Elfyn think of a few local pubs that have changed name in recent years... what do the locals call the pubs now? The old name it used to be! I don't think re-naming the company will pull the wool over any of their existing or past customers' eyes but it might help them in winning new business.
Shaun, you used to be able to look at the price list on
www.marketing.yell.com but I can't seem to find it any more - maybe they removed it. Shame, it was very handy. It was a table of all the different sized ads and the prices depending on black & white/2 colours/full colour etc.
The ad prices vary from region to region so yours won't be the same as mine but.... My monochrome (black ink on yellow page) double quarter column advert on its own was £799+vat last year but this year I sat it out for the same ad for £560+vat PLUS got him to throw in a medium weight yell.com listing as well.
You really need to know the list price so you've got somewhere to start from... you need to be prepared because they come in with the intention of selling the maximum to you. Presuming they have all been to the same sales school, they will try to throw the package deal at you but unless you want yell.com I would just stick with the book.
The package contains the website building - remember Mark D'Alcorn had that "WTF" moment earlier this year when he thought someone had ripped off his business
They build a website for you and attempt to optimise it for google. Unless your existing site is pants and not ranked anywhere on google (which I know is not the case) I would definitely not take that up.
The other thing is the 118 900 - the way it works is you call the number and ask for "A carpet cleaner in X part of Sheffield" for example and they will give you the name and number of a company - supposedly at random from their list. This is the bulls*it bit they sell you, where apparently you can buy the privilege to have your name and number given out more often.
The guy who originally tried to sell this to me got kicked out, bright red with embarrassment! He tried to show off this system, put his mobile on speaker phone and rang 118900 asking for a carpet cleaner in kettering. The number they gave him was for a business that had ceased trading several years previously! The guy said "well maybe he's still going" to which I said "I don't think so mate..." I opened my understairs cupboard door and pointed to the blue Ninja sitting there and said "That's his f***ing machine I bought off him when he packed up!"
He quickly changed the subject.
