Hi There!  

I just received a solicitation from SBC trying to get me to sign up
for a Yellow Pages ad.

Their sales copy says, "The typical business receives $14 in revenue
and $4 profit for every $1 invested in Yellow Pages."

Their references are CRM Associates and Fromholzer.

Is their data accurate?
Or, is it sales hype?

A 5-star answer would be 2-3 paragraphs.
Supporting web sites and/or documentation
not necessary.  Your opinion is good enough.

All comments greatly appreciated!

Thanks...ron

Either it is worthwhile, or millions of businesses are suffering from
the same delusions.

In my experience, such figures only apply to businesses who used them
for more than one year, and are satisfied. There are many who never
use Yellow Pages or give up after the initial ad failed to be
profitable.

The word "typical" is not particularly meaningful, and therefore such
figures could have been gleaned from a sample of one.

We've recently moved to a new state and we use our yellow pages A LOT.
So, my guess is that if you live in a growing area, it is indeed a
resource people use, especially when they first move there.

I'll add this--when a man from a local family-operated business
delivered our fridge, I volunteered to him that we learned of their
company in the yellow pages. He said he was glad to know that because
"they like to know how people find out about them," but yet he didn't
ask. I found that to be odd and it got me wondering how many people
really do follow-up to see if their ads are generating profitable
exposure for their businesses. I mean, the guy knew that we've
recently moved to town. Hmmmmm.

I think it depends very much on the nature of your business, and how
your customers are likely to find you.

My husband runs his own business. He's an engineer who does (among
other things) computer networking, high-end security and alarm
systems, and video installations.

He dropped his Yellow Pages ad after several years, since he found
that it caused him more trouble than good. He received many, many
calls from people who weren't even near to being potential customers:
folks who wanted to buy floppy disks, people who thought you can get a
good home security system installed for a hundred bucks, nitwits who
wanted their TV fixed over the phone, that sort of thing.

Most of his real customers came by referrals from other customers. The
Yellow Pages brought in a flood of yahoos who were a poor fit for the
sort of thing he offers. Now his firm is listed in the business white
pages. Works for us.

It must work for some, but for my husband's business and for my
business it was a big waste of time. My husband's a house painter. The
occasional call from a Yellow Pages reader would result in a quote
being submitted (i.e. drive to wherever, meet up with whoever, write
down whatever needs to be done, estimate and type up and post a
written quote and then, nothing.) Not one job did my dedicated,
proficient, careful hubby get via the YPs. However, with personal
referrals and people walking past who can see the good job being done,
he is flat out like a lizard drinking and booked up for the next 14
months :)  From my perspective, ditto. I'm a writer but the listing in
our YP is for Writers and Literary Agents. That meant that at the end
of each term, I would get at least a dozen calls from hopefuls wanting
to send me their novels. I've had lots and lots of phonecalls from
people wanting me to write 'their' stories but only a couple of actual
jobs. It certainly hasn't worked for us.

robertskelton---thanks for the practical insight.  I appreciate it.  ron

boquinha---you comment really hit home.
A wise guy once said, "I'm wasting half my advertising
budget...but I don't know which half."  heh  heh  heh

Thanks.
ron

pinkfreud----you can't fix a TV over the phone?
I'm crushed.  heh  heh  heh

Thanks, as always.
I think you are exactly right.

ron

stressedmum----your comments make a lot of sense.
When out walking, I see those little signs in the yards of homes being
painted.
I always compare the job being done with the name on the sign, and try
to remember the firm.

Thank you. 
ron

P.S.   Now I must submit a new Google Question concerning, "he is flat
out like a lizard drinking."   Never heard that one before.  I may be
at my computer all night!  heh  heh  heh   Thanks again.

Hi, Ron

All advertising is a matter of trial and error.

Some years ago, I used to sell some products through Classified Ads
and it worked very well.

Then, I figured that a much larger ad would generate even more sales
but I was wrong; sales actually declined.

Of course, there are many factors at work: the effectiveness of the
ad; the medium used; the timeliness; page position; etc.

Naturally, the space salesmen will tell you differently and will urge
you to spend, spend, spend ...

But you never know until you try.

Bryan

Oh dear, nronronronro, that was my Aussie slang showing. And I was
trying to be so clever too! Flat out like a lizard drinking means
doing something very diligently and quickly. Here's a pretty good site
that will give you some further insights into the vernacular of the
Antipodeans. http://ausslang.tripod.com/f.htm

Are yellow page ads effective? In a word: Yes.

However, many areas have more than one telephone directory,
distributed by different publishers. It is wise to consider which is
the most popularly used directory, and place your ad there. An add in
a struggling directory probably won't do you much good.

Kriswrite

Thanks, stressedmum.  Your Aussie slang list has enlightened me.  As
we say in Texas, "Now I'm riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels."

Thanks again!
ron

Thanks, kriswrite.   I think you are exactly right.  There are 3
Yellow Pages in my area.  One is clearly the leader.  Thanks again! 
ron

I suppose it depends on what type of business you're in.

I use the (Yahoo) yellow pages all the time when I don't know where to
find something and have patronized many new stores that I wouldn't
have known about had the YP not been there.

"As we say in Texas, "Now I'm riding a gravy train with biscuit
wheels."

Um .... we do??  Guess it must be said in some other part of Texas,
since I've never heard that 'un.  ;-)

Anyway, just wanted to put my two cents in on this question from the
vantage point of my own limited personal experience with this.

1) I spent quite a few years working for a very small video production
company that had a very narrow specialty within the area of litigation
support. My boss succumbed to the sales pitch and let me tell you,
what a colossal pain in the neck that yellow pages ad was! It resulted
in phone calls from people wanting everything from someone to
videotape their wedding, to people wanting us to repair their broken
tapes, fix or procure or rent equipment, copy their personal stuff,
and anything and everything we DIDN'T do.  NOT ONE job did we ever get
from that ad, nor did we need to advertise in other ways much at all. 
Virtually all our business came from referrals and industry contacts.

2) My eldest son owns an auto detailing shop.  He has several accounts
with high-end dealers (his bread-and-butter) and also details *very*
high-end vehicles for personal customers (his gravy).  He tried
briefly to run a small ad, and got all kinds of cheapskates who
thought he'd be interested in "detailing" i.e. just washing their
nasty, dirty cars for a few measly bucks. Uh-uh. Don't think so. So
now he runs no ads at all, and also gets all his work from referrals
and personal contacts.

3) The one "success" story, if it can be called that, was my primary
flight instructor, who was an independent instructor not affiliated
with a flight school.  He took out an ad for awhile, deliberately
naming his business so the ad would appear at the END of the listings,
since all the reasonable "A" names were already taken.  It worked and
he got quite a few calls - and customers - from it.  But after awhile
he just got so busy with ongoing customers and referrals from them
that he let the ad lapse because he couldn't handle any more.

So - in a nutshell, I guess my experience would say just analyze what
you do.  If it's something that is likely to be understood in an
average way by the average person using a resource like the yellow
pages, then sure, go ahead and get the ad. It'll probably work.  But
if your business is at all different or unusual or off the beaten
track in any way, you'll likely end up getting a lot of nuisance calls
and not much business.  Good luck!

Howdy, Byrd.

You must be from the Yankee part of Texas.  heh  heh   heh

More seriously, your advice is excellent.  I shared it with a friend
who runs a horse boarding business, and she said it's the best advice
she's seen on Google in awhile.

Thanks again...nronnronnron

Yankee?????? Aaarrghhh. Grrrrrrrr. And me with Texas roots eight
generations deep ... them's fightin words!!! Lawd amercy! Whew.
Breathe, ok, all right. Ahem (coff coff), that is, what I mean to say
is, thanky kindly, and if y'all found any value in mah words, it's
likely 'cuz they came out of Texas.  Y'all come back now, y'heah? (heh
heh)