yellow page ad's - Geo

Massplumber

I have been thinking of running (first time) an ad in the local yellow pages and would love to here the pro's and con's from anyone who has an ad running or had one running. I'm thinking of a 1/4 page "enhanced" color ad and there not cheap (five figures) so any input would help. thanks...geo

Big

Yellow pages

Ive ran full,half,quarter and just my name. Never even made enough to pay for the ad. I think you must be in the PAGES but unless you can go into many books, it hasn't paid me. Of course when the rep call for a renewal he always say WE were doing it wrong .

chuck shaw

yellow pages

I ran a yellow pages add for 3 years. The cost was way up there...I have found by advertising else where, a more directed advertisement, I get calls that are more the jobs I want. I am listed here, on find a contractor, and also customers have gotten my name from the RPA web site. Both of these are much cheaper than yellow pages, and reach a more directed market.

JMO

Chuck Shaw

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Mark Hunt

Yellow pages

I have tried to track each sales lead I have gotten since I started selling 6 years ago. I can count on one hand the number of YP calls I've gotten.

We auotmatically got a YP listing when the phone line was run in for my new company otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with one.

Now in my area there isn't a listing for "Radiant Heating Contractors". I asked and we can get that set up for our company but it will not appear until next year.

Locally we have web sites that list businesses in specific areas. If you have access to one or more of these get your company listed there.

I imagine we will be seeing a "Web Pages" book sooner or later.

JMHO

Mark Hunt

www.comforthometech.com

Heatermon

Yellow Pages

We are always adjusting our advertising vehicles. I just modified our Pacific Bell Yellow Page Ads in 2 different books yesterday. You have to really know what you want to accomplish before you start ANY advertising vehicle. From our company's perspective, here is where we are. 1.The local yellow pages have too many full and 1/2 page ads to compete with under "plumbing contractor" so we don't even have a listing there. 2. We are one of only 4 companies listed under "Heating and Cooling - Radiant" so we just have a bold color type to stand out among the others. 3. We co-op with a major water heater manufacturer under the "Water Heaters - Dealers" heading and have our own ad under "Water Heaters - Repairing". 4 We have a big, bold listing in the white pages so we jump out at you, and because our name is similar to the local hospital, bank, and community college, we know there are alot of people noticing us. Also, because we are an advertiser with the yellow pages, we are eligable for their "ride along" program. This program provides new telephone books to all the new phone numbers being issued to residential customers. Along with the new phone books are a packet of advertising "ride alongs" that are separate from the phone book. We have a sticker that has the emergency shut down instructions for the water heater and our phone number on the sticker. On the peel of side of the sticker we have our "welcome to the neighborhood" message, along with a discount coupon, and ask that they put this sticker on their water heater to refer to if they ever have a problem. This program is cheaper to us than if we mail them directly and is targeting the best source of customers - the new arrivals who haven't found their "personal plumber" yet. All of these sources are continually tracked to ensure they are working to our satisfaction. We find that over 80% of our business still comes from "personal" sources (past customers and recomendations from people who know us) but we still need the Yellow Pages to keep our name, and more importantly our phone number, out in the public's eye. Good luck with your Yellow Page endevor.

Heatermon

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Heatermon

Web pages

Was told yesterday by my Yellow Page Rep that its now available in my area (San Diego) at www.smartpages.com and will cost about 40 bucks a month. I have had more success from Dan's "Find a Contractor" than any of our other sources and see on-line as the standard of the future. (I hope Dan isn't listening or we will be seeing our rates go through the roof next year)

Heatermon

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heatboy

Been there........

spent the money and received not one job. When I was in the Yellow pages, I was the only one advertising radiant. That was 6 years ago. Complete waste of money. Now, there is a plethera of contractors who have radiant in there ads. For my business, people who find me use other avenues. My website, recommendations from manufacturers and, naturally, word of mouth referrals are my greatest opportunity for projects. I even get leads from other contractors, which seldom pan out, but get my companies name out nonetheless.

hb
climatecadvanced.com
"Expert in Silent Warmth" ™

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