Do yellow pages pay?

[Rob Stuart-Vail]

I was told (nearly 30 years ago) by a *clockmaker*, that yellow pages
advertising pays back four dollars for every one invested!

After giving it some thought, I went for it.  I'm in the Boston area.  My
first YP advertising was in a poor, run-down section of the city, only because
I used a commercial phone answering service, and that where *their* telephone
was located, so NYNEX (or whatever it was called then) made me look like a
<area deleted> resident.  They had a one-line YP entry, and I began to get
clients there.

After a couple of years I moved to the 'burbs, and began to advertise in *all*
(or most) of the books I felt were important:  Boston (including Cambridge and
Brookline), North Shore, South Shore, West Suburban, etc....at one time I was
in six YP listings, I believe.

I never felt the expense was enormous, but the effectiveness was spotty, and
one must remember that there is a tremendous time lag between one's decision
to go YP and the actual appearance in print of the ad - PLUS - an even longer
delay until people throw away their old phone books and start using the new
ones.

So after a few years I began to peel away the unnecessary layers of YP ads,
cancelling those that had not been productive, in some cases giving away the
far-off clients to other tuners (why should I get involved with a one-hour
round trip drive for a single tuning, or try to put a client off for two or
three weeks until I could schedule her to my advantage?).  My 'generosity' in
passing these clients to other tuners paid off in return favors from *some* of
the tuners, and I gradually learned where to dispense the largess, so to
speak.

I tried other methods of advertising:  went to the local library, looked up
the tax records to find names and addresses for people who lived in homes that
were assessed at more than (I think it was $140,000 then).  After all, people
who live in nice homes can afford to have pianos, right?  [Surprising how many
of them had Acros].  So I sent out a one-page letter to these people.  It was
the basis of a letter I still use when sending out tuning reminders.

This approach is not for those in a hurry.  The time lag is fierce!  But after
three or four years I could look at this mailing program and say that the
response was two percent.  That may not seem like much, but a  *one* percent
return is what professionals hope for from direct mail advertising.  So I felt
it had been worthwhile.

I also tried small newspapers, concert programs, music association
publications - bulletin boards in banks, markets, gas stations, etc. (for my
business card).  I got a few calls this way, but it still comes back to the
Yellow Pages:  it is the most consistent, reliable way of getting new business
and being there to remind forgetful customers where you are.

I'm in *one* YP book now, which covers most of the towns I want to work in.  I
leave Boston, Cambridge and the long drive clients to other tuners.  I don't
have to look for a parking place or walk long distances carrying my toolbox.
I can schedule appointments at 8:00,10:00, 1:00 and 3:00, have lunch at home,
and there's often time for coffee between jobs.  (I must admit that these
days, being older, I tend to tune in the mornings only, and I leave the
afternoon free for shopwork and other things of interest).

So my advice to Wally and anyone else who is mulling the idea of YP ads, is to
go for it!

But:  there are other aspects to promoting your business, too. One of the most
important is reminding your customers that it's time for service.  We all have
different approaches to this, ranging from the supersalesman who books the
next appointment while he's still on location, to the postcard that says, "I'm
going to be in your area next week, and I have scheduled your tuning for
Tuesday at 1:30".  [Good luck, say I].

What has worked best for me (after a few years of rushing through dinner to
get to the evening phone calls) is a simple letter that does a number of
things.
It establishes my credibility as a technician by stating that I am pledged (we
all are, being in the Guild) to do blah, blah.  And it mentions a few things
to watch out for (like summertime humidity and wintertime dryness) and the
dire consequences thereof.  But at the top is printed:

Your piano was last tuned on (date)__________
Please call for an appointment.  Leave name and
number and best time to return the call.

My computer prints the labels for the selected clients, and all I have to do
is write the lasttunedate on the letter, (which the printing service has
already folded for me), slap on the label, and stick on the stamp [I HATE the
new self-stick stamps---the old ones were much faster to work with].

Nobody has ever complained about getting the letter, and many clients thank me
for sending them this reminder.  Some of the calls come when I'm here to
answer them, but most require my getting back to the client.  However, this is
still good, because even if she is not at home and I have to leave a message,
it's not a "cold" call, and I can suggest an appointment time and ask the
client to confirm that with another call.

How much easier than catching a car-pooler on the fly, or a mom who's trying
to deal with the kids and the house and her calendar is upstairs and can she
call you back, or she's just plain not there and you're leaving a nice message
which is supposed to start her thinking about "oh, yes....it's time to have
the piano tuned....I must call the tuner soon to make an appointment...."  and
when she *does* try, you're using the phone and she gets tired of getting busy
signals, etc......

BY THE WAY.., I realized that I can very easily delete all or part of the text
I'm responding to and thus avoid sending and resending already printed
messages.  If I want to keep the original I can copy it first.  If we all did
this it would make it much easier to keep up with the e-mail.