Archive for the 'DMS ‘08' Category

Marc Tellier unfazed by Reach Local’s Canadian Push

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Tellier unfazed by Reach Local's entry in Canada

I’m here now . . . you can close your book anytime.

Marc Tellier, CEO of Canada’s Yellow Pages Group (not pictured here) speaking at The Kelsey Group’s DMS ‘08 conference in Atlanta dismissed the threat posed by Reach Local’s recent announcement to sell local online advertising in Canada.

“YPG has been providing advertising services, both print and online including Internet Yellow Pages and Google Adwords very successfully.  There’s no reason to expect anything other than continued success and growth of our advertiser base.”

Of the top 10 websites in Canada, we’re the only one that is Canadian.  The others are US based.

There is a significant role for paid placement and keyword based advertising to coexist.

Posted in Yellow Pages, Kelsey Group, Local Online Marketing, Internet Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Group, DMS ‘08 | 1 Comment »

Straight talk from One Tough Lady

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

In yesterday’s keynote presentation at the Kelsey Group’s DMS ‘08 conference in Atlanta by Marilyn Neal (not pictured here), Chairwoman of Local Insight Media took the Yellow Pages industry to task.

Not Marilyn Neal

Marilyn Neal (not pictured here)

It was a very refreshing and invigorating presentation, and it could not have come at a better time for the industry.

Marilyn Neal has been a leader in the Yellow Pages / directional media for 40 years, and she is currently Local Insight Media.  She was at GTE, Verizon, DEX and now Local Insight Media.
It’s funny, because she’s not a typical conference speaker.  Rather than ply the audience about how great her company is (and she has plenty to brag about), she talked about the fundamentals of managing the business and running a disciplined sales organization.

There were a few messages that stuck with me.

  • She is a “Sales driven leader.”   A major portion of her presentation revolved around management and control of the sales process.
  • Respect the advertisers time and simplify the product offering.  This is especially important as the rep must cover multiple products (online and print) in the same call.  Customers are not allowing more time.
    Hold each sales manager accountable for checking the account prep before every sales call.  For those of you who don’t know what account prep is, it means preparing a custom presentation and recommendation that respects the customer’s time and presents the value story.
  • She insists on 8 AM sales meetings every day with afternoon reporting of daily activity.  People in the post sales and production function are not allowed to contact the sales reps during selling hours.  Nor is mail allowed to be delivered on the sales floor during the sales day.
  • She challenges sales managers to spend 3 days per week in the field with sales reps meeting with customers.
  • Training, training, training.
  • Every executive should spend at least one day per month meeting with customers.
  • Every customer complaint must be addressed within 24 hours, and with the goal of 100% customer satisfaction.  She helped challenge GTE to earn the Malcolm Baldridge award by stressing customer service.

Not Marilyn Neal

(This is not Marilyn Neal either :-)
Marilyn challenged the industry leaders to stop allowing negative press and ideas that are based on opinion rather than facts to drag down the message.   She stressed the importance of supporting the sales team with facts, research and data to give them ammunition and confidence.

She challenged the industry to aggressively build relevant products that better match the needs of consumers and advertisers.  One example she gave was the Phoenix metropolitan directory.  She said that it takes 85 minutes to drive from one side of the market to the other.  The large directory does not properly address shopping patterns and isn’t serving the needs of people looking for local business.
Bottom line . . .

She’s bringing old school management practices back into the process, and is promoting technology as a means to better serve advertiser needs.

Marilyn Neal, Local Insight Media

The “real” Marilyn Neal  :-)

Posted in Yellow Pages, Kelsey Group, Local Online Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Internet Yellow Pages, Local Insight Media, DMS ‘08 | 2 Comments »

The National Customer’s Perspective - from the floor of DMS’08

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Chad Pinne , Director, YP Research & Analysis, ServiceMaster
Kerry Kielb, Sr. Marketing Manager, Rollins Orkin
Eric Schlanger, VP, Local Marketing, Avis Budget Group
Michael Strait, SVP, Telmetrics

Moderators: Neal Polachek, CEO, The Kelsey Group and Steve Marshall, Director of Research and Consulting, The Kelsey Group

Michael Strait - Yellow Pages is working, calls are there, call volume is there.  Our message is that it’s OK to be transparent in what we are delivering.

Kerry - Print Yellow Pages is still one of our biggest investments, but I have to defend that every day.  Executive management is surprised about the results from the telmetrics call tracking data.

How any of your lines in your advertising are measured?
Kerry - 30% of our spend uses metered lines for tracking.
Chad - We measure 6% of the lines.  We’re in 15,000 YP directories.  We need help in managing the metering process and have difficulty knowing which directories and headings are performing.

Eric - It’s in the single digits, up from zero lines metered a few years ago.  We started out with a test two years ago measuring about 325 lines.  From the success of that test, we’ve doubled the test to measure 325 lines on car rental ads and 325 lines on truck rental ads.   It’s still not enough.  With the data we have acquired, we have stopped the erosion from print.  The battle is that the internet gives me so much better data on which keywords perform.

Kerry - Google provides analytics and doesn’t require me to separately buy metered lines.  It’s much easier online to get data.  Call data is a first step, but it doesn’t tell me what the transaction was worth.  Call measurement should be integrated into offline advertising.
Eric - The YP gives us a local feel so that if a customer likes “Jim” at the local office, YP allows that local connection.

Chad - We have challenges with disconnected systems, especially with franchisees we don’t have the ability to close the loop to know what advertising results in a sale.

Steve Marshall - Latest survey of 300 small business found that only 3% of businesses use call measurement services to know the effectiveness of their ad spend.

What about Internet Yellow Pages?

Kerry - IYP is a competitor to the print product.  IYP ads are handled by the online team, not the print marketing team.  it’s a great option for us and brings in leads as an alternative to the print.

Eric - We’re not seeing the traffic volume from IYP.  The big monster that’s eating the ad dollars is Google.  IYP is very low on the radar.  The performance and measurement on Google is all there, and we see conversions.

Chad - The analytics team can track IYP, but the volume simply isn’t there and it does not replace the print product.

To what extent do the Certified Marketing Representatives help you?

Kerry - Our CMR is spearheading the effort for us and helping to benchmark and pushing us to measure more ads and push the envelope.

What are your dealers and franchisees saying about how to spend their advertising dollars?

Kerry - They want full page ads in every single YP Book, because they see the numbers.  Corporate executive management is the biggest Doubting Thomas.  Field management sees the results from print and is not pushing online.  We constantly have to defend continued spending in YP.
Chad - Our dealers definitely want more online advertising because they can track the response more easily.

What percentage of your leads come from print Yellow Pages vs Google?

Chad  -I’m biased toward print YP.  Our perception is that YP is delivering 75% of leads vs 25% from Google.  Our best cost per call is from print Yellow Pages.  Print is also a good customer retention tool. A highly qualified lead who as filled out a form is worth around $100.  Our spend on print YP is about the same we spend on direct mail.

Eric - Post 9/11, 7% of our sales came from internet, today, 33% come from Internet.  Home grown Internet leads are the cheapest because there are no travel agent fees.  We’re now spending more on Internet advertising than print Yellow Pages.

Kerry - 65% of leads come from print vs. 35% online.  Conversion rates from internet are significantly lower than leads from print YP.  Local calls from the print product are typically more qualified.  A very qualified (ready to buy) lead is worth nearly $100.  A lot of calls come from current customers, or one shot quote requests.  Social media is an interest to us, but it’s not a high priority.

Posted in Yellow Pages, Kelsey Group, Local Online Marketing, Internet Yellow Pages, Conferences, DMS ‘08 | No Comments »