Say No to Overpriced, Ineffective Advertising!

This Buzz tip may ring a bell - it's a topic we've covered before, but certainly bears repeating. The service industry is a heavy player in phone book advertising. How can you make the most of your advertising dollars in a highly competitive market? Well, let's take some things into consideration before we tackle that question.

First, phone book usage (particularly in the yellow section) is on the decline. If their own launch and heavy promotion of a dot com doesn't indicate their print division is hurting, here are a few facts from a recent report in PHC magazine that look to further backup the fall of phone books:

Overall advertising page count is dropping 8% a year
Phone book usage has dropped 25% since 1999
Usage continues to fall around 5% a year

So what options are available to help you maximize the impact of your yellow book business listing? There are numerous avenues to take to achieve advertising bliss, let's take a look:

Run a smaller size ad - It's not always the full page or double truck ad that gets the most attention.
Test this for yourself, open your phone book to the yellow pages and look up auto dealers. Did the biggest ad catch your attention or was it one that was designed better, had more effective use of color or a catchy call to action? Take the time and effort to have your ads designed better with a clearly defined call to action and you can have more impact in less space.

Don't pay extra for front placement - When you looked up that auto dealer, was it the first ad in the section or did you find your choice in the middle? Phone book salespeople will typically try to upsell you on that front placement, promising better results, but the fact is few people start at the front of the section!

Have your ads professionally designed - Phone book salespeople are not designers, and generally their "design team" back at the office is already behind the eight ball on production of the book, limiting the amount of time they can spend on your ad. If you decide to do a display ad in your local phone book, hire a design professional or agency to draft your ad for you. It may cost a little extra up front, but the results from having a jam-up ad will payoff in the long run through increased calls due to a more professional appearance, clearer calls to action and being able to reuse your ads across multiple medias.

Don't buy a special phone number just for your Yellow Page ad - This is simply an add-on service with no real return. Don't buy into the "metering" game for your ad. Now... that said, it's important as marketers we find a way to track everything. Having a phone number dedicated to your print ads is a great idea IF you're actually going to take the time track the number of calls to see what's being effective. If this is a metric you're interested in monitoring contact your phone service provider about setting up a separate number. Their rates are likely to be much cheaper.

Use a Border - It may sound trivial, but make sure your ad is designed with a border around it to help it stand out from the other ads around it. Ads without borders typically have a "floaty" and "unfinished" look.

Make your Phone Number the Primary Focus - Remember, the primary purpose of any directory ad is to have prospective clients call you, make sure your phone number is the main attention grabber in the ad. Use one phone number and make it large!

With these few tips, you can easily maximize the impact of your ad space and even save hundreds or more a month in advertising dollars which can then be utilized elsewhere - like newspaper ads, new vehicle graphics, printed marketing collateral, call back tools or even a website!

Take Back Control of Your Company

No one readily hires a "bad employee." All new personnel are selected with the highest hopes and the best qualifications needed to help move the company along a desired path. During the course of employment though, many forces can change an employee's feelings about the company and subsequently have a negative impact on their performance.

For business owners and managers, balancing personalities and work habits among multiple employees can be a difficult task. Dealing with lack-luster enthusiasm from techs, installers who are chronically late to work, laborers who frequently damage client's property, employees who punch out at five with more precision than they practiced during their previous eight hours- leaving after-hours calls for "someone else" - can easily corner the entrepreneur or manager into a scenario where employees are running the company more so than the people intended to be in charge.

With less-than-optimal employees running the show, the entire company can quickly lose sight of management's vision and even spiral its way out of business. Here's a couple of ideas to help instill the desired company culture in your employees and put you back in the driver's seat when it comes to running your operation.

Fill Your Truck's Empty Passenger Seat

The best asset any service-based company has is the passenger seat in their trucks. To get on the fast track to regain control of your company, assign assistants to your prized veteran techs. When picking assistants for your techs, it's important to focus on individuals who are motivated, eager to learn and positive. An assistant may not be able to do your most complex jobs initially, but will be eager to learn what needs to be done to earn a veteran tech's respect and pay levels.

Having an assistant ride along side your model techs will teach them how you expect the company to operate and soon add another valuable member to your team. This type of on-the-job training helps instill the values you want to promote within the company. Assistants will be able to tackle smaller jobs quickly, allowing their mentor tech to focus on the more challenging work at the jobsite. Also, with this type of training in place, your work force will be able to recover quicker when a problem employee decides to cut and run. Let your competition deal with those employees for a while, your company will be a stronger one because of it!

Connect Brain to Pocketbook

Many companies reward employees for working above and beyond normal calls of duty by paying commissions for upselling while on the jobsite or completing a certain number of jobs within a given time frame. Use a similar principle with any accidents that may occur as well. Hold techs, installers and other employees accountable for any damages they cause to company vehicles, tools or (even worse) client property while on the job. Keep inventory on company owned tools and hold your techs responsible for missing tools or tools damaged through obvious abuse. In some cases like vehicle or property damage, the company insurance policy will cover the bill; have the employee repay the company for any deductibles or increases in premiums resulting from their actions.

Showing employees the costs associated with their clumsiness or inattention to detail will certainly stick with them next time they're in a similar situation and they will surely use more caution to avoid having to fork over additional money for repeated mistakes. This management style may temporarily increase turnover, but you're really only losing the prima donna attitudes and unqualified employees not willing to conform to your company's commitment to excellence - these are the exact employees who were holding your company hostage in the first place.

Utilizing these simple practices will put the reigns back in your hands and your company back in line with your original visions of quality, excellence, growth and success.