Is a yellow pages add worth it?

[bp fick]

Did Yellow Pages business for over 30 years. As stated by others, very, very expensive. Diminishing returns for those dollars, as the culture is simply changing the way information is being shared. Cells phone vs Landlines. Internet use is way up and Yellow Pages use is declining.

The advertising money needs to be spent, but could be used on cafe placemats, community publications, maps, etc. Local mini "newspapers" that are delivered free typically. There are many ways to spend your dollars to make your business known. It is also difficult to track the effectiveness of your efforts.

 

[Sigarms]

What I have found in my business is that usually the larger the ad in the yellow pages, the "worse" the company is.

For $59 a month to get your name in the book, I don't see your profits flying out the window and it wouldn't hurt to get your name in the book.

As a consumer, I've used the yellow pages, but what I find amazing is that when I needed a new roof put on, I called seven roofers in the phone book, and only three gave me a call back. I don't know why people would spend money on advertising and not call a potential customer back.

I've also found yellow page salespeople worse than car sales people. They will promise you the world, and once they have your money, you'll be hard pressed to get a phone call back from them if you have problems. I had a buddy go into business and I tried to talk him out of the yellow pages ad for the amount of money they wanted (BIG bucks in a city). They told him how many calls he would get with the size ad, showed him all this great data to support what they told him, and he did it. He lasted about eight months. He averaged no more than one phone call a day (if he was lucky) due to that ad. Then the yellow page people have you by the gonads due to the number listed. Lot of things they don't tell you.

Word of mouth advertising can't be beat. As mentioned, do good work, be respectful of the customer, and do what you say your going to do and things usually work out. Just remember to put money back into the business if things are going good. Seen too many guys end up getting new cars and boats and houses when things are good that put them out of business when things get slow.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I had a message on my answering machine today from a yellow book sales rep wanting me to place an ad. Delete

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm a General Contractor, Remodeler and Handy Man. When I moved to Texas, I put ads in the lcoal free classifieds paper. Here, it's called the American Classifieds. I didn't have any refrences, or know anybody here, so the only work that I got was from that ad. I worked off and on, saved as much as I could and relied on my credit card when it was really slow. After a few years of this, my clientel grew and I started getting more work from refrences. I tried advertising in local papers and other classifieds ads, but never got a single job from them.

One thing that I did that really helped was to create a blogsite on google with pictures of work that I've done. Those pictures have been a big part of why some of my new clients have hired me that only knew me from a friend who recomended me. They told me that they looked at my pics, saw the variety of things that I do and decided that they wanted to meet me. Once we meet face to face, I almost always get the job. The main reason that I don't get a job is because I'm too busy to do it right away.

I haven't advertised in years. I have my name, phone number and website on my truck and the T-shirt that I wear. People come up to me and ask about what I do and sometimes that leads to jobs, but mostly I just hand out my card and never hear from them again.

I've had people try to sell me ads in the different phone books and on some of the online reference websites with a promise of all the exposure I'll get. I decline and when they try to argue with me, I tell them that I have more work then I can handle and that I don't want any more. That's always fun to see how they react to that!!!!

Eddie

 

[Bird]

Of course, I remember when we only had one phone company for a city or area, and only one phone book, the size of which was determined by the size of the city. And I used the Yellow Pages frequently. Now, it's a different story. I live in a small town surrounded by other small towns, and right now I have eight current phone books; 3 are Yellow Pages only, while the other 5 have both white and yellow pages. All eight were, of course, delivered to my front door free of charge and unsolicited. When each of the companies delivers new ones, I throw away their old ones and keep the new, but almost never use any of them.

I think printed telephone books, both yellow and white pages, will soon be a thing of the past, and probably will not be missed. You might want to keep one or two for antiques to show your grandkids.

 

[dmccarty]

My county has a privately run website and list server. I would guess that the biggest question on the list server are asking for references for plumbers, chimney sweeps, tile setters, handyman, etc.

The list server sells adverts but I think it would be better and cheaper advertising to answer questions on the site with a signature of your business.

A previous poster mentioned that "old" people don't use the phone book. If it is not true it soon will be. The youngsters at work have smart phones of one type or the other with the iPhone being very popular. Given that you can just hop on the phone and search Google the yellow pages are eventually doomed.

I generally Google since its easier and faster than the phone book. The other day we were thinking of trying a small eatery in down. I was not sure of the address but more importantly parking. I Googled and then looked at the street view. Sure enough not enough parking for us. Can't do that with yellow pages.

When we where selling our old house while building our new house I could not do all that needed to be done. We needed help so we started looking for handymen to do a bit of this and that. VERY hard to get returned phone calls. I think most people could do very well if they just returned the phone calls.

Another advertising media was the little books that came with the paper or maybe as junk mailed. A lawn care website I skimmed through years ago recommended this type of advertising. It was cheap. It reached a large number of people. A small number of calls generated from the ad could be more work than could be done.

A website would be the best bet. It is what I look for first. However it had better be informative or it gets skipped real quick. The site does not need fancy graphics and flash but information on who you are, what are your skills, etc

Later,
Dan

 

[capt jack]

I have run a successful speciality contracting business for 28 years. I still use the yellow pages but they are expensive and are multipling like rabbits. I still feel word of mouth is best AFTER you build up a following. Until then, "shopper" type papers are your best option, then a small yellow page ad. My other best advise, do what you say you will, if you have a call back issue... don't hide, GO FIX THE PROBLEM, and don't be ashamed to go ask for YOUR MONEY when the job is done.
Jack

 

[2manyrocks]

What kind of trim are you doing and for whom? I thought typically trim would most often be done in new construction and the general contractors would be the guys who bid out this work. They tend to use the same guys over and over because they get in a habit and don't like surprises. I don't think they'd be going through the yellow pages to look for trim carpenters. There's the budget paint and caulk crowd of trim carpenters ("paint and caulk make a carpenter what he ain't"), and then there are the real trim carpenters that work in stained hardwoods where there is no caulking over mistakes. If you're after the high end market, then you've got to figure out how to get yourself noticed in that market--

 

[carpenter383]

What kind of trim are you doing and for whom? I thought typically trim would most often be done in new construction and the general contractors would be the guys who bid out this work. They tend to use the same guys over and over because they get in a habit and don't like surprises. I don't think they'd be going through the yellow pages to look for trim carpenters. There's the budget paint and caulk crowd of trim carpenters ("paint and caulk make a carpenter what he ain't"), and then there are the real trim carpenters that work in stained hardwoods where there is no caulking over mistakes. If you're after the high end market, then you've got to figure out how to get yourself noticed in that market--

You're correct the demand for trim carpenters is mostly in new construction.
But there are individuals who chose to be there own builder who might look in the yellow pages.
There are builders who only build a few houses a year and thier subs don't give them top priority and may put the work off long enough to prompt the builder into looking in the phone book.
There are plenty of homeowners who want to spruce their house up by adding crown moulding, wainscotting, custom columns, built-in bookcases, etc. who might look in the yellowpages
Realtors and or investers looking to "flip" a house may wanna spruce it up. Might look in the yellowpages.
The point is you never know who might need a trim carpenter and for what reason.
I've done trimwork in basic 150,000 dollar homes up to million dollar plus homes and everywhere in between. And no I don't use caulking to hide my work I don't NEED to.
I've been working for the same guy for about 7 yrs. doing almost nothing but trimming. (until the housing market crashed now we're doing whatever comes along) Of course I don't know everything, but I feel like I have more than enough know how to go out on my own and be sucessful and make my customers happy with me.... I just need to become known

 

[2manyrocks]

Have you made friends with your local building materials suppliers and are you on their referral list?

Have you made friends with the more successful realtors in your area--they can be a good source of referrals because people buying homes will say that they want to do this and do that, and having your name mentioned could be very helpful to you.

Local home decorators/designers--same idea.

Do you have good pictures of your prior work and a list of satisfied customers who will say good things about you?

There are a lot of people who just can't do trim. Maybe you should submit a great self help article with good pictures to your local newspaper. If you could do this with a local designer/decorator talking about how to make a home more appealing for an affordable investment of cash, that could be interesting to readers. Material costs are not going to get cheaper. Get the work done now at your convenience. Good time to get the work done. Those kinds of themes.

Some people are going to do it themselves, and then others are going to say--I'll get this guy to do it.

Does this help?