Clean It Up
UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: cleanimperial on November 06, 2006, 10:28:00 pm
-
Hi does anyone advertise on yell.com if so does it work?
THANKS
FRED
-
I have with the paid adds and it was rubbish for me in London yet my biz partner in the Midland did a lot better, with some enquiries from the free add.
All I got was a few domestic calls, despite my add clearly stating COMMERCIAL. I wonder what else I could have paid to put in the add that they wouldn’t have read either!
-
we did this waste of time and money :P yell a load of :-X :-X :-X :-X
and BT BOOK :P
-
Hi,
I did and the response was fab, it paid for itself in three weeks. I think I may be a regional thing, not sure
-
I too have done better from yell.com than from any other form of advertising.
chris
-
Its very good especially for builders cleans. You imagine a company out of area, not knowing who can do a builders clean. They just do a search on yell.com, I have cancelled my ads in the book but I keep this add running.
Kind regards Phil
-
I haved had a yell subscrfiption for 6 months and not had one response from it, would not use it again, and I cannot cancel it so Im not happy.
-
I'll join the side of 'Waste of money'.... :o
I'd tried it before and thought it was a poor return on my money, but I must have been at a low ebb when some persitstent ::) sales girl kept hassling me until I agreed.
Hardly any calls and we clean pretty much everything so no excuse really.
2 things I've learned though.. ???
1. Don't say 'yes' just because you're too busy to argue.
2. Persitance pays off eventually ;)
Les
-
I have had alot of interest by just having the one line free entry. Infact most of my work has come from yell.com
-
Waste of time,but you do get thousands of sales calls trying to get your hard earned cash as yell sell your details on to every parasitic company in the world.
John
-
Have to agree with the waste of time side of things, Yellow pages 1-2 jobs did not pay for itself, Yell.com loads of tire kickers, about 2-3 jobs again did not pay for itself. Told Yellow pages/.com that I will not re-new this year, "that's a shame your .com add had 1800 views over the last 10 months" Can I see the figures please "yes we will email them to you" That was a month ago and still waiting. I can see the stats at my end, only ever showed 3 at max looked at my web-site via Yell.com So it's not for me sorry.
Roger
-
I would not waste your money, the best form of advertisement is word of mouth. We are advertised in the yellow pages and YELL.COM, honestly, they've both been useless.
regards Charlene
-
We do, no responses as yet but are only on the free listing and have only been registered for a small ammount of time!!
-
we have a priory advert on yell.com and cant complain as bout first and second jobs paid for it,all in 1 week after the advert gone live,a domestic client for a springclean that now as a regular clean and the second was for a commercial contract.
a few others after that aswell.
-
works well for me and it keeps me local as customers tend to put there postcodes in to find a local person.
Do what I did and test the water...put a free line entry on for 6 months and see how your area goes. !
Nothing lost that way ;D
-
yellow pages is nt very good really, you may get a few calls in a month but that doesnt mean that it results in actuall work. and for the money you oay for a years add its so not worth it. ithis is my first time in it so thought give it ago but wont do it next year, i think its best to spend your money else where im def geting out when it ends next year, find another source of advertising i think.
-
It seems that a lot of people are shying away from the YP directory, as the last one I received is dramatically only HALF the thickness of previous years.
Needless to say that this could actually be a good thing for those who did advertise (less competition) - or - YP have smply split the directories into more areas as some sort of sales tactic.
-
WE HAVE NUMEROUS SPONSORED LISTINGS WITH YELL.COM AND THEY ARE OUR BIGGEST SOURCE OF NEW CLIENTS AND LEADS... IT COSTS A LOT BUT BRINGS IN FAR MORE!
WE GET MORE RESPONSE THROUGH YELL.COM THAN ANY OTHER MARKETTING MEDIUM AND THE THROUGH TRAFFIC FROM YELL ON OUR WEBSITE IS HUGE.
-
ok so some people are saying YP is crap, and some Yell.com is crap and in the past leafleting is crap.........so apart from a really expensive radio or tv ad, what advertising actually does work?
i agree with a dustdees in as much as its a regional thing..........i only advertise in Yellow Pages and a free line entry in Yell.com and (usually) I get a good response :)
getting good cleaners is harder tho :)
Jan K
-
We are based in Northampton and our developers head offices tend to be in the big cities - London, Birmingham etc.
The cost to advertise in two different regions is prohibitive.
We had our 4 colour logo and and contact details put onto three sides of a Vauxhall Combo van for just £225 (inc VAT)!!! Cheaper than YP and lasts longer!
Had some new business from it too, and it is professional to see on site.
We find this, and the direct approach to the site manager and sales team, the best way to get a foot in the door. If they like you, and you look professional, they will happily point you in the right direction for who to contact with your request to submit a quote (esspecially if they are not happy with their current cleaner!)
Apart from this - do a good job and word of mouth helps a lot.
Site managers move around and they like to keep good people with them!
-
Totally Agree with Madmarys.
We have all our 5 vehicles with logo's and telephone numbers on them, (had some good referrals from them, cost about £200 per vehicle) and we have been with several of our Site Managers for 3/4 years now moving around with them as they move fron site to site.
Greatest way to advertise is, do a good job in the first place and word of mouth soon gets round.
We have never used yell.com or yellow pages apart from the free line entry, never used flyers, we just get out there and do a good job at reasonable prices.
-
pdl
Interested to know how you managed to get with these site managers in the first place without advertising ? It's an area we are thinking of moving into soon.
We have just put our first ad in the yellow pages as my w/c mate has had a very good response from his so we took the plunge....only time will tell I guess.
-
Hey Rich.
Hope you're not near us then! lol :'(
Simple answer:
Polish your steeleys,
Get out your cleanest HI-Viz's.
Wash your van,
(We are cleaners after all)
and GET OUT THERE!
Look for developers hoardings or recently started groundworks.
(don't approach at groundwork stage)
Make a note of the site and then keep an eye on it.
Timing is now critical - no-one thinks of cleaners till the last minute!
A rough guide would be to approach the sales/marketing suite people (if any) first. Get friendly with them. Give them your literature (never your prices!)
If you are lucky you might bump into the site manager at the same time, but in general, don't approach the site manager until the roof is on the first property on the development (he is a busy man) He may, or may not, be thinking of cleaners yet, but he sure will need them within the next month or so.
Its about getting to know these people at the right time and getting on with them. If they like you and you look professional enough, they should point you in the right direction of the Quantity Surveyor/Buyer. (HE IS GOD!) It is He that you then "respectfully request a tender pack for the above development" etc.
IF you get a tender pack - chuck your prices back at him - and wait...... and wait... (and usually) wait...
Another way is to simply send all your literature, PLI, ELI etc. directly to head office, requesting inclusion onto their 'Approved Subcontractor List' and, yes you guessed it! wait....
Good luck - but not in my area eh! Ha Ha
-
Have to totally concur with Madmary's last post.
-
Majority of our enquiries come from Yell.com but our target market are young professional commuters who automatically turn to web for everything. We are now looking at listings with search engines and wonder who has experience of such listings and what was the return on investment?
-
took on a new regular job today asked how they found us, reply, another cleaning company recommended you because they could not cover ther area, nice one thanks other cleaning company, we also do the same for them, lesley J