Yellow Page Ads

R

RAG

New member
Trying to decide if I want to bone up and pay for a good detailing AD in the yellow pages. Thing is...it will cost me $1500 to $2500 for a year...depending. And I already have more work than I can handle just from referrals. BUT, I've been contemplating hiring a person or two to work with me...in which case I'll need to double or triple my car volume as soon as I do. Maybe the yellow pages will help, or maybe they are a waste of money? Please weigh in.



Ryan

Magic Mobile Detailing
 
I don't know what kind of quality of business you will get from the Yellow Pages...



From past experiences in OTHER fields, most of the people reffered from the Yellow Pages were what I would call "pain in the *** customers". For example. had a good friend that ran a painting business (doing mostly commercial stuff). He would get tons of phone calls from people asking for them to come paint their kitchen...After awhile they didnt' even want to bother with them since they were doing so much bigger stuff (ie a whole builindg etc)...



So think of this....If you put an ad in the yellow pages, will might get a lot of people wanting pesky wash & wax's and only want to pay $25 bux to do it.....In other words, the people who want a lot for a little. Where as with refferals you can somewhat control what kind of business you will be getting (to a limited extent). Do you do mostly "higher end" stuff? Or do you just try to put as many through as you can?



Either way, it sounds like you're growing to the point where you will need a helper regardless of whether you place that ad or not. Remember, the more your keep doing this, the bigger your word of mouth is going to get. Those are your most loyal, and frequent customers. Perhaps stick with that and find another media communication in which you can properly target the customer you're looking for?
 
I am about to drop my landline (and Yellow page exposure) because lately all I get are price shoppers. I am only keeping it long enough to make sure as many of my previous customers know my cell phone number as possible.



Just starting out, though, I had a 3 line insert ad. Ran around $650 the first year, and $900 the second year. When it went up to $1200 a year, I dropped it.



If you already have all the business you can handle but want to hire help and get even more, I'd do some sort of marketing in high end areas instead. Just have a Yellow page listing but no ad.
 
turbomangt said:
Paid $900 and got one call so far, and he hung up on me when I gave him my price. No more for me. gary
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As I stated months ago on this forum, I’m not into the yellow pages. For instance do you list a ad under detailing, car wash or what? Some of the detailers in my town pay $800 to $1000 a month. One of my friends runs ads for his service business that say’s, “Ask us why we charge more then the rest�? Call Us!!!
 
Great points...I'm not into servicing the bargin shopper, at all. I had to take a few price-shopper clients in the beginning, but honestly, they infuriate me! I believe "you get what you pay for" with just about anything, and in no industry is that more true than detailing. So if they want a $150 complete detail, I say let them go to one of our local car washes and let their goons hack away at thier car for a couple hours.



Mcnab, to answere your question, I do high end details only - the Clay, Polish, and Wax is my absolute minimum (I'd probably have a different policy if I lived elsewhere, but due to the rust contamination I have NOT ONCE encountered a car that didn't need claying...and if you clay rust out, you must polish to remove any marring). So it isn't that I'm stuck up, just that I honestly don't believe in waxing without the prep.



But...if I hire somebody, I could send him out to perform discounted jobs. After all, money is money, and I certainly could use more of it :)
 
I am not a fan of the yellow pages. Personally, I would much rather use many of the free listings available on the internet. For example, you may want to place a free listing with Verizon; SuperPages.com
 
The Yellow Pages paid huge dividend the first 2 years I did it and it cost about $75 a month. Now I don't have a business number so I don't get a free listing in the yellow pages. Now I pay about $101 for each month with a box and my website listed but the amount of calls from YP has really dropped off. It really is or was the main source people use to find services.



So I will remain to keep it but now that I do over 80% word-of-mouth or regulars and 20% dealership the need definitely is not there. Like having a website, I like the credibility it gives to a business.
 
AutoNova said:
The Yellow Pages paid huge dividend the first 2 years I did it and it cost about $75 a month. Now I don't have a business number so I don't get a free listing in the yellow pages. Now I pay about $101 for each month with a box and my website listed but the amount of calls from YP has really dropped off. It really is or was the main source people use to find services.



So I will remain to keep it but now that I do over 80% word-of-mouth or regulars and 20% dealership the need definitely is not there. Like having a website, I like the credibility it gives to a business.
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I read and liked this, Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
 
I am trying out the Community Phone Book. It is a bit more targeted than the Yellow Pages. A different book goes to each town or area of the county. I put a half inch display in two of the books in my area. It cost me aprox $343. They give first time advertisers a pretty good deal. The rep seemed real condident that I will get some buiness out of it. It will pay for itself if I get two details from it. I am using it as an experiment. If I get any business from it, I will do it again.
 
I think you need to redo your websitem, not to be mean. It just does not show much effort But then again I have taken many classes on computers and worked for an ISP in high schoo.. Did you hardcode that all in Notepad by the way?
 
My brother did my site originally about 4 years ago. He just hasn't had the time to update it since his computer business took off a lot faster than he expected. Most of my customers are not hardcore geek-wire enthusiasts like us and my site is just fine for them. Updates are coming, it just is taking a while for my brother and I to get together and work on ideas then impliment them.
 
I spent over $7000 on a yellow page ad last year and it was definatly NOT worth it. I got maybe 10% of my customers from the yellow pages and spent 70% of my advertising budget.
 
joburnet said:
I spent over $7000 on a yellow page ad last year and it was definatly NOT worth it. I got maybe 10% of my customers from the yellow pages and spent 70% of my advertising budget.
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I like your website. You have call to action, discounts, specials, 888 number, you and workers detailing a car. Reality, Your photo gallery is perfect. You must of had a very good marketer.
 
!Danny! said:
Does anybody actually measure inquiries, where they come from, conversion rate, average sale, etc?
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Yes, and good question. It’s fairly easy for us to ask the question since most detailers are owner operators. Do they??? They should!!!
 
!Danny! said:
Does anybody actually measure inquiries, where they come from, conversion rate, average sale, etc?
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Yes, I keep track of every inquiry. Actually, that is the very first question I ask a potential client; How did you find out about my detailing business? Since I use a variety of marketing, advertising and promotional approaches it is always important for me to find out exactly how a potential client discovered my business.



For example, about a week ago I got a call from a woman who saved a copy of a local newspaper article that was written about my business over a year ago. Another recent call about detailing a boat came from a person who was referred to me by a long established boat detailing customer. Another new customer emailed me because they had done a search on the internet for detailing and had easily found my website. In every case all three people became new customers.



It is very important for you to keep tract of where these people are coming from and exactly how they are discovering your business. This is valuable information that will go a long way in helping you grow your business. Measuring the results will help to give you an objective and clear view of which marketing, advertising and promotional activities are working and which ones are not.
 
!Danny! said:
Does anybody actually measure inquiries, where they come from, conversion rate, average sale, etc?
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Yes, and that is why I dropped my ad and went with a simple listing. I get 5% of my business from the YP and going to a listing didn't change it. I am getting 8-10% from my website now, the rest is repeat and referral.



Knowing what type of work you do during each month helps you keep stocked up on supplies.
 
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