[Shaun_Ashmore]

Gone down hill?

Last week I counted 14 sales calls and I'm registered against these so how many didn't I get?

5 price shoppers, and 3 jobs.

Hardly pays for itself.

I think I'll go for a smaller ad next year before it goes for good.

I did leaflets for the first time in a long time, paid for around my home only 3000 done by the post office and I've got 5 jobs booked and 4 calls to go and see.

I'm repeating this every 6-8 weeks as I'm now on a contract, not bad money as I can work closer to home, I think my local address is a good puller.

Shaun

[venom]

this last year only had 2 jobs from yellow pages wont be wasting my money next time will do more leaflets. now tompson local is much better

[stuart_clark]

Hi Shaun ! Yellow pages works for us very well in the north east,well it does for me that is!! I average about 15  new jobs a week from yp mind you i am in two directories,stuart Clark

[scott.]

YP is crap...Im in the south east...had an ad under "a"...so on the 1st page....had 4 jobs in a year from it....all my advertising is done via my website...as most people use the net these days...never looked back.

[Spot On cleaning]

Same for me, i tried the introductory £99 offer for the first year and was crap. Payed £1000 for Two book deal and again crap.

There are too many advertisers in there. To back this up, my next door neighbours son who knows i am a carpet cleaner, phoned me from Worcester on Saturday asking my advice about carpet cleaners because the choice was that great, and which one should he go for.

At least by putting a leaflet through someones door it's your own personal advert on their doormat. I had a job on Saturday from a self made business card that i had posted Two years ago which the customer had kept.

If in the future i earn substantially more, then i would go in yp just to beat the taxman, but when you are not it becomes just another drain on your income before you earn a penny.

Dave

[Ian Gourlay]

Shaun,

Of the 14 calls you received how many did you try to make appointments to go and survey?

How many Surveys did you do?

[The Great One]

Hi

First year in YP.

Smallish ad (£680) but a good ad.

Had 3 jobs so far

Regards

Martin

[Shaun_Ashmore]

22 jobs in total, 14 were trying to sell me something, 5 were wanting a price there and then and admitting they were looking for the cheapest, 2 onsite 1 over the phone.

Shaun

[Terry_Burrows]

strange how areas have results and some not we have gone in yp to I hope we have not wasted it

[Ali_D]

What kind of response do you get from Yell.com and do you notice any difference between priority listings compared to standard listings?

Ali

[Steve Chapman]

yellow pages just does'nt represent good value for money, it's too big and too many adverts all offering the same thing.

I ditched them about two years ago and saved about £2000

In my experience adverts work better in a publication that people pay for, like a local paper, they pay the money and read it religously   cover to cover to get their moneys worth, plus it's local and not so much competition!

Oh and it doesn't cost 2 grand

regards
steve

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Have you heard the recent Autotrader adverts on the radio?

The punchline is that there are over 300,000 cars in it so that the customer can be choosy when buying, a bit like YP.

Shaun

[ABLECLEAN]

 Hi Guys

Once again I am replying to the same complaints. I am in Northants and there are hundreds of ads in our directory. I have tried three sizes over the years and I have found that a quarter page with a photo of me and my machine in action ( full colour) works a treat. Small ads will not work!! The ad costs £2150 per year which is interest free over 10 months
which works out at £41.35 per week over 12 Months I did £18,000 off it last year (New business). Yell.com is rubbish.

[stuart_clark]

I cant see why anybody can say that yellow pages advertising is crap!!! maybe its there adverts that is crap ! I have advertised in the yellow pages now since 1996 and have always had a good return for my money Regards Stuart Clark

[Mike Halliday]

I agree with stuart, there's no crap YP just crap Ads and I know I've had my share of really crap ones!

this year I have 2 adds under 2 names, a half page ad & a 1/4 page ad.

the half page ad is almost an exact copy of my A5 leaflet and corrsponds nicely with my van graffixs, I'm going for a whole reconisable, memorable marketing concept

Mike

[Liahona]

I think most of you know that I dont advertise at all. looking around and in particular the yellow pages near where I live but might add that I dont work there is huge amounts of adds for carpet cleaners and within those adds there are 5 or 6 fast track people advertising. A lot of these people I know and they would say that on the whole they are dissappointed with the results. Could this be simply that the market is flooded, pardon the pun, with so many adds. I am very pleased with those of you who are getting a good response but my question would be to those is, are there just a few advertising where you are? For me though, if I was to spend 2 thousand or close to on getting work it wouldnt be through the yellow pages. Anyway, best for now, Dave.

[Neil Grainger]

Mike

Which 2 adverts work based on your leaflet and what response have you had. Mine is something like Fastrak advert but not very happy with the way it has turned out.

Cheers

Neil

[the red carpet]

iv been in 3months now at about £240 a month i think, so far had back 3very small jobs at £40 each
so about £720 out £120 in

currently £600 behind

[Steve Chapman]

To be honest i think it has nothing to do with the advert, but the type of area you live in. city dwellers tend to use the yellow pages but in a smaller area where we are people hardly ever touch it, they like referals and local people they know or go for the local publications.

I surveyed my customers for a year when i was in the y/p and it was only the ones that had just moved to the area that used it as a last resort?

Certainly not worth 2 grand of my money
regards
steve

[Everbrite]

Well over priced and over rated..........leave well alone total waste of money.