Yell.com - your choice

[Cloak & Dagger]

Hi Cloak & Dagger,

Thank you for your insight.

I have been a customer of YP (book) for a few years now and have been told a few times (on this forum) that if you haggle hard you can get a discount on your book advert but I have never managed it....

For example if I placed an order for a £3,344 Dbl 1/2 COL 3 Clrwko (single directory) listing (including the FREE yell.com listing) under a single heading.............could I negotiate a lower price (not extras in yell.com or 118 247)?

I know you stated that the commission on yell.com is 30% but what is the commission on the book?

Hello Dave, I can tell you that negotiation with Yell is out of the question on price,and I can tell you that commission for the book is always slightly lower than yell.com but still a fair old whack if you consider the cost of a half page or a full page .

 

[Investors-Wanted]

If you had read my opening post you'll see i never got sacked,I left of my own free will due to getting another offer,all be it on a little less money but a bit more ethical,yes i have made the £10k a quarter bonuses but the things that are going on in Yell just now don't sit easy with me,up north there was a scandal over certain agents "cheating" I need say no more ,from what i beleive it was on a grandoise scale and would shock if whistle-blown .

Hi OP

I think you have done the right thing. The more I read about Yell, the more I am convinced that Yell is on the way out.

I hope you are in a better position.

Cheers

 

[MASSEY]

The thing is yell are well known. I can see maybe in a few years when the 4 billion debt is making them sweat a little that they might set up a search engine of their own..... it would straight away be bigger than bing with the right advertising.

They could do it for about 6million quid working on the www.timmp.com model, but timmp was money wasted.

 

[movietub]

The thing is yell are well known. I can see maybe in a few years when the 4 billion debt is making them sweat a little that they might set up a search engine of their own..... it would straight away be bigger than bing with the right advertising.

They could do it for about 6million quid working on the www.timmp.com model, but timmp was money wasted.

Bing are tiny compared to the competition. Compared to google, they are smaller than me, as a retailer, compared to Marks & Spencer.

But Bing compared to yell, is huge. You could not even pay their current advertising and sponsorship deals for £6m!

It's all irrelevent anyway. Bing had MS behind it, and MS still has a reason to exist. Yell could have done what you suggest 10 years ago when Google was becoming 'known' but not now. You cannot launch a new service using a brand that has already become a laughing stock.

 

[MASSEY]

But Bing compared to yell, is huge. You could not even pay their current advertising and sponsorship deals for £6m!
.

But yell would not have to go to the lengths that bing have,

Dont forget bing dont stuff books through every property in the country, imagine a massive ad on the front of every one "yell search engine" and a lot of people are familiar with yell.com even though it does still give people really poor returns on their ad investment.

A few tv ads which yell already do every now and again,

After google 2nd place is anyones i think .

 

[movietub]

But yell would not have to go to the lengths that bing have,

Dont forget bing dont stuff books through every property in the country, imagine a massive ad on the front of every one "yell search engine" and a lot of people are familiar with yell.com even though it does still give people really poor returns on their ad investment.

A few tv ads which yell already do every now and again,

After google 2nd place is anyones i think .

Bing are backed by MS. Do you have any idea how massive a force they are compared to yell?

And as for 2nd place after Google being anyones... Well it may look like that on a pie chart. But the figures involved are huge. The big piece of the pie that represents Google is at least 200 billion. Thats more than we would need to solve our countries current deficit.

The slimmer parts of the pie look similar in size, but are still £b's apart from one another.

The sugestion that a tiny, antiquated company like yell could rock up with a few million and make a dent is lunacy.

Before posting - go look at the facts!

 

[MASSEY]

Bing are backed by MS. Do you have any idea how massive a force they are compared to yell?

And as for 2nd place after Google being anyones... Well it may look like that on a pie chart. But the figures involved are huge. The big piece of the pie that represents Google is at least 200 billion. Thats more than we would need to solve our countries current deficit.

The slimmer parts of the pie look similar in size, but are still £b's apart from one another.

The sugestion that a tiny, antiquated company like yell could rock up with a few million and make a dent is lunacy.

Before posting - go look at the facts!

We dont know what yell could leverage, i agree microsofts finances are huge and out of yells reach, but the yell brand means more to people curently than the bing brand.

*edit* did not rad original correctly

 

[movietub]

We dont know what yell could leverage, i agree microsofts finances are huge and out of yells reach, but the yell brand means more to people curently than the bing brand.

*edit* did not rad original correctly

Yell means something to people sure, but no longer a good thing. When you think of yell, you think of yellow pages, which is something we used to care about before the net made the idea of a paving slab sized address book laughable.

Yell is UK based. We are tiny. The web has no geographical borders, you have to be big in at very least UK, USA and the whole of western Europe to make an impact into the search and advertising market online.

Bing is MS's emulation of Google. And technically it's probably as good, but even MS are unlikely to plow enough cash in, for long enough, to increase their market share.

Honestly, Yell, even if they were not in debt, have never been anywhere near big enough to play games in that market, on that level. And there are nowhere near enough people in the world know the yell brand to support a serious effort.

In the Uk they were big, on a global scale... Well, they started to die before things even started to happen on a global scale.

 

[mit74]

yell.com prices are ridiculous and I think they prey on new companies. I took out a listing after they phoned me every week for months but wouldn't agree to their yearly contract. Only after I was about to put the phone down they told me about the monthly rolling contracts so I descided to try that. £30 a month and I got 1 call in 3 months. Checking their website I was listed with 10 other competing companies and even a search for my service with my local villages added showed competing companies from over 30 miles away displayed before mine. Also changing your listing or keywords meant they'd charge you for it! I rang them up and quit after 3 months.

 

[Em Shepherd]

The first year we were trading we decided to go in the book and on yell, after paying up front for the Yell advert (monthly for the book), and being told it would be live within 7 days, we waited, and waited, our sales man refused to take our calls, then got sacked, then his boss came and visited me, in his flashy sports car and smarmed all over me while trying to tell me this wasn't the way Yell liked to operate...then we got chased for payment (already paid, still no ad!), I finally snapped, told them to cancel the order and refund us!

For over 5 years now I have been telling them NO I do not want to advertise with Yell! The guys on the phone are rude, have no idea about the business they are calling and don't listen to you when you tell them you aren't interested!

As for the book, well, we do get leads from it, but have greatly reduced the size of our ad this year because there just doesn't seem to be the need. I am not sure we will bother next year...will see how it goes this year. As for Yell, they could offer me a free ad and I would still say no, after the amount of time and effort it took last time!

 

[YellCS]

Hi,

I work in the Customer Service Team at Yell and was interested to see the lively debate here about Yell and our products and services. Naturally I was also concerned to read some of the negative comments.

Yell's aim is to be, in essence, the marketing department for small businesses, offering them a range of effective value-for-money products and services across online, print and voice media through which consumers can easily find them.

I'd urge any advertiser who is unhappy with their Yell advertising arrangements to contact us on 0800 028 4924 as we would want to discuss any concerns as quickly as possible.

One question that has been raised in some of the posts here is whether we allow negotiation on an individual basis to offer discounts on advertising in the Yellow Pages. Just to clarify, we do not, nor do we enable negotiation on any of our portfolio, although set discounts are offered as part our new offer of packages of products and services.

Debbie Hayward

 

[mit74]

Hi,

I work in the Customer Service Team at Yell and was interested to see the lively debate here about Yell and our products and services. Naturally I was also concerned to read some of the negative comments.

Yell's aim is to be, in essence, the marketing department for small businesses, offering them a range of effective value-for-money products and services across online, print and voice media through which consumers can easily find them.

I'd urge any advertiser who is unhappy with their Yell advertising arrangements to contact us on 0800 028 4924 as we would want to discuss any concerns as quickly as possible.

One question that has been raised in some of the posts here is whether we allow negotiation on an individual basis to offer discounts on advertising in the Yellow Pages. Just to clarify, we do not, nor do we enable negotiation on any of our portfolio, although set discounts are offered as part our new offer of packages of products and services.

Debbie Hayward

I think your company needs a rethink on its strategy. If I paid someone £35 or more a month for their services, gave them the cash and said I want you to provide at least 2 customers a month then I guarantee they'd get me them whether it's leaflet drops or door to door calls. As it is advertising on your website is only worth £5 to £10 a month for me.

 

[Cloak & Dagger]

Hi,

I work in the Customer Service Team at Yell and was interested to see the lively debate here about Yell and our products and services. Naturally I was also concerned to read some of the negative comments.

Yell's aim is to be, in essence, the marketing department for small businesses, offering them a range of effective value-for-money products and services across online, print and voice media through which consumers can easily find them.

I'd urge any advertiser who is unhappy with their Yell advertising arrangements to contact us on 0800 028 4924 as we would want to discuss any concerns as quickly as possible.

One question that has been raised in some of the posts here is whether we allow negotiation on an individual basis to offer discounts on advertising in the Yellow Pages. Just to clarify, we do not, nor do we enable negotiation on any of our portfolio, although set discounts are offered as part our new offer of packages of products and services.

Debbie Hayward

As a former Yell employee I feel i must speak out ,check this forum and you will find there are more posts about Yell than any other company - is it all coincedence ?

I worked there till April 10 after 3-4 years and I couldn't beleive the things agents said on the phone,if you are in CS then i presume you know all about e-mail signatures and password agreement and I also presume you know about the level of "scandal" that happened in one of the U.K call centres.

Sales agents sell to target,not to customer needs,to make the big bonuses Yell pay out,Yell portray as a proper,ethical,great-name company but behind closed doors it couldn't be more different,the stats on Tele-cit ( that's the system Yell agents use to read out stats for those who don't know ) are skewed,i heard it on a daily basis- " In your area there were 215 searches for an accountant,gardner etc etc )but how many of them are sales calls ?

Low and behold the customer gets excited about what they heard and inevitabley sign up,it's no different than a confidence trickster performing in front of you,of course this does not apply to all sales agents,some of the people i worked with had amazing talent and work responsibly and ethically,the products are great in my own opinion and Yell will always be here in some fashion and not dissapear as some ill-informed people think .

However,until Yell sorts out the level of skull-duggery within thier own castle walls they will continue to get a bad name on forums like this one,put it this way i would never pay a penny for something that never worked,i would cancel my direct debit ,and that is EXACTLY whats happening right now .

As for monthly contracts,people shold know that the customer has to call up and cancel 5-7 days before the end of the month is up or Yell will automatically continue to take a direct debit out of your account,this is NOT wholly explained by the agents,I am glad I am out of it,i chose to go and i don't regret it one bit,so Debbie as honorable as you are and i commend you for sticking your head above the parapet I go back to what i said at the top,Yell.com is the most complained about company on here and its not just coincedence,people deserve to know whats been happening month after month,year after year - you either are oblivious to any of what ive wrote but i suspect you know exactly where i'm coming from .


The Cloak & Dagger

 

[MASSEY]

Hi,
One question that has been raised in some of the posts here is whether we allow negotiation on an individual basis to offer discounts on advertising in the Yellow Pages. Just to clarify, we do not, nor do we enable negotiation on any of our portfolio, although set discounts are offered as part our new offer of packages of products and services.

Debbie Hayward

You would say that though wouldnt you

 

[easiprint]

While we have a Yell representative on here, maybe they could tell me why they sell on contact details of their failed cold sales calls without permission?

I had a cold call from Yell about 6 months ago. They told me they were Yell upfront and asked for the contact name at my company. I gave a false name, which was only ever given to Yell as I had no interest at all in advertising with them. Now for the past 6 months I have been bombarded with cold calls from many different companies asking to speak to the false name I gave. This information could have only come from Yell selling on the details. Every time I get a call now asking for this name, I make sure I take five minutes to have a good wind up with them.

 

[movietub]

Hi,

I work in the Customer Service Team at Yell and was interested to see the lively debate here about Yell and our products and services. Naturally I was also concerned to read some of the negative comments.

Yell's aim is to be, in essence, the marketing department for small businesses, offering them a range of effective value-for-money products and services across online, print and voice media through which consumers can easily find them.


Debbie Hayward

Oh come on! These boards are full of people that run businesses and know CS & PR spiel when they see it! Thats written like a press release!

And how cocky to go on about aims and intentions, you should instead be on here asking for peoples input, and exchanging questions and answers.

Rocking up with a 'we are glad to hear your comments but you have all misunderstood' attitude is just another example of Yell's failing.

So how exactly is Yell going to adapt to deliver tangible results at a competitive cost in the future? Because frankly, being another 'directory' site, one of thousands that existed before you made the jump, is insufficent. Adding training videos seems to have nothing to do with the core brand directive either.

You could have announced some new plan i.e:

Yell plans to launch a search engine which will index only yell approved sites. We will charge people a reasonable fee per year to have their site approved as containing relevant and quality information. This is a benefit to future Yell customers as it will allow you to list your current website as opposed to the rather short additional directory listing we offer now. Also, we will create a genuinly useful search service for those wishing to narrow their search to vetted results, thus avoiding contact with spam or misleading sites.

Thats just one idea, it's probably flawed in several ways. But it's an example of something you could have said which would arouse interest in Yells future plans, rather than despair.

You must have a range of plans for the future - if you want to post on a business forum, discuss them! And tell the PR team that they will pick up much Kudos for doing so

 

[YellCS]

While we have a Yell representative on here, maybe they could tell me why they sell on contact details of their failed cold sales calls without permission?

I had a cold call from Yell about 6 months ago. They told me they were Yell upfront and asked for the contact name at my company. I gave a false name, which was only ever given to Yell as I had no interest at all in advertising with them. Now for the past 6 months I have been bombarded with cold calls from many different companies asking to speak to the false name I gave. This information could have only come from Yell selling on the details. Every time I get a call now asking for this name, I make sure I take five minutes to have a good wind up with them.

Hello, yes, happy to clarify Yell's policy here. We do pass on contact names at companies we speak to about business listings with Yell to a third party. These details are then made available to other organisations who provide products and services that may be of interest and relevance to the businesses that have a listing with us.
We make this very clear in our initial call to businesses about their listing with us and they have the opportunity then to tell us if they do not wish their contact name to be passed on. Do let me know if you'd prefer for your contact details not to be passed on in this way.
Hope this is helpful.

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Hello, yes, happy to clarify Yell's policy here. We do pass on contact names at companies we speak to about business listings with Yell to a third party. These details are then made available to other organisations who provide products and services that may be of interest and relevance to the businesses that have a listing with us.
We make this very clear in our initial call to businesses about their listing with us and they have the opportunity then to tell us if they do not wish their contact name to be passed on. Do let me know if you'd prefer for your contact details not to be passed on in this way.
Hope this is helpful.

It would be interesting to find out if you check the listing againt services like tps. By pasing on details of businesses who have registered with the tps service could be a breach of data protection.

Could I have an answer YellCS

 

[YellCS]

It would be interesting to find out if you check the listing againt services like tps. By pasing on details of businesses who have registered with the tps service could be a breach of data protection.

Could I have an answer YellCS

Hi, happy to clear this up also.
The TPS is a dynamic database and should be checked at the point of call by the calling company, not the supplier. Anyone who has registered with the TPS and then goes on to receive calls, can complain to the company that calls them or through the TPS.
Further background can be found on the TPS's website.

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Hi, happy to clear this up also.
The TPS is a dynamic database and should be checked at the point of call by the calling company, not the supplier. Anyone who has registered with the TPS and then goes on to receive calls, can complain to the company that calls them or through the TPS.
Further background can be found on the TPS's website.

Hello YellCS,

Do you provide a credit if numbers and details you have passed on belongs to the tps service. More and more poeple and businesses are registering with TPS. If this is the case isn't this diluting your product if the business details you supply, companies are not able to use.

look forward to your comments

 

[debbidoo]

Yell's aim is to be, in essence, the marketing department for small businesses, offering them a range of effective value-for-money products and services across online, print and voice media through which consumers can easily find them.

If this is Yell's definition of a marketing department, no wonder it's on its way up a certain creek without a paddle.

I'm so sick and tired of Yell's sales calls, I have programmed your number into my phone and simply reject the call every time the number comes up

 

[Bath Fix]

Imo this company is running on borrowed time and the city agrees as their shareprice shows!

 

[BdTS]

As a former Yell employee I feel i must speak out ,check this forum and you will find there are more posts about Yell than any other company - is it all coincedence ?

I worked there till April 10 after 3-4 years and I couldn't beleive the things agents said on the phone,if you are in CS then i presume you know all about e-mail signatures and password agreement and I also presume you know about the level of "scandal" that happened in one of the U.K call centres.

Sales agents sell to target,not to customer needs,to make the big bonuses Yell pay out,Yell portray as a proper,ethical,great-name company but behind closed doors it couldn't be more different,the stats on Tele-cit ( that's the system Yell agents use to read out stats for those who don't know ) are skewed,i heard it on a daily basis- " In your area there were 215 searches for an accountant,gardner etc etc )but how many of them are sales calls ?

Low and behold the customer gets excited about what they heard and inevitabley sign up,it's no different than a confidence trickster performing in front of you,of course this does not apply to all sales agents,some of the people i worked with had amazing talent and work responsibly and ethically,the products are great in my own opinion and Yell will always be here in some fashion and not dissapear as some ill-informed people think .

However,until Yell sorts out the level of skull-duggery within thier own castle walls they will continue to get a bad name on forums like this one,put it this way i would never pay a penny for something that never worked,i would cancel my direct debit ,and that is EXACTLY whats happening right now .

As for monthly contracts,people shold know that the customer has to call up and cancel 5-7 days before the end of the month is up or Yell will automatically continue to take a direct debit out of your account,this is NOT wholly explained by the agents,I am glad I am out of it,i chose to go and i don't regret it one bit,so Debbie as honorable as you are and i commend you for sticking your head above the parapet I go back to what i said at the top,Yell.com is the most complained about company on here and its not just coincedence,people deserve to know whats been happening month after month,year after year - you either are oblivious to any of what ive wrote but i suspect you know exactly where i'm coming from .


The Cloak & Dagger

Sorry but your wrong again. Yell's monthly contracts can be cancelled within 8 days of the first instalment coming out, and within 8 days of any of the following instalments being taken.

We get it, you hate Yell, you left......move on with your life.

 

[Feldon]

I registered my business with a free listing on both Yell.com and Yellow pages back in July. I now recieve a couple of sales calls a week, despite me requesting that they cease calling me they hang up before I can get them to agree to my request. Having worked in sales myself I find their approach unprofessional, rude and useless.

Also have just received the latest "shrunken" Yellow Pages and surprise surprise my business has not been listed despite registering my details before their cut off date to be included in this years directory. Having looked at other adverts in the directory I notice that you would need a magnifying glass to actually read some of the ads.

 

[Investors-Wanted]

Im supprised how long this post has been going on for. It show how unhappy people are getting with Yell.com

Sorry but your wrong again. Yell's monthly contracts can be cancelled within 8 days of the first instalment coming out, and within 8 days of any of the following instalments being taken.

We get it, you hate Yell, you left......move on with your life.

Thanks for the correction. Useful

 

[Investors-Wanted]

I registered my business with a free listing on both Yell.com and Yellow pages back in July. I now recieve a couple of sales calls a week, despite me requesting that they cease calling me they hang up before I can get them to agree to my request. Having worked in sales myself I find their approach unprofessional, rude and useless.

Also have just received the latest "shrunken" Yellow Pages and surprise surprise my business has not been listed despite registering my details before their cut off date to be included in this years directory. Having looked at other adverts in the directory I notice that you would need a magnifying glass to actually read some of the ads.

They did say on Yells website that they would be dropping most of the free listings to be more environmentally friendly (or to cust the cost).

In reference to having a magnifying glass for some of the ads, maybe they are doing a deal with specsavers to sell more glasses. hehe

 

[Dave.F]

In reference to having a magnifying glass for some of the ads, maybe they are doing a deal with specsavers to sell more glasses. hehe

That made me LOL

 

[BdTS]

I registered my business with a free listing on both Yell.com and Yellow pages back in July. I now recieve a couple of sales calls a week, despite me requesting that they cease calling me they hang up before I can get them to agree to my request. Having worked in sales myself I find their approach unprofessional, rude and useless.

Also have just received the latest "shrunken" Yellow Pages and surprise surprise my business has not been listed despite registering my details before their cut off date to be included in this years directory. Having looked at other adverts in the directory I notice that you would need a magnifying glass to actually read some of the ads.

You might be at the back. Free listings aren't given a place within the classified advertising anymore.

 

[BdTS]

Im supprised how long this post has been going on for. It show how unhappy people are getting with Yell.com


Thanks for the correction. Useful

No problem.

I know there are things that Yell could do better on, but there is also quite a lot of inaccuracies and lies pedalled on here as fact.

I have read a few stories on here form disgruntled former customers where aspects of their side of events are quite easily proven as lies, but for obvious reasons I won't go down the route of proving it.

 

I worked for Yell.com ( Yellow Pages ) up until April,i worked there for 3 years,I can categorically tell you that the agents in there will sell to their targets before selling to your needs,it may interest you to know that the agents can earn up to 30% of what they sell you so it's in their best interests to sell you a high package,they are also meant to sell to a list of " data " that gets sent to them which gets wheeled out every so often,you are told to call it despite it being called 2 months before,thats what the £26k basic wage is for.

They CANNOT in ANY way guarantee you leads,they have something called Call counter which they say will count the calls you get,unfortunatley a high percentage of these calls will be from people trying to sell you something,think of it this way,If Yell.com worked really well then why don't they put their money where their mouth is and say you can cancel after 3 months if the results dont materialise ? It's simple,they won't because they are DESPERATE to get you on a DD or even better invoice you for the full year,however things may be changing.

Yell's marketshare shrunk last year ,their customer base shrunk FACT.
In the past this wasn't a problem because the amount of " new businesses " always filled in the gap but now thats not happening and their big big focus is on retention,Yell & Yellow Pages will always be here in some fashion but they trade a lot of time on name alone,they can tell you about all the shiny great new products they have and some of them are truly great,however the charges for the gamble for business im my humble opinion is NOT fair .

I now work in Customer service and although i do miss sales i am glad i am not affecting peoples livley-hoods in such a fashion as i was - Yell.com does work for some businesses but i beleive that to be lower than the ones it doesent work for - Yell.com - your choice

I'd love to have you working for me!!

 

[kingwas]

If the Yell.com or others yellow pages are not the good tools to get the inquiries, and do you think what's the best one ? google, yahoo ?