I'm getting calls from the phone book sales reps and all of them are telling me that I can't afford not to advertise with them. Keep in mind a 1/2 page ad is $550 per month and you have to sign a 1 yr contract or pay 12 months up front. I need to know what you feel is the most effective source for generating clients. Your comments are greatly appreciated. :mrgreen:
MOST EFFECTIVE MARKETING/ADVERTSING
- Thread starter pufahl
- Start date
Becker
Member
1/2 page for me 5 years ago yellow and black was $1350 per month.
People still use the YPs but alot look online, the masses are online. I'd spend money on the books online pages before the book.
That being said. I did OK with my YP ads in the past. I did get a lot of calls. A lot of price shoppers, but I also got a lot of great clients many still have today.
I also go a ton of sales calls. Sales people love using the book to make sales calls. And if you have a big ad you must have money to spend I guess they think.
People still use the YPs but alot look online, the masses are online. I'd spend money on the books online pages before the book.
That being said. I did OK with my YP ads in the past. I did get a lot of calls. A lot of price shoppers, but I also got a lot of great clients many still have today.
I also go a ton of sales calls. Sales people love using the book to make sales calls. And if you have a big ad you must have money to spend I guess they think.
Before you sign a contract determine what return on investment you need to be profitable, multiply the cost of the add to that and ask your self if you will realistically book that amount in NEW ACCOUNTS solely from the add. That will be your answer. In some markets it is worth the cost and in some, the publisher of the book should pay you for giving their customers another line to read.
Don't forget yellow page reps WILL LIE if they think you are listening.
I have had better luck using yellow pages as a reference ad. That is people that are already looking for ME not just a carpet cleaner. Small enough to absorb the cost without killing the budget yet sizable enough it can be seen if someone is looking for me.
Good luck
Rex
Don't forget yellow page reps WILL LIE if they think you are listening.
I have had better luck using yellow pages as a reference ad. That is people that are already looking for ME not just a carpet cleaner. Small enough to absorb the cost without killing the budget yet sizable enough it can be seen if someone is looking for me.
Good luck
Rex
I don't know if it's true or not but a buddy of mine said that the yp can guarantee a certain number of calls.
They set him up with a separate line dedicated to calls from yp so they could see the actual number of calls and if it fell short of what they told him he only paid a pro-rated amount based on actual calls that came in that month.
He said they will not tell you about this program you have to ask.
He also said that he got a lot of sales calls and calls from family and such and under this program he was basically paying for every call that came in.
I'm not sure but I think it was Bellsouth that he did this and I believe he said it had to be a full page ad for them to do this.
Anyway might be worth checking into.
They set him up with a separate line dedicated to calls from yp so they could see the actual number of calls and if it fell short of what they told him he only paid a pro-rated amount based on actual calls that came in that month.
He said they will not tell you about this program you have to ask.
He also said that he got a lot of sales calls and calls from family and such and under this program he was basically paying for every call that came in.
I'm not sure but I think it was Bellsouth that he did this and I believe he said it had to be a full page ad for them to do this.
Anyway might be worth checking into.
Dale if you want to market toward high end then the phone book is not for you. They told us after 3 yrs of having them that we would go out of business if we didn't keep doing it...we have not been in the phone now for over 10 yrs.
It all depends on what market you are after. It is not for us but other cleaners do pretty good. We didn't because the ones that looked in the phone book would always be price shoppers. The first words out of their mouth was How Much? We did ok the first year when we were trying to figure out things...but learned pretty quick that that type of marketing is not for us. There are other things that you can do to get business coming in. Going after the high end market is a lot tougher in the beginning & is slower growth but solid if you hang in there. Referrals are your best advertising in this market!!!
It all depends on what market you are after. It is not for us but other cleaners do pretty good. We didn't because the ones that looked in the phone book would always be price shoppers. The first words out of their mouth was How Much? We did ok the first year when we were trying to figure out things...but learned pretty quick that that type of marketing is not for us. There are other things that you can do to get business coming in. Going after the high end market is a lot tougher in the beginning & is slower growth but solid if you hang in there. Referrals are your best advertising in this market!!!
Rob Lyon
Member
Audra is absolutely right.
For me I broke even with (1) 1/2 page ad at close to $500.00
and (2) quarter page ads for about $200.00. It will probably
not do as well as you may think, but if you do work more than
0ne time per year and get referral's then it can generate a profit.
It will help to build somewhat of a market for you, however get use to
price shoppers.
Evey market varies greatly in what works in one place may not be the same for you.
If you have copy's of the last 2-3 years of the yellow pages you are
thinking of, see if other cleaners have kept or changed their ads.
This will defiantly answer some questions for you.
All The Best, Rob
For me I broke even with (1) 1/2 page ad at close to $500.00
and (2) quarter page ads for about $200.00. It will probably
not do as well as you may think, but if you do work more than
0ne time per year and get referral's then it can generate a profit.
It will help to build somewhat of a market for you, however get use to
price shoppers.
Evey market varies greatly in what works in one place may not be the same for you.
If you have copy's of the last 2-3 years of the yellow pages you are
thinking of, see if other cleaners have kept or changed their ads.
This will defiantly answer some questions for you.
All The Best, Rob
Jim Williams
Member
Dale, I just finished crunching my numbers for the year and here is what I found. Being in business only 2 years myself I am still in the heavy advertising part of my career.
I am in 2 phone books. One in a small rural town area and one that goes to several big cities.
The cost to gain a new customer in the big city book with a quarter pg. ad was $164 per customer, I lost $1000 but I gained 44 new customers.
To gain a new customer in the smaller book with a quarter pg. ad was $94. I think I picked up around 30 new customers.
The cost to gain a new customer by mailing postcards to nice middle class areas was $56 per customer, AND the ticket average for the postcard customers was alot higher than the customers I got from the YP, which means I made alot better return on the postcards.
Most advertising you can at least break even on and if you do a good job they will continue to pay off for the years to come.
Next time around I will only be doing small in column ads in the YP, which reminds me, since I switched one book from a quarter pg. down to a small 2" column ad I am actually getting more calls. Go figure! Maybe my picture in the ad was too ugly.
Good luck!
I am in 2 phone books. One in a small rural town area and one that goes to several big cities.
The cost to gain a new customer in the big city book with a quarter pg. ad was $164 per customer, I lost $1000 but I gained 44 new customers.
To gain a new customer in the smaller book with a quarter pg. ad was $94. I think I picked up around 30 new customers.
The cost to gain a new customer by mailing postcards to nice middle class areas was $56 per customer, AND the ticket average for the postcard customers was alot higher than the customers I got from the YP, which means I made alot better return on the postcards.
Most advertising you can at least break even on and if you do a good job they will continue to pay off for the years to come.
Next time around I will only be doing small in column ads in the YP, which reminds me, since I switched one book from a quarter pg. down to a small 2" column ad I am actually getting more calls. Go figure! Maybe my picture in the ad was too ugly.
Good luck!
G
Guest
Guest
When was the last time you or your wife looked in the phone book? We have about 8 of them sitting in a cuboard and I'll bet its been 2 years or more since they were touched.
Just think for $500 a month how much direct marketing you could do to your customers or target areas.
Just think for $500 a month how much direct marketing you could do to your customers or target areas.
G
Guest
Guest
We did NOT use it last year and we had huge ass numbers over the year before when we had 3 ads.
If it was my $550 AND money meant something to me, I would do 1650 flyer's, new letters, or something to a GOOD target market. Every 6 weeks, bang bang bang.
Out of those 3 yellow pages we had, we average-ed about 5 nose pickers who wasted out time. The cheapest wins even when you ask them if they want the best...or cheap. It was a no win for us.
If it was my $550 AND money meant something to me, I would do 1650 flyer's, new letters, or something to a GOOD target market. Every 6 weeks, bang bang bang.
Out of those 3 yellow pages we had, we average-ed about 5 nose pickers who wasted out time. The cheapest wins even when you ask them if they want the best...or cheap. It was a no win for us.
My opinion- yellow page sales people are not there to help YOU- they are there to help themselves.
The more they can sell you, the more money they make on commissions.
I suggest going with a small ad at first, not a big ad. you can always go bigger if you want, but big is no guarantee of anything except the payment on the salesperson's Mercedes.
Gary
The more they can sell you, the more money they make on commissions.
I suggest going with a small ad at first, not a big ad. you can always go bigger if you want, but big is no guarantee of anything except the payment on the salesperson's Mercedes.
Gary
Yes, I agree with Gary> We pull enough from the YP to keep it going. We pulled 3 jobs already this month. My ads are small but effective.
I am going with a 1/2 page ad in Yellow Book comes with an additional 1/2 page in another category. It's only 190 per month.
I kinda like the challenge of converting price shoppers into clients. its really not that hard, most yp calls are converted to jobs! I found way less cc'ers in my book this year that alone should get me more calls.
AL
I am going with a 1/2 page ad in Yellow Book comes with an additional 1/2 page in another category. It's only 190 per month.
I kinda like the challenge of converting price shoppers into clients. its really not that hard, most yp calls are converted to jobs! I found way less cc'ers in my book this year that alone should get me more calls.
AL
THANKS EVERYONE
Thank you everyone!
Money cannot buy the information all of you provided in your response to my post. I think I will do what my instinct was telling me......network.....network and direct mail to a targeted market.
Again, thanks for your comments.
Thank you everyone!
Money cannot buy the information all of you provided in your response to my post. I think I will do what my instinct was telling me......network.....network and direct mail to a targeted market.
Again, thanks for your comments.
J
John
Guest
Dale,
I had a 1/6th page YP ad my first year and not my second (not even listed in the phone book the second year). My sales grew by 50% in my second year. Direct mail and the internet are all I do now for new customers.
IMO the phone book is an antique. If I did fire or water damage my opinion might change, but for carpet cleaning I don't even want the customers that shop there.
I had a 1/6th page YP ad my first year and not my second (not even listed in the phone book the second year). My sales grew by 50% in my second year. Direct mail and the internet are all I do now for new customers.
IMO the phone book is an antique. If I did fire or water damage my opinion might change, but for carpet cleaning I don't even want the customers that shop there.
Jim Pemberton
MB Exclusive.
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- Jim Pemberton
Curt, that one hit me between the eyes! I don't even know where the phone book is in my house.
I've never been a fan of YP advertising. My customer and student base has often shared stories of ads put in with the wrong phone number, ads not put in at all, and business grew anyway.
But Curt, that comment nails it! Thanks.
I think as a new business you do need to be in there. Go with something smaller for an ad tho. If you have your van lettered and someone sees it but didn't quite catch the number, they need to be able to find you. Go the Post Card route if your going to start and remain very consistant with your mailings. I have gotten some work from the Internet. There are more of those Internet YP's than there are phone books. You gotta do all 3 really until you get that repeat and referral Biz coming in. Just my 2 cents worth.
JohnnyV
JohnnyV
Jim Nazarian
Member
Just the other day I landed a nice commercial CC job, when I asked them where they got my phone number I was surprised when I heard "Yellowpages.com", I have a tiny add in the printed book just in case someone looses our number & I guess you get the online listing as well.
What Internet "yellow pages" work best?
What Internet "yellow pages" work best?
