[Robert Watson]

It`s a thumbs down from me. If they got delivered properly you might get a better response.
From my experience in Edinburgh, they just get dumped at the foot of the stairwell and I still see them lying there
7 months later. If they think I`m spending my hard earned cash on a service like that, then they are very much mistaken.
Rab. 

[Ahtisham_h]

Please remember that the question you need to ask your customers is "Where did you find our telephone number?" not where did you get me from or how did you hear about me.

I am confident that this will surprise you.

Many of your existing customers will use Yellow Pages to find you, if you are not there what impression does it give?

[Fred Gullan]

I second that Rab!!!. We chuck out or re-cycle thousands of new yp books every year because they are dumped in the bottom of the stairwells we service . We leave them for a few weeks after the drop but few are taken up. They become a public nuisance and an environmental disaster!! Make great door stops though. All this business about reaching so many thousand homes with one advert assumes 100% uptake
which is no where near the case.

Glad I  got that off my chest 

Fred

[Robert Watson]

Like Ken says £150 or so for the corporate ad or a small one, so existing customers can find you.
Last year I spent over 2K, I wont be doing it again. Yes I always ask where they got my number.
I appreciate there are many factors to consider, but not for me thanks.

Quote"Where did you find our telephone number?" not where did you get me from or how did you hear about me."

Could you please elaborate, I cant really see what your getting at.
Cheers,
Rab.

[Phil Marlor]

Please note the positioning policy for YP is not based on size and purely on your  company name that YOU supply us. YES, we allow 6 A's for those people who request this.

[hahahaha, I have 6 aaaaaaaaaaaa's and it put me on page 5 of the section!

There are only 2 slots available for top listing on Yell.com per directory and maybe the reason why you have not been offered this.

Dont want it offered to me, just leave it as it was and let any company alternate at the top, or at least tell us when you are changing things to suite your pockets!

YP is still one of the cheapest mediums to advertise in when you look at cost per 000's. For example, the Reading directory alone goes out to 191,000 households and businesses. How much would it cost you to distribute leaflets to an equivalent area?

So when you deliver the big yellow book does it get delivered with my advert showing and no-one else, if not then stop comparing it with leaflets.

[Phil Marlor]

Please remember that the question you need to ask your customers is "Where did you find our telephone number?" not where did you get me from or how did you hear about me.

The phone doesn't ring because of yellow pages, customers are probably poughing their way through the 1st 5 pages before they get to my add.

Many of your existing customers will use Yellow Pages to find you, if you are not there what impression does it give?
Rubbish!

[melanie rowe]

the easiest way to get to the front of your section is to place a number of dots before your name or around your advert, infact anyware in the ad like this................................................................................your company name, or ...........................aaaaaaaaaaaaa your company name, then you WILL be at the front, we placed a 6 grand add with yp, and got shoved to the back because of these practices which the reps wont tell you about, we refused to pay, they tried to take us to court and we won, mainly because they did not produce their terms and conditions of bussiness when they signed us up, they never do, this is in fact illegal, and against the finance act, so dont be bullied or bulshi**ed by them, their legal department or their reps, they are blatent liars and if you sit back and dont take them on you are allowing them to walk all over you, they know that what they are doing is illegal, but you need to take them on.

[lands]

Ash

Put this in front of John Condron (Yell's CEO) and he will give his usual I don't give a f&*k about you, all I care about is keeping the shareholders happy.

Forget it mate, you are on ahiding to nothing. Guys on here are too switched on to the BS and they know there wares to be influenced by what you were taught at Slough.

Pete

[lands]

p.s. as an ex rep myself (when the co. was genuinely interested in providing geuine leads for its advertisers) I have seen countless speeches given by him and it's clear he is motivated by what I said in my last thread.

Moderators, I suggest you remove this attempt by a rep to sell YP on here (or at least put it on the buy and sell section where it belongs.

[Ahtisham_h]

Simple Example.

When was the last time you saw a Direct Line or Churchill advert on TV/Newspaper/Billboard?
Do you remember the number from the specific advert? Most likely not.
If after a week of seeing the advert you needed to renew your car insurance would you still remember the number?

Its your choice what you turn to in order to find that telephone number :  Internet, Directory, Leaflet or Telephone (118). (please note I am not saying everyone will pick up just the directory)

Similarly,  I may have seen your van on the street, passing by, or picked up a leaflet at some point. Now, when I need my carpet cleaned I will use one of the above options to get your number.

When you ask me where did I hear about you I will most likely say I saw your van or leaflet.

BUT, where did I find your number?

This is why I recommend you ask EVERY customer where they found your telephone number...

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Pete I think that's a bit unfair but I appreciate where you are coming from, I do believe that us carpet cleaners are very 'switched on' to how and where we spend our money so we DO know if a cerain advertising medium is working or not the same as if a certain chemical works or not, mainly because it either will cost us time or money.

Hopefully the Yellow Pages Rep will respond with some answers, by the way my YP rep said that she can only come at 2pm latest on a day that is no good to me as I don't finish until 5ish all the other reps I've seen have been happy (well agreed) to see me then-

Ahtisham_h        can you have a word with the Sheffield Directory ?

Shaun

[melanie rowe]

had the yellow page rep on the phone a while back, even after not paying for our 6 grand ad, which by the way only produces £2200 of work, tried telling me that my competitor up the road is getting 120 calls a month from his ad!!, and only advertises in the yp, i asked which competitor, and i happen to know him, he's starving to death, i said listen love i've been in this bussiness for 20 years and if you expect me to believe that bullsh**t then your are more stupid than i originally took you for, but she kept insisting that this was the truth, after 15 minutes of this crap i had to put the phone down on her.

[ollie]

Ive stopped yellow pages and now just use leaflets and papers etc..lots of my customers tell me the yp goes in the bin. Im doing a lot better than last year waiting for people to  decide they want their carpet cleaned and pick up the yp etc .Im now suggesting they have their carpets cleaned with leaflets and my phone is ringing much more than last year. i still have my free one liner in yp though but have only had 3 calls from it so far. As for yell.com ..about 2 calls in 2 years.

Ollie

[Liahona]

I have never had a yellow pages rep phone me untill about a month ago.  I have to admit that I explained why I didnt want anything to do with y/p and she was happy to not pressure me any farther.

 In almost 30 years of being self-employed, not all to do with cleaning, I have never advertised and asked where she had got my number from.  Sadly she wouldnt offer that info but oh well. 

Anyway this was really a side note that at least the reps arent all as pushy as most seam to be.

Antisham_h, if I asked every single client of mine where they got my number from then not one would answer from the yellow pages. 

Best, Dave.

P.S. Personally I wouldnt use the y/p for anyones number but thats just me.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Two seperate issues.

Paper directories will decline to nothing in the next 10 years, I have seen a marked reduction in YP enquiries in past year with exactly same adverts.

Yell worked O.K until as Phil says they got greedy with the sponsored listings, I dropped my advert last year as it didn't pay enough and my other internet advertising i.e websites dwarfed it .

I am a big advocate of the internet and Yell has a presence, but nothing like YP has in the directories market.

To see Yell and Thompsons advertising on Google addwords says it all !

Cheers

Doug

[maxcarpets]

Hi Guys,

First I have to say that this YP is a very nice guy, I invited him to see your views on YP. This can only help everyone involved so, no need to be rude.

I must say though, I think like for like the response from 191,000 leaflets would be greater.   

Come on Neil I know you have views on this.

Regards

Justin

[Matt Read]

When i used to advertise in yp i put 5 dots at the start of my name, eg ".....astroclean". That gets you to the front without looking cheap and nasty.

I also complained 3 years running about the postioning aspect and got 25% per cent refunded.

I don't currently advertise with them as i have switched to btphone book....it is done on size and loyalty with them and you get a lot more for your money as they are currently trying to muscle in on the market.

Not sure if i will bother with either next year as my business is more established now but i understand why so many younger business' feel they need to advertise in them,the reps are very convincing with all the stats but in my opinion only one stat counts and thats yours,it is a pain asking customers but its the only way you will know if its working.

[markpowell]

The dots have been replaced with the 6 A's or so yellow pages hae told me. Having the dots now will mov your ad to the back
Mark

[Matt Read]

Shows how ridiculous it is now then...they told me 3 years ago it was all going to made fairer ! If i see a's in front of a company name i start thinking house of horror's !

[Neil Williams]

Well, I'll say it again, ours has more than paid for each monthly installment.
I find some of the comments on here nothing less than rude and from people who haven't even filled in a fraction of their personal details.
For what it's worth (to all those 1,000's of leaflet drop people) I ALWAYS dump any of this stuff straight into the bin.
Actually I wish more of you wouldn't advertise in YP because that will leave a bigger market for me.