The new phone books are here.

[Connor]

It's just under an inch thick including the cover.
The plumbing section is practically a ghost town except for a couple of franchises with large ads, most other ads are 1/4 page or smaller.

 

[RGH269]

I like to look through the obscure ones score I throw them away to see who wasted the most money.

 

[Royal Man]

At an inch thick atleast there will be less piles of rotting phonebook to wade through on the way into apartments.

 

[FB7777]

When did the phone book stop publishing the white pages and only do the business listings?

Our local Yellow Page feels more like a pamphlet ... Maybe 3/4" thick

 

[Royal Man]

I cleaned for an old guy that had several rooms with landline phones last week.

Haven't seen that in a while.

Funny how it seemed so odd. When not that long ago it was the norm.

No wonder white pages are things of the past.

Yps are on their last legs.

 

[bob vawter]

in 1972 i had a full page ad...price........$1100.00/month

 

[Royal Man]

I paid $900-1000 a month for over 15 years for a 1/4 page ad

 

[XTREME1]

that is why you went from 10 trucks to 1

 

[Royal Man]

That was years ago. I just had 4 crews (Not 10) plus the telemarketing room and a full time office girl.Just the way it was done back then.

Back then there were 14 other cleaning companies within a five mile radius now it is 70 within a five mile radius.

I haven't had a yellow page ad in over 10 years now.

Could only see using it now for emergency restoration services.

 

[FB7777]

Do you have any pictures of the old days Dave?

Would love to see the shop and vans


Seeing how you went from 4 trucks to 1 and you state that there are 70 cleaners instead of 14, maybe all 14 cleaners downsized like you and the increased volume of cleaners partly may be due to the fact that each one only runs a single truck

Seriously tho,
Demand for carpet and tile cleaning services is on the rise, personally I'm glad that there is far more competition today, it means the work is out there

 

[Brian R]

I would imagine because of the lack of comp in the books that the ones who do advertise in them would see about the same ratio of work that we used to.

The land line market is still bigger than the cell phone market.

I've never tried to look up a residential number on the internet...Not sure if Google lists them or not.

The ad that started this thread isn't that bad. It could use a more friendly photo but other than that, it will probably do well.


I'll post it if he wants me to.

 

[Royal Man]

I ask my clients frequently if they ever use the phone book.

Most say they never use one because the internet is easier and has much more information.

Many prospects are at work. So they are in front of a computer anyway.

Or they can just look at the cell in their pocket.

(Most of my clients don't carry a phonebook in their pocket)

I personally only see landlind phones in businesses or retirement centers.

BTW: You can and often the only place to find landline numbers on line.

 

[Connor]

I paid $900-1000 a month for over 15 years for a 1/4 page ad

I was told I could get a 1/4 page full color for $516 a month, I told them that I'd give them $499 a month for a full color 1/2, but nothing smaller, she said that she couldn't do that, I told her that I wouldn't waste her time or my money discussing it anymore.

She actually said that because fewer people advertise in the print YP that I'd get more calls because of less competition.

 

[KevinD]

At an inch thick atleast there will be less piles of rotting phonebook to wade through on the way into apartments.

Ain't that the truth.
With 3 phone books here it seems like every time I visit one
of my apartment buildings I pick up piles of books and trash them.

 

[Connor]

Oh, and the CCing and WDR section is almost non existant.

 

[ACE]

Yellow Book has attempted to convert there customers to some new internet advertising campaign for the last few years. The problem is that they are late comers to the internet and there internet advertising sucks worse than the yellow pages.

YB has apparently admitted defeat on the internet and now is focused on selling space on a 3 foot long, two sided door hanger. No, I would not like to advertise on your door hanger next to Stanley Seemers 2 rms for $69.00 offer.

 

[Opie Cleaner]

I don't have a phone book in my home.

How many of you have one?

 

[CI Carpet]

Whats a phone book? LOL I had a yellow book sales rep tell me last year that we live in one of the most highly populated areas of senior citizens and that is why I should spend money on print marketing. Then I thought about my dear old 70 year old mother-in-law surfing on her laptop and I said no thanks.

 

[cleaningclean]

does anyone here still use it for water damage?

 

[Cleantechsk]

My area of Canada still loves the phone book! For a city of 250k its about 3.5" thick.

On a positive note, my internet competition is very weak!

 

[Desk Jockey]

does anyone here still use it for water damage?

It's the only thing that keeps us in the book.

 

[mirf]

Marketing may have been easier. Biggest ad last until youy were first. any more money local paper which was read daily.
Today people have no attention span and use many sources.

 

[cleaningclean]

so for those who still use it for water damage.....what does YOUR average consumer look under when they have their house flooded?

atleast on our end, we still have lots who look under carpet cleaning....kind of a pain since it means you have to be under both water damage and carpet cleaning.

interested if others have found the same thing?

 

[Desk Jockey]

I think, that most if not all will look under carpet cleaning. No data or science behind it just a gut feeling. The homowner see's carpet is wet and calls the carpet cleaner. For many years there was no water damage heading, I feel they trained people not to look there. I feel it has no value and put a small trade mark ad there.

In years past our a couple of our competitors have put full page ad's there. Right now the biggest is a quarter column in that heading.


I had one homeowner that told me she called ServiceMaster first but they didn't respond until our crew was already on the way. When I asked her why she called them she said they had the biggest ad.

They got short with her when they were told we were in route, they complained that she did not give them enough time to call them back. So the big ad can actually pay off for you if you return the calls quickly.

 

[Ed]

What Richard said. We still have a presence in a few books, most are 1/4 pagers, but some 1/2 page. There are some deals out there now. We just got the entire back cover color and a full page color in our local book for $350 per month. Lot's of seniors around here and they still use the phone books.

 

[Shorty]

We have two different books.

Our main one, which has been so damn big and heavy just with yellow pages in it for years, changed to one that was slightly smaller, but with white pages at the rear of the book.

Then we have a much smaller "Local Phone Book", which is also printed in a similar fashion, but less entries.

This year, the main book is very small and the print is about a 8 or 9 Font.

Ads are much smaller, and a whole lot less.

I found it impossible to read at night when it first came out and ditched it.

I do keep the "Local" one in my van.

It has great street maps of our area that are up to date.

I also don't advertise in any of them.

Our main telco, Telstra, announced quietly yesterday that it is moving all of it's offices off-shore, possibly to the Philippines & India.

I will certainly be looking for another carrier before my contract is up.

 

[Vivers]

We also had a full page for $1000 a month I think as well as another add in a smaller type book that was a complete bust! The YB worked ok for awhile until maybe 4 years ago I would say.

 

[trojancarpetcare]

Yellow books are pretty much obsolete

 

[Newman]

does anyone here still use it for water damage?

Yes, they are absorbent and good at soaking up water

 

[SamIam]

I see a ton as door stops. I'm in 2 of 3 here dropped outta 2 a few years ago and got offered a full page for $350 so I gambled not really a success. This year they threw in a full page under W/D and a place on the YP.com and keeped the price the same.

The book works for a 3 to 4 months tell the other book comes out then it gets shelved. not getting suckered next year. I love the bs will put a tracker phone # to prove your wrong.

The good part about going into the ATT book was I was leaving supermedia and the dropped thier price so I pay about the same for both!