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I am getting 3 to 5 calls a day for the last week about yellow page advertising and I was wondering is this normal or is it because I am just starting out so they figure I would be an easier sell ?.
How many of you run yellow page ads and how big of ad do you run ?.
Hi Greg,
I have found they get a little crazier as the deadline approches for the book to go to publication. Our deadline is the first of April. So I usually call him around the first of the year to get it done.
I run a 1/6 page ad. This is large enough that it usually gets me placement on the first page of carpet cleaners. In two books. Dex Pages and PDC Pages. Both generate about the same amount of calls. PDC is much more affordable because it is new to the area and trying to gain business.
Depending on your area, you may be getting close to the deadline on your books. If you are planning on getting into one or more of the books, you need to find out the deadline. Before you talk to an ad rep., you need to put together an advertising budget. Through good times and bad, how much are you willing to spend every month? Try to keep your total advertising cost under 15% of your gross sales. Sometimes you need to push it higher when the fish are biting or if you are trying to build quickly. My advertising costs ran over 30% my first year but I had plenty of work coming in to pay for it. Yellow page ads are very expensive but seem to be a necessary evil. Paper advertising will eventually go by the wayside and leave us with only internet, tv and radio. The phone books offer internet ads in addition to your paper ad. Look into this option. Look into putting color in your ad. Myself and everyone else could talk all day and give you a million different suggestions. Good luck!
Remember, salesmen are not always honest… Get the promises in writing or consider them empty promises. They are more concerned about their commissions than they are about your business. They have spent a lot of time and mostly slanted research to hook you for a whole year of monthly payments. Be cautious. If you feel you are dealing with a slick used car or Kirby salesman, you more than likely are not getting the best deal or advise. My suggestion would be to start out small. They usually only offer you discounts when you commit to spend more $ the following year. Consider a budget as Mr B. Sutton said -before you sit down with them-. If you get behind, they get ugly. I don’t mean to come accoss negitive here. But know what and who you are dealing with. Find out from your customers and/or chamber of commerce what is the most used book and at what locations. See if the most used book is in your desired area for cleaning. Meaning, if the most used book is in the slums, who cares, know your target area. I’ve hear to many times about what phone book sales people have done. There is a reason not to trust them.
I’ll be honest. I have yet to deal with a “non-pushy”, over-hyped, know-it-all yellow page sales person. Don’t like to be so blunt, but the fact is these sales folks know they are pushing a dying product – and they are desperate! My advice: be strong; only purchase what YOU decide you need; be firm; and don’t sign anything until they realize YOU are the boss of your advertising dollars. They will use every trick in their book to convince you that you do not know anything about your customers or how they will find you. Go into every meeting with a plan, and if anything …. error on the side of being conservative. There are lots of other more contemporary ways to spend your ad bucks than on yellow pages… surely a dying product…
Thanks for all the info guys. I have been looking into the various books and I am amazed at how much it costs – I am beginning to think I should have started a yellow page book business instead of carpet cleaning..lol I would be rich by now!.
Greg,
Good advice by all. We always need to make decisions based on whats best for our business. What works for one operator may not work for another. Yellow pages are not a big business generator for me, by it’s self. But it is part of my advertising plan.
The reps. we have are very professional. Build a good working relationship with all your advertising reps. My reps. contact me at least once a month. If I don’t hear from them, I call them. We may not have anything major to share, but we are building a good working relationship. I was not very good at this when I first started. I always ask a rep. what I can do for them. If the first thing that comes out of their mouth is buy more advertising, look out. If they respond, keep me up dated on how we are helping you grow your business, number of calls, type of work generated, etc, you have a partner. I went through a couple of reps. before I found the right one. Your the customer. The customer is always right! Hold them accountable just like your customers do you.
Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Rick
how bout this one. they call every day or other.then when you get things ironed out and finalizeed you can’t get a return call on a question or a pertaining issue.that really psssssss me off,sorry.but i got a thank you letter for renewing on the 6th and a cancellation notice on the 7th effective 7/09 on my internet or [adnr].i have left 4 messages already and no return call,on two different #s with two different people and nothing.before this of course they call everyday or other .also raise prices 10%. hey ,i figured with the eceonomy some what unstable they would be all over servicing existing costomers and new or potetial new.not the case.if i called prior that call was returned almost immediately.i’m sure its an error but no calls from rep or managment.
Tim,
I am sorry to hear you are getting such poor service from your rep’s. That would make me mad as well. The first free moment in my schedule I would be in their office asking for that rep. If he/she was not available I would ask for the manager. And I’m not leaving until I get satisfaction. Somebody at that location will want to earn their money! Make them accountable.
Didn’t take long to see how much you care about your business and how you represent HB. I really respect that. You want the people you work with to do the same. You have every right to be upset. As I mentioned in my post earlier. It took a couple of reps. before I got the right one. Shouldn’t have to be that way. But it can take a while to hit the right one. Customer service can be so simple yet alot of people just don’t get it or try!
Hope you get this resolved soon.
Rick
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