do serve and ask them to pass your name around. Maybe reward them for the referrals.
It’s hard to understand why we are presented with certain difficulties, however, I always believe that from every bad thing comes good things. Have faith and good luck.

David,
I think your choice of what to do depends significantly on one thing – whether or not your business number is provided by the same company that publishes the yellow pages.

If not, I agree with the previous post and wouldn’t pay a dime. Or I would demand very large concessions from them – both monetary now in the form of a greatly reduced rate as well as a free upsized ad next year.

If your number is from the yellow page publisher, then you will need to review your contract to see if you can get out of paying. The phone company will likely want you to pay some, but who knows. Although you will need to pursue this with them, it may be worthwhile to look to next year while talking with them. Perhaps you could get them to upsize your ad next year for free as some compensation to you.

I know you are very frustrated, but unfortunately, you can’t undo the yellow pages mistake.

If you haven’t already, look through the older posts on this forum for other advertising ideas. Franchise Xpress seems to work for most, however, it is a bit expensive to jump in. Church bulletin ads have worked well for some. Send a letter out to everyone you know asking them to pass the word about you – that has worked well for some operators. The list of ideas is very long. Consider picking two or three ideas to go with and use the upcoming slow time during the holidays to prepare the appropriate literature you will need.

Another idea – make a list of all the hotels, apartments, and perhaps some doctors offices in your area. Make a goal to visit 3 – 4 of them each day in January. Some operators do well with a portion of their business from commercial accounts and you probably wouldn’t ever land one of those deals from a yellow pages ad anyway.

Another idea – call on some realtors. Do you know any already? Make up a brochure for them to have and give to their clients. Consider offering a modest discount to their clients. See if you can pitch your services briefly at one of their weekly meetings in their sales office. In many states, realtors are forbidden by law to take any kickback that you might be tempted to offer, but you could offer the realtors themselves a couple of free rooms as a demo. Also, consider offering a steep discount to any realtor who uses you, whether or not you have an arrangement with them. Don’t be shy – tell them exactly why you are offering them the steep discount – that you want them to recommend you to their clients. By the way, I got most of this realtor strategy from Barry Lowenthal & Jim Dickey in Maryland/D.C. and the Devlin brothers in Denver. They are both doing very well with their realtor strategy. If you are interested in pursuing the realtors, I can send you a couple of sample brochures I got from those guys.

After reviewing a lot of old posts, pick out a few operators who have posted about strategies that interest you and email them. I have done the same and most every operator has been very helpful providing ideas, flyers/brochures/etc., as well as phone time just to pick their brain.

I feel for your frustrating situation. I know it is difficult to transition from a paying job without established revenue. Look over my suggestions and go for it! One or two apartment complexes or a realtor office recommending you could make all the difference!

Good luck!

Mike

David,
Great! I’m glad to hear they felt bad enough to give in some.

I know this still doesn’t erase or undo your frustration for not having your ad where you want it. But at least you won’t pay upfront for the yellow pages’ mistake.

Now you have to formulate your backup plan for your first year full time. Do you still plan to transition to full time heaven’s Best?

Happy New Year!

Mike

thats great free phone books ads for 2 years i look at it like this some people will just turn to the carpet section and see your ad first but at least they refund your cost plus a year it may pay off in the long hual look at the bright side