[PLUG] The real yellow pages

[Rich Shepard]

On Tue, 20 Aug 2013, Brian Martin wrote:

> I'm soliciting opinions here. What do you think?  If you are a business
> owner today, do you still find value in phone book listings?

Brian,

   Many years ago I dropped my business phone book listing, then realized
that sometimes folks need to look up the number. Since (and before I dropped
it) I've had only the basic listing in a single category. I suppose that my
company can also be found in the various on-line 'yellow pages.'

   Depending on who your clients are and what services you provide it is
quite likely that advertising is a waste of your money. Just yesterday I got
a call from a salesman for the Society of Mining Engineers wanting to sell
me a listing in the consultants section of their directory. It took a while
before he understood that I know from experiences with ads in various mining
publications, and having a listing for more than 15 years at info-mine.com,
with none of them bringing in business that no one hires consultants from
such sources.

   Think of this: would you pick a physician or lawyer from a yellow pages
listing, or would you solicit referrals from folks you know? If your
business is like that of other professional service providers than the
yellow pages will do you no good.

Rich

-- 
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.          |      Have knowledge, will travel.
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.   |
<http://www.appl-ecosys.com>     Voice: 503-667-4517      Fax: 503-667-8863