prospecting for customers

[Farrell]

As I said, I have had good return from Yellow Pages ads. However, my guess 
is that is because I live in an area with high home-owner turnover. The 
average resident in the Tampa Bay area lives at one location for five years. 
Also, the area's population is growing at an astronomical rate. So I think 
there are many people who don't have relatives nearby and don't know their 
neighbor - so they open up the Yellow Pages. Yes, I get some price shoppers, 
but I have also gotten many clients with fine grand pianos who wish to 
service them regularly. I even got a $30,000 complete remanufacturing job 
from my Yellow Pages ad!

I suspect that a town that is losing population - maybe especially a smaller 
town where many folks live in one place for a long time - a Yellow Pages ad 
might be less productive.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
> You are killing yourself with your yellow page ads as your numbers are
> proving. $180 to generate a couple of customers is not break even. I
> have proved it to myself. I also have brothers in various other
> businesses who have proved it to themselves. Yellow Page advertising is
> not good investing. Just get the minimum one line, don't even pay extra
> for bold. People who use Yellow Pages are usually price shopping so they
> will go down the entire list to call everyone. I do that all the time
> and I consider the ads an annoyance. They make it more difficult to go
> down the list.
>
> Dean
> Dean May