Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
Anywho... a yellow pages salesman just called and I told them NO WAY. It took me two years for my first ad to pay for itself and I was the biggest ad on top of the category.
I've got four calls so far, FOUR years later!
My sister-in-law keeps telling me to advertise in the newspaper. I'm afraid to waste my money! Personal selling is the only thing that's worked for me.
Does anyone else have a similar experience or any light to shed on the subject?
They are established, sure. But I dunno, something just seems wrong about the figures they quote, and I think it's important to discover if their lying or not.
Individual cases could provide a starting point to find the truth.
Anybody could quote such and such traffic levels, and how does the ordinary joe bloggs check this out?
So, what if they are established - they are so money hungry, they could say anything to get the sale.
I'm not so sure about these stats, figures etc.
Especially the UK directories!
But what I really object to is YP's insistence on sending round a salesman every time I come to renew (this is in the UK). It seems I'm not allowed to just phone in "same again, please", but someone has to call on me - in order to sell me more advertising, of course. Next time, I'm considering refusing to see the person, and just repeating the single ad I have. Does anyone else get this treatment?
Yellow Pages directory is a well established brand and is unbeatable as a printed directory
Be wary in the U.S., as "Yellow Pages" isn't a trademark and is used by multiple print directories. These range from the "real" Yellow Pages printed by the primary phone service providers to undistributed knock-offs. Shady scam artists send things that look like invoices for Yellow Pages ads that appear in never-to-be-seen things like National Business Yellow Pages, etc. I'm sure they break even if even one or two percent of the recipients mistakenly pay the "invoice".
I'm not sure if the scams have moved into the web space, but it certainly seems likely that the web competition will be wilder and woolier even than print.
I guess they figure that since you bought before means you will buy larger space the next time.
It seems odd that they cannot or aren't willing to re-list you over the phone. That's scares me lol.
The reason for this is just sales strategy. They figure that you won't refuse a sale from some bloke who takes the trouble to visit you in your home or office.
I do refuse them all the time! I invite them round, but make it clear that I'm only after a quote. Then I ask for a massive discount, and can usually get it, as they are so desperate for the sale - they will have to give in eventually.
I also use the tactic of analysing their offering - and give a long list of why it's unsuitable for my needs, potential ROI etc etc.
And it works a treat. lol
But, they are just salepeople at the end of the day - and although they know the products, they don't really know anything about Marketing at all.
It's quite funny actually.
