Yellow pages
- Thread starter malawihap
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I am just about to for the first time.
Cost is £211 for a decent size box but it varies depending on section you go into, some have specials, proberly the ones they are having trouble filling. It may vary from area to area also.
Don't know if it will pay off, heard so many different stories but at that price, it only takes 1 job to pay for itself.
Cost is £211 for a decent size box but it varies depending on section you go into, some have specials, proberly the ones they are having trouble filling. It may vary from area to area also.
Don't know if it will pay off, heard so many different stories but at that price, it only takes 1 job to pay for itself.
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If you advertise in other places, I would suggest the use of using a freefone telephone number. You can get a monthly report on calls & determine if the advert is working. My company use different freefone number in all there adds, and then return to those publications where we get the response. You will be surprised how cheap they are, you only pay for the calls received, so no calls no charges.
Good Luck
Good Luck
Efficacy of YP advertising rather depends on what you actually do. Although I use YP to find suppliers, I think advertising in there is a waste of time for the little guy.
1. If you are, say, a plumber, then what do you advertise under? Plumbers? Central heating specialists? H&V engineers? And if you do plumbing and also fit, say, bathrooms, this adds another batch of headings. So which do you choose?
2. What if you live on the border of two (or more) YP editions? Which one do you choose?
3. Unless you're lucky or have work in hand, you'll have to wait a few months before you see your advert and get any benefit from it.
4. Customers who search YP are ikely to be getting several comparative quotes. Unless you are confident of being better than the rest, then don't bother.
5. If your advertising is a success, then you will have sufficient work to keep you busy, then you'll have to turn away all subsequent enquiries, and people will be put off phoning you again because you're always out, or too busy.
6. When I was looking for a carpet fitter, I tried every carpet fitting entry in our local YP, but every one was too busy, so I used a boke who had "carpet fitting" written on the side of his van - and to whom I've referred several other satisfied customers.
What you ought to do is identify your target market and find out how to get more directly to that market. For example, because I wanted only local work, I spent about £70 on some decent business cards, and £50 on a classified ad in the freebie paper. Over the following few weeks I gave the cards out willy nilly, and left them with all my customers, and anyone I visited to quote. Now, I don't advertise at all, and I'm permanently in work due to referrals.
Your decision should be based on what you do and where you want to do it.
1. If you are, say, a plumber, then what do you advertise under? Plumbers? Central heating specialists? H&V engineers? And if you do plumbing and also fit, say, bathrooms, this adds another batch of headings. So which do you choose?
2. What if you live on the border of two (or more) YP editions? Which one do you choose?
3. Unless you're lucky or have work in hand, you'll have to wait a few months before you see your advert and get any benefit from it.
4. Customers who search YP are ikely to be getting several comparative quotes. Unless you are confident of being better than the rest, then don't bother.
5. If your advertising is a success, then you will have sufficient work to keep you busy, then you'll have to turn away all subsequent enquiries, and people will be put off phoning you again because you're always out, or too busy.
6. When I was looking for a carpet fitter, I tried every carpet fitting entry in our local YP, but every one was too busy, so I used a boke who had "carpet fitting" written on the side of his van - and to whom I've referred several other satisfied customers.
What you ought to do is identify your target market and find out how to get more directly to that market. For example, because I wanted only local work, I spent about £70 on some decent business cards, and £50 on a classified ad in the freebie paper. Over the following few weeks I gave the cards out willy nilly, and left them with all my customers, and anyone I visited to quote. Now, I don't advertise at all, and I'm permanently in work due to referrals.
Your decision should be based on what you do and where you want to do it.
Handyman...some good points.
I've always found advertising a nightmare and seemed to have tried everything over the years, a lot through panic when the phone stops ringing.
I fine tuned my direction a couple of years ago and have been pretty busy ever since, all from one add every week but my worry is that this has got to dry up sooner or later. That is why I chose to go into YP, hopefully reaching more people.
Recommendations are always the best to get, if for no other reason than somebody was pleased with your work but the sort of work I am now doing is a bit limited.
I've always found advertising a nightmare and seemed to have tried everything over the years, a lot through panic when the phone stops ringing.
I fine tuned my direction a couple of years ago and have been pretty busy ever since, all from one add every week but my worry is that this has got to dry up sooner or later. That is why I chose to go into YP, hopefully reaching more people.
Recommendations are always the best to get, if for no other reason than somebody was pleased with your work but the sort of work I am now doing is a bit limited.
Prior to getting a proper job and providing a valuable service which people appreciate, I ran my own marketing organisation for 20 years.
Are you happy to disclose the sort of work you do now? I might be able to offer some pointers (offline, may be).
Are you happy to disclose the sort of work you do now? I might be able to offer some pointers (offline, may be).
Although a lot of people will put there own units in, they are reluctant to do anything on the worktops, mostly through lack of skill and the correct tools, the same to a lesser extent applies to cornice, pelmets and various other finishing that's required.
It can be hard to find a fitter to do this work and you may have to wait a couple of weeks before he can get to you. Because this is what I do most and it only ever takes one day at the most to do, I can usually get to them in a couple of days and sometimes the same day, which I know is what gets me the job a lot of the time. A bonus which I had not thought of is that they are giving my number to others who are going to put in their own units and they book me well in advance.
My second direction is kitchen makeovers, I've got 800 worktop samples and 320 door/colour styles which I can get in any size you can think of.
I'm trying to get this up to two a month and because I go back to the same place each time for sinks, taps, hobs & ovens I'm starting to get some good deals and treatment.
Amazing thing is I'm getting offered more fits now than ever but I always turn them down, I do not want to be stuck in someone's house for 4/5 days.
It can be hard to find a fitter to do this work and you may have to wait a couple of weeks before he can get to you. Because this is what I do most and it only ever takes one day at the most to do, I can usually get to them in a couple of days and sometimes the same day, which I know is what gets me the job a lot of the time. A bonus which I had not thought of is that they are giving my number to others who are going to put in their own units and they book me well in advance.
My second direction is kitchen makeovers, I've got 800 worktop samples and 320 door/colour styles which I can get in any size you can think of.
I'm trying to get this up to two a month and because I go back to the same place each time for sinks, taps, hobs & ovens I'm starting to get some good deals and treatment.
Amazing thing is I'm getting offered more fits now than ever but I always turn them down, I do not want to be stuck in someone's house for 4/5 days.
D
david and julie
Many years back when I had my own business I received a bill for around £700 from the yellow pages.
I phoned several times explaining that I had not asked for any adverts, all my work was trade accounts and I was busy anyway. No they said we have your signed order and a copy of the proof print you also signed.
They then sent me a signed copy of an order and proof print, then threatened me with county court if didn't pay.
Phoned the person on the letter at YP to again refute what they were saying. My luck then changed, the person who sent the letter had gone on holiday and I spoke to a temp. She asked the name of the salesman, when I told her she said he had filled in hundreds of bogus orders, then took the commission on his sales. She said she would confirm this in writing. Two or three days later I had not received my letter so phoned them.
The temp had gone and that was the last I ever heard.
Yellow pages knew all along what had happened but couldn't stop the ad's, the stupid part was I got a free ad but the phone number was wrong anyway.
I phoned several times explaining that I had not asked for any adverts, all my work was trade accounts and I was busy anyway. No they said we have your signed order and a copy of the proof print you also signed.
They then sent me a signed copy of an order and proof print, then threatened me with county court if didn't pay.
Phoned the person on the letter at YP to again refute what they were saying. My luck then changed, the person who sent the letter had gone on holiday and I spoke to a temp. She asked the name of the salesman, when I told her she said he had filled in hundreds of bogus orders, then took the commission on his sales. She said she would confirm this in writing. Two or three days later I had not received my letter so phoned them.
The temp had gone and that was the last I ever heard.
Yellow pages knew all along what had happened but couldn't stop the ad's, the stupid part was I got a free ad but the phone number was wrong anyway.
What D & J say does not surprise me in the least. (Add that as no. 7 on my list).
Advertising on this site might be cheap - but is going to get you the business you want in the locality you want???
Going for cheap advertising is not the correct approach. Going for cost-effective advertising is. If it costs you £5000 to advertise, but you get £20k's worth of business which lasts you a year, this is much better that spending 100 quid and getting a grand's worth of business which lasts you a month.
Advertising on this site might be cheap - but is going to get you the business you want in the locality you want???
Going for cheap advertising is not the correct approach. Going for cost-effective advertising is. If it costs you £5000 to advertise, but you get £20k's worth of business which lasts you a year, this is much better that spending 100 quid and getting a grand's worth of business which lasts you a month.
D
david and julie
If you want to contact each other without posting your details, I would suggest a public phone box number or similar at an arranged time.
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