BAM!!! pulled the yellow page ads!!

Paul Biester

Paul Biester

Location
under grace
Ok so i have been contemplating t his for years . After many seminars and books and people telling me to pull ads.. I tried it for this coming year. I do know several who have done it and worked other means to keep the work rollin to great success. When this last storm came through and i realized all of the biggest most important jobs we got were repeats and referrals im like ... thats it. 1500/month out! done!!
Has anyone else done this? good? bad? ugly? What else have you done instead? lets talk about how this stuff work ed out.
You should have seen the look on my reps face!!?? i actually loved it!! sorrydude!
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You wont have any regrets, I assure you. It may have been good at one time for us when origionally trying to make a name for ourselves. But after years of good service, the repeat clients and referrals is all I need.

We had trouble handling all the calls and were overwhelmed with tons of calls from previous clients and referrals. People that weren't shopping for the lowest price but knew the value of the service we offered.

Congrats on pulling out.
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P.s I did keep a one line ad for people to refference in bold red though.
 
We get about 6 different books here and they go straight to the recycling bin.
My frustration is trying to find a listing for a local business that's not listed, I just use google now.
I pulled my ad years ago, best thing I ever did.
 
Thank you for all the great feedback!! I think my hesitation was because of what CAM said...Origanally it helped me get "on the map" so it was hard to let it go! We had a pretty good sized program at one time ... about 1500/ month plus the online yellow pages.... I started weaning back a few yaers ago and just decided to heck w it...
Im done! Our repeats and referals are strong so ill put that money into something else///
in a sick sort of way i enjoyed firing the guy!!
 
What is this Yellow Page thing you speak of???



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Seriously though...Do you track your incoming call sources? I think I know the answer already. Were you getting enough work from the yellow pages to justify $1500/ month?

Does anyone use YP anymore? I haven't in years. Like someone said above, they all go straight to the recycling bin at my house.

My first biz I used YP for the 1st 2 years I think. There were more price shoppers that anything. It wasn't worth the money and I knew it because I asked everyone where they got my name.

As it was mentioned, A one line listing in bold would be helpful for some people that are trying to find your #.
 
Good choice.

I dropped mine when I saw a trend in my call records. At every phone call we ask how they heard of us. (Since 2002 I have recorded stats). 4 years ago I saw a trend swaying away from the phone book. I made the decision to pull my add. It was a no brainer decision because of the information I had acquired.

This year I have recorded 966 calls. (about 15% of those calls can be call backs after we left them a message). Never the less, over 50% of the calls coming in are from the internet. The rest of the leads are repeats and referrals. The most I paid for the Yellow Pages was $900/mo in two books.

I rarely pay more than $400/month in my Google Adword campaigns. My cost per lead went down dramatically advertising online.

Technically, I'm at the point where I could drop my adword campaigns and maximize on my excellent organic content placement... FOR FREE. But, I'm a little chicken to pull my Google adwords.
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Paul and jamin: I'm curious as to how you track calls. I'd like to track them but I answer the phone myself and there's no way that I would have the time to religiously record call data. I'm always on the go and it would just be one more task to add to my list.

Do you answer the phone yourself or do you have office support that fields incoming calls.

I'm near the point of justifying office staff but I can't quite see how to make it work financially unless we grow just a little bit more.

I also find a huge value in answering the phone myself. It gives clients an instant connection with the lead guy who makes the decisions. Instant only when I can actually answer the phone instead of letting the call go to voicemail.

I'd love to save the yp cost but id have to justify the decision with stats.

Vince
 
I dropped it for this coming year. Whoo she was mad. All of a sudden she went from slight accent to one so thick I couldn't understand her, she did get my no thank you though. I hope, better double check.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Paul and jamin: I'm curious as to how you track calls. I'd like to track them but I answer the phone myself and there's no way that I would have the time to religiously record call data. I'm always on the go and it would just be one more task to add to my list.

Do you answer the phone yourself or do you have office support that fields incoming calls.

I'm near the point of justifying office staff but I can't quite see how to make it work financially unless we grow just a little bit more.

I also find a huge value in answering the phone myself. It gives clients an instant connection with the lead guy who makes the decisions. Instant only when I can actually answer the phone instead of letting the call go to voicemail.

I'd love to save the yp cost but id have to justify the decision with stats.

Vince

[/ QUOTE ]

Vince, recording call data is simple. create a table with columns headed by the different ads you're using and then 2 more for referrals and repeats. It's a quick friendly question, "Hi! Where did you hear about us?", then a tick in the appropriate column. This will save you money as Jamin' has demonstrated. There's some money that can go towards that office staff who will address the other problem you've got. The lead guy who makes decision being on the phone fielding queries that may or not be business and, those calls going to voice mail that you then spend the extra time retrieving and getting into a game of phone tag with.

Sometimes we need to slow down in order to go further.

Remember you're a business person first, a tree guy second.
 
Treehumper gives awesome advice..It took me forever to get out of the field and office stuff.I am mainly a sales and company rep now...more CEO type stuff. I go out on the crew when i want to connect with the guys or clients!
I did not start office person out full time at first.First it was to return calls ,then to schedule my estimates.Now My manager is a full blown operations manager. SHe filters to me only what needs to come to me! She also schedules estimates then and there,and also schedules crews work! Of course we meet and chat etc...The time you get back is invaluable!!! Its a process....
Im pushing the business now!
 
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Paul and jamin: I'm curious as to how you track calls. I'd like to track them but I answer the phone myself and there's no way that I would have the time to religiously record call data. ...
I'd love to save the yp cost but id have to justify the decision with stats. ...

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I'll send you my Excell spraedsheet.

For those interested, I'll send you one as well. Just PM me.
 
Ha ha ha ...hey now!! thats hurtful,,,go on my treeawareness facebook page...i was working saturday !! settin chokers on a crane job....not in a suit yet!! yikes! lol...
 
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