Its all in the ad copy
Hi!
I know this is gonna be a longwinded response, but stick with me as it might prove helpful.
I've been using the yellow pages for almost 10 years now and for the first 9 it was a waste of money. I kinda thought if it as an unfortunate yet required tax. Useless, a drain on my resources and just plain highway robbery.
Its not that I wasn't getting calls, heck I would get up to 20 a day peak season and averaged 5 or 6 the rest of the time.
Problem was that I was closing less than 10% of my YP calls and nearly 80% of my WOM, Newsprint and Direct sales calls.
I was spending almost 90% of my time estimating the yp calls that weren't pannning out.
I ran some numbers and presented a cost per sale analysis to my YP guy and told him to give me a better rate...he laughed and said no-go.
Anyhow, I did some research to see if I needed the YP and discoverd that those customers who did not personally know me or did not have a recommendation from a current customer would invariably check to see if I were in the Yellow Pages. (my yp ad also has my web page and most of my customers check that too)
Seems that for most folks finding my add in the YP made them feel that I was at least legit and likely to be good.
I also learned from a great number of folks on this site and other chat sites that Advertising "Free Estimates" is tantamout to selling yourself short. All of our time is worthwhile so if I was spending 18 out or every 20 hours giving "free" estimates then I wasn't paying the bills.
From that concept I decided to remove the "Free Estimates" from my YP Ads.
An interesting thing happened. First, my incoming calls from the YP ad dropped by about 2/3rds. Thats around 60 out of 100 calls that I used to get were no longer ringing in. At first I panicked.
Then I realized that it also meant that I was not going to have to spend 60 hours chasing leads that would never pan out. In fact I discovered that everyone calling me now was serious about getting some work done.
The next interesting thing that happened was that my closure rate on sales exploded. For the first month after the new ad came out I was closing nearly all my sales.
I started raising my bid rates until my closure rate dropped to just above 52% I would have liked more sales, but didn't have the crew/equipment capacity.
So, now with fewer calls I was making more sales.
Our estimate dollar amounts fell 66% but our total revenues went UP 53% this year. Much better use of our time, more predictable hours for the crew and the longest season we've had in our history.
I've concluded that by removing the Freebie reference, I've eliminated most of the "tire kickers" from our phones.
Those that are calling us now already have decided that they want the work done so half the sale is already completed. I just need to encourage them, help them discover thier options and give them assurance that I am the one they want to do the work.
Its old fashioned pre-qualifying of your prospects. Help them identify thier needs and then talk only with those who have the authority to make the decision. Since they already contacted me with a need the rest is academic.
I still get asked if we do "Free Estimates."
If I get that question my first response is to let the caller know that that if the work is known and obvious we'd provide an estimate at no charge. But, if we need to do any diagnostics, planning or evaluations then that is a billable service. But we'll let them know before we cross that line so they can decide whether to continue meeting.
Then I ask "is the work we're looking at something that you have already decided that you want done and are planning to complete within the next month or so, or is the work something you're just exploring or trying to build a budget for?"
If they answer by saying they intend to have the work done then their question is more one of thrift, or being prepared to pay for a service they are requesting. For these folks I immediately schedule the estimate.
If they answer in any other way then it usually means we have weeded out a tirekicker. These folks usually try to run me around in circles asking a bunch inapplicable questions. Once I've decided they are likely a tire kicker I give them a quick range of prices. Usually way to both high and low extremes.
Kinda like, "well we've had Pine tree take downs that were very simple and ran as little as $100. But recently we did a 25 incher like you are describing that had to be parted out and rigged to the ground. That one ran over $850. If it is highly technical to take down it could run a couple grand.
"But we'd really have to look at your tree to give you a better idea. If you are serious about getting the work done within the next month or so I'd be happy to run some tighter numbers for you. otherwise, once you have made a firm decision to do the work I'd be happy to run out and work up some more solid numbers for you."
Most of the tirekickers pass on having me come out and never call back but every once in a while one does.
For now, the YP is a major factor in our ad program and until we reach our prduction capacity we may even upsize our ad. Even when we hit capacity, I don't think we'd ever eliminate it completely.
