Yell .com - the internet version of the Yellow pages and slightly less expensive than it's paper equivalent. Does anybody use it?, how many enquries does it create?, and was it worth the money?

Sorry sir,never heard of it!

Hi Chris,

Waste of time, then again perhaps its my area, tried yellow pages, yell.com, local radio, thompson local and still get best results from local news paper

Having said that the local press has been running for much longer than all the others and folk around here know we all advertise in there so perhaps thats why they never look any where else

Apparently, I get a free listing on the Yell.com after taking out an ad in the big yellow book.

I've been advertising with YP for 2 years - and had ONE confirmed internet enquiry from Yell last year.

Hi

I'm in YP. After a slow start it went a bit mannic just before Xmas.

I've had 3 enquiries from my website in the last 24 hours, all from yellow pages.

Don't get me wrong, I've had more enquiries than that, lol, just 3 of them were from YP.

I've signed up for Yell.com, as it's something that my site stats can track easily, so I'll soon find out if it's worth it.

Incidentally, YP has paid for itself 3 or 4 times over now.

Darren

I am amazed at the negative feedback regarding yell and thompson, in our area we are getting a steady flow of enquiries from yellow pages, yell.com, thompson and thomweb.

We only have free lines in the books apart from one area that we wanted covered and we paid for a box add in that.

Newspapers had no affect for us at all, not one enquiry and expensive when you think its a one off hit one night and then your history.


You dont pay for Yell.com or thomweb, you are entitled to a free one line listing on the web version and the pages version, we also played a blinder as my mother lives in a different yp area, so we had her number put in as well as she qualifies for a free line. If you only enquire about how much it will cost they will try and sell you the fee paying adds, the free entries are a different department, check the number in the front of YP.

We wouldnt be without it and this year we have decided that its producing so many enquiries we are pulling other advertising thats having little effect.

Maybe its just the area we do find that where we are represented in thomson and yp that certain areas tend to use one and not the other.


You also get a discount if you are a new business.

Yep, it definitely must depend on the area. I'm in NW London and found YP, Thompson and the rest of em to be a waste of time. The only enquiries came from people who's sole concern seemed to be finding a dj for as cheap as possible. Since stopping the ad's in those paper & online directories I never receive those types of enquiries anymore.

Save yer dosh !!

Hi,

I've tried Yell.com, Thomweb, Thomson Local, Local paper, I once even tried an advert in our local Gala Bingo !!!!

Yellow Pages works best for me in the advertising stakes.
The website brings a steady flow of enquiries but usually through google, msn searches etc.

I sponsored a kids football team last year and got all the birthdays, presentation nights, and the family related gigs, that was a good un !!!!!

The number one though as you all know is word of mouth, nearly always guaranteed to turn an enquiry into a booking. Hotel recommends are good, and of course when they just book them in and ring you up with the booking, saves you having to sell yourself !!!!! (whcih is only ok if you have a few DJ's working for you otherwise you might get stuck if a few of these come in for the same night !!!)


Oh yeah. Yell.com didn't really work !!!!!!
Don't use the Yell phone service either, waste of money !!
(at least for my area, Lancashire)

Hi

Geography will certainly paly it's part.

I'm in the Daventry area, in between coventry and Northampton. I'm lucky in that in my immediate vicinity, there are only a couple of other DJ's that I would even consider competition, and only one of those because he's establish, I've worked for him and he's more second rate than Dave Double-Deks

The YP rep was here a few days ago and tried pushing the 118247 thing on me, but I told her unles she could give me firm figures about how many people phoned to enquire about DJ's in this area, she could forget it, that shut her up.

Local paper didn't work here neither, Daventry's a weird place, all that in-breeding I think.

mooooooo

Darren

i must say Yellow pages and Yell.com have given me most of my work since i started out. still newish to the game (2 years where i live its a hard area to crack way too many cowboys!!)

this year i was the only person in my area to take out a box add in the thomson directory too but have not carried on with it this year as i found it wasnt doing much good.

i think yello pages and yell.com are great for picking up new clients and can often open the door to new work.. it is often the first thing people will go to if they are looking for something like a disco

Hi

If you have an add in YP or on Yell.com, and, always assming you get calls or website visitors, regardless whether they/re after just a price, the law of averages says that out of those who visit or call, if your, sales pitch, for want of a better phrase, hits the right spot, you'll get the booking.

I had a call this morning that I gave a quote for, and I got the old chestnut, "I've already been quoted half that price" bla bla bla.

My answer was something along the lines of...I hope your night goes well and that the DJ is suitable, however it's not like Argos where you can take the item back and get a replacement, so make sure you're completely satisfied that he can do the job you're asking him to do.

I have an idea who's given her the price and he's erm...not the most professional of DJ's

Darren

Hi, thanks for the (very mixed) feedback so far

LOL @ Darren - doing his bit for the Daventry Tourist trade , I know what you mean though, I live very close to the high peak area of Derbyshire, and everytime I drive up there I keep thinking of the film Deliverance and twanging banjos!.

I've used the paper yellow pages for both South Manchester and Stoke-On-Trent before and neither of them brought in enough work to even pay for the Ad!. However the local paper in Stoke called "The Evening Sentinel" costs almost as much for a decent sized Ad running for one day, as the Yellow pages does for the entire year!.

The local paper is also useless - too many 14 year old cowboys advertising the fact that they charge £25 a night. Like you say, people who ring around for a quote are going to go with those guys regardless of whether they are good or not.
In a rural town only a few miles across, believe it or not we have around 20 D.J's - with more appearing on an almost weekly basis.

The next big town - Macclesfield (Sorry Ian S) is also an advertising nightmare, with very expensive advertising rates for its two main local papers.

Luckily I don't have to advertise on a regular basis, although there are the odd quiet months which could be a little busier. However with the cost of advertising I have to weigh up whether it would be cheaper to pay for 1 or 2 local paper Ads as required, or keep a continuous advertising presence with the one directory Ad. I also have the free line listing in the Thompson Local - which has yet to generate one enquiry.

The Majority of my New customers come via Word of Mouth, followed by the Website, so it made sense to me to boost my on line presence and spend the Advertising budget on this area - hence the yell.com question. I don't trust these "Pay $200 for top search engine ranking" type companies and getting a good search engine placement yourself is purely down to luck.

Hi

Chris...regarding the companies that will stick your site in thousands of search engiens for a stupid fee.

Your damn right in being sceptical. Most of my search engines traiffic comes from the main search engines, google, ask, yahoo, altavista, lycos etc.

These engines will spider your site in the majority of cases anyway, so as long as you build good quality, content filled pages relevant to your market, you will stand a good chance to reach a reasonable level of success with search engiens.

it is partly luck, but a bit of knowledge about how the engines rank also goea a long way.

I too have decied to spend a good deal of my efforts on the internet marketing side, and so far it's coming up trumps!

Darren

When a customer calls you - be it from yellow pages or recommendation... here is a really good way to take charge of the call... and show your customer that you actually know what you are talking about without them having to ask you questions!

Customer: "Is that the disco lady/people/person/dj"

You: "Yes, this is.... from...... (name of company)... How can I help

Customer: I am having a party/wedding/whatever on.... whenever can you tell
me if you are free and what you charge"

You: "well firstly, let me tell you a little bit about myself and what type of
DJ I am to make sure that I would be right for your function"

At this stage tell them roughly about how you run your evening, type of music you play, venues you work for. Also tell them you welcome requests etc, if there is anything that they would particularly like played at their function etc etc etc - basically do your sales pitch.

At this stage, the customer knows that they are talking to somebody who knows what they are doing! If the customer has never seen you in action it gives them a very good indication as to what they can expect from you.

Once you have given the customer the assurance that you can do their function, then tell them your price structure.

Maybe because I come from a sales and marketing background - but I promise you, this approach works! Provided that the customer wants to ensure that their function is run professionally by someone who knows what they are doing - and not going for the cheapest quote - you will get the booking!

I have lost count of the number of customers who have told me that although I am more expensive than "another disco" who has just quoted, because I have given them so much information, they go with me.

A big no no for any dj is to just quote a price! Always give your customer an idea of what to expect..... they probably dont organise that many functions and will appreciate your knowledge and experience.

Good advice Kazz.

Why thank you kindly! Another post script to that is, dont ask the customer what they want, tell them what you are able to offer!

very good advice! i must admit before i used to really just talk them through my booking contract rather than the gig itself.... i have changed the contract recently and now will talk to the potential client about what they are looking for etc and it seems to get a much better reaction and then we discus what i can offer them etc

since changing this stly my gig quota has gone up. mind you saying that still no gigs for a few weeks damn this time of year when all the punters are skint lol

just had a phone call back from them
told me i am getting a free listing with them

Everyone seems to assume that you have to pay for YP and Thompson etc, ITS FREE if you go for the line entries and ITS FREE on Yell.com and Its FREE on THOMWEB and in THOMPSON, you do not have to pay for boxes. exploit the free stuff every enquiry is valuable, you will convert some, others you wont, you may end up with companies trying to sell you stuff, but thats what business is about.

We convert about 90% of the enquiries we get from the YP and Thompson, and we do use tha approach as mentioned above by kazachi, it works, but then I am from a sales background too, so you learn how to sell, features and benefits etc.....

I like Kazz's advice. You can also try:
Ring Ring (thats the phone)
Hello (name of company)
"Are you the disco"
Yes
"how much do you charge"
£5,000

Stops them dead in their tracks, and makes them think.

Or

"Hello are you the DJ"

Yes

"How much do you charge"

Well if you need to ask the price, it's obvious you can't really afford a good disco in the first place, have you tried Yellow Pages, thats where all the cheapies advertise.

Don't laugh, it worked, and I got the job at £450.00, well above the competition.

I think the idea is to sound competent, professional etc, etc, etc.

Rule #1 when answering the phone - count to ten and smile, it makes you sound relaxed and happy.