Help! My husband, who owns a tree service company, has decided to take the plunge and have his own display ad in the yellow pages.
His services aren’t inexpensive, and he doesn’t want calls from looky-lou’s who are perfectly happy hiring, in his words, “Two Teeth and a Truck” fly-by-night tree companies. The phone company will charge him based on the number of calls he’ll receive from the ad, so it makes sense to weed out potential customers who are just looking for the cheapest arborist service available.
Given these parameters, he has inserted a paragraph into his prototype ad that reads thusly:
“We are not cheap! We provide quality arbor care safely while finishing with a perfect cleanup!”
I think his best bet is to eliminate entirely that first sentence; it seems to me that the second sentence fully implies that potential clients will have to pay for decent service. Additionally, of course, I hate to have any negative phrasing in such an ad. However, Mr Glot really wants to get it across to people that they will expect to have to pay a reasonable amount.
So… can anyone recommend a better sentence that would starkly yet gently communicate the fact that the company’s going rate isn’t the cheapest, but the quality is well worth it?
“They say you get what you pay for. At Glot Greenery Guys ‘n’ Gals [or whatever], you’ll always get safe, high-quality arboreal care with a perfect cleanup!”
Conveys, without any negative wording, that his business isn’t just a redneck with a saw and a truck, and that people should expect to pay for the good service.
(Maybe it’s too wordy, though. I am hopelessly wont to wax pedantic and profusely verbose. )
Yeah, I don’t like the first sentence. How about We provide quality arbor care safely while finishing with a perfect cleanup. We cut trees, not corners.
I am curious how the phone company knows which calls are spurred by the ad, and which are from business cards, personal referrals, the non-display listing, etc.
LOL! That’s pretty much true-except for most of his clients still make more in a day than we do in a year.
Thanks! I am depending on the pedantic and verbose tendencies of the Dope for help, so it’s all good!
Well… I like this one a lot, too… except for the “not.” I think this wording does lessen the negative connotations of the original sentence, at least.
So am I, actually; I forgot to ask hubby how that happens. Wouldn’t surprise me though if the phone company assigns him a unique phone number for that ad only which immediately transfers to his own company phone.
You are completely right, and he is completely wrong. Putting the phrase “we are not cheap!” in an ad is terrible advertising, plain and simple.
The ad should convey his strengths: quality work from knowledgeable experienced guys. He’ll be far more successful explaining the cost to people once they’ve called to inquire about his services – he can tell them straight out that there are cheaper services out there, but that when it comes to tree maintenance, there’s a potentially huge risk associated with letting Joe Chainsaw hack away that’s not worth the small difference in maintenance costs.
So, IMO the ad should say something like “Quality arbor care from certified professionals with over X years of experience. Fully bonded and insured.”
No! In yellow pages ads, say what you want to communicate plainly and directly – do NOT try to ‘imply’ things. Especially things that are important, and will cost you money if people don’t catch your ‘implied’ meaning. Most people do not read yellow pages ads carefully, looking for implied meanings.
But I would change that wording some. Possibly:
“When you can afford the very best, choose Glot Greenery to care for your trees.”
“Every day, you live in the landscape around your house. Invest in the very best care to maintain it. Hire Glot Greenery…”
High quality tree care, perfectionist pruning, and obsessive cleanup – that’s Glot Greenery. Our exceptional care costs more, but is worth it for your landscape."
“Glot Greenery specializes in the highest quality care for you precious home landscape.”
Good grief, advertising is a business expense. You can’t cheap out and look professional.
If you include your web adress, (and you DO have one right?) the people who will look will check you out there first.
Website are very cheap and easy to set up. See GoDaddy and/or 1and1 (I love 1and1).
The point of a successful business isn’t to turn anyone who can pay away. Sure there are people that want to look but that’s part of business. Can you imagine if I went to Sears and the clerk says:
Clerk) Hello, can I help you find something?
Markxxx) Not today, I’m just looking
Clerk) GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR STORE
“We are not cheap” is just about the worst line I can imagine putting in an ad. Explain it to him this way, if necessary: have you ever seen a Mercedes ad touting how effing expensive their cars are?
ETA: Make sure he mentions being insured and bonded and so on. It’s the first thing I look for in a tree service, after one dropped an eighty-foot pine on our neighbors’ house and turned out to be uninsured.
Unfortunately Mr Glot (with whom I never seem to share waking hours any longer; thus I wasn’t able to speak with him further about the matter until late this afternoon) has already proceeded to order his ad with the “We’re not cheap” verbiage attached, sans consulting further with me.
However, he reiterated in our conversation today that he absolutely positively does NOT want any “cheap bastards” to call him! It turns out that if his ad produces no calls whatsoever, he won’t have had to pay a dime for it. Friendly competitors of his in the tree business have told him that he would be lucky to get about 10% in quality responses from yellow pages display ads. You would not believe how some people contact him as it is presuming that he will cut down their tree absolutely free.
So the upshot is… yes, the ad may as well read, "We don’t want your business, mthrfckr!" - and he acknowledges this - but is perfectly happy just the same. :eek:
And yes, we do have a website and it will appear in the ad.
And yes, he really could use a decent marketing manager, or at the least, a course in Marketing 101!
So thanks again to all who responded. If by any chance Mr Glot does manage somehow to garner profitable leads from his ad, I will be sure to post the results!
Regarding that, I can’t remember the last time I looked in the Yellow Pages for something. Must be at least 3 or 4 years ago. In fact, I haven’t had one in my house for at least 2 years. I just take them directly from the front step to the recycling bin in back. So I’d wonder if that is a worthwhile place to buy an ad.
That’s his feeling as well, and thus the dipping of the figurative toes into the waters of yellow pages advertising. Other than referrals, the majority of his leads come from the Internet via the search results that folks get when they google our location plus tree work/arborist/etc. The yellow pages ad is both print and online.
(Not really… but I just had to try to finish the poetic symmetry! Mr Glot does not go by “Tim” )
Would love to get a phone number for the mnemonically challenged! We did try to acquire the number of a recently-bankrupt competitor who had gotten tons of quality calls for landscaping, but our phone company put up too many hurdles.
Fortunately Mr Glot was savvy enough to add that line to his spiel. It’s just that he still left in the “we’re not cheap” one, too. :dubious:
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