Has the yellow pages worked for any of you guys.where I am at they what your first born and a leg to advertise with them.Is it worth it????

You will probably get alot of posts on this one.We have found that being at the top of the list is the best.You get a high volume of calls and if you have a good csr who can sell glass they wont shop around.It also depends on the kind of population and competition your dealing with.Our biz is 40% from phone book ads.So yes,you should be in the phone book.Just really put some thought into your add,it reflects your biz at first look.

I will not say how many jobs i do a month as it is no ones business, but let me tell you this its more than 80 and less than 10,000 :) I DO NOT HAVE ANY yellow page ads.. I can for $200 a month get more exposure than any yellow page (PAID) ad can provide.. I guarantee..

Ask my competitors i do not advertise in there BUT I AM LISTED :) Google bachman auto glass or look on a yellow page www in any town i am in!

Larry, HOW?????

P.S. I'm no where near your area! LOL!

Total seriousness and I am sure coincidence: The day we dropped our Yellow Page ad was the day we started making money. Total waste for us (not all), word of mouth, referrals, repeat business and pens/pads/koozie cups works better for us.

We were in the Yellow Pages, they were new to this area and they never del. the phone books. Out of 100 calls maybe one came from their book. We have two other books in this area and have found only one worth being in. You just have to try and see if they are better in your area then they were here.

Makes you stop and think doesn't it? If I dropped mine I would save a serious chunk of change.

asag: The only problem there is that you may spend hundreds/thousands to find out YP doesn't work.

I know, that was the problem we faced. The best thing to do is talk with other comp. that are in your area.

Probably 50% of our sales are from the YP in the AG division, 75% or more in FG. Word of mouth, repeat customers and referrals account for the rest. For us at least, the YP's are paying for themselves, but we are in an area where a business card size add doesn't cost $700-$900 per month. We are in 5 different books, some color adds, some white knockout backgrounds, and all larger than business card size, it helps to stand out, and it still isn't $900.00 a month. I feel sorry for you guys trying to do YP in major metro areas.

Tell me about it, A business card size ad in the paper here id over $500.00 per month, and that's just one book. We service 5 different areas here.

This forum is very valuable. This is one of the things I have been exploring while gathering info on starting my own business. Where to put what few advertising dollars I am going to have. The more I research and talk to people I am finding out that old fashioned "shoe leather" is what makes you successful. I think I'll invest in some Kozy-mugs and scratch pads!

When I started my business a few years ago, I started on a shoe string of sorts. Had scratch pads and pens printed and started calling and stopping to see people that I had known for years. Then started calling on people that I didn't know. Got on the Lynx network and put a couple of ads in the yellow pages. It just kind of took off from there because the next thing I knew, I was getting calls from people who said that so and so told them to call me. Don't think that you will jump in to this and get rich overnight. For a small independant, a slow growing process is the norm. It can be frustrating and a little scary for the first couple of years. I had more than a few sleepless nights when I first started, but I wouldn't change what I did for the world. I'm not rich, may never be, but I make my own decisions (and mistakes). When I started this business, my motto was, and still is, FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, It feels good to know that people call me because they trust our work. Try to keep your overhead as low as possible initially and make sure you know your competition!! I'm not trying to write a book about starting a small business and this, by no means, covers everything, but it's a little food for thought. You will find that most of the people on this forum have (been there, done that) and they can be a wealth of information. Good luck with your business!! I wish you well!!!

Thank you Glass Lady!

I'm a realist so I don't plan on getting rich overnight or ever for that matter. I just want to make an honest living for myself and my family without killing myself in the corporate world of MORE MORE MORE for LESS LESS LESS!

Does it cost money to be on the Lynx systems? Whats the best way to go about insurance work?

Auto Glass Ninja,
You're welcome!! Don't claim to be the worlds best glass shop owner, but I try to do my best. The way I look at it is, we all have to start somewhere and we all had to learn at one time or another. I started as a CSR in a glass shop, which is a great way to get the basics, since, in a lot of cases, the owner would be in a pickle if the CSR wasn't there to keep things flowing, particularly when you start getting busy. If you look at it like a wagon wheel, you have the owner at the hub, the CSR and sales reps are kind of like the spokes and the Techs are like the rim around it. Each part of that wheel plays a very important role in the company and without one of the links, the company just doesn't function as it should. So, whatever part you play, you are an important part of the company. You have to give each person the respect they deserve and treat each person as an individual. Any owner that doesn't feel that way will eventually have problems. That said, (I'm long winded today! LOL), At the time I became part of the Lynx network there was an $250.00 application fee. Of course, that was a few years ago and I honestly don't know if it has changed or not. That covers SF, Allstate and all the other Lynx. It can take a while for the insurance stuff to really flow in and a lot of it has to do with the connections that you have. I would suggest as much one on one contact that you can manage on your own with agent, but then, that's a challenge in itself. Lynx works for some, maybe not for others. It is something you will have to decide if it will benefit you or not. Hope this helps you out a little bit.

Lynx does not cost anything to join know a days. You can go on there website and sign up there or try calling them and sign up that way also.

Ninja: It's sounding like you are really going to do it, best wishes and lots of luck to go with your hard work. Due to the contract stipulations you agree to (when you become a participating shop in a network, Lynx, Safelite, etc.) regarding marketing to insurance agents I would call on as many as possible prior to signing up with TPA's. As Glass Lady said get those notepads, pens, mousepads, coffee cups, maybe a basket of muffins or tin of cookies and walk right in and introduce yourself to as many as possible. Let them know you are a new business but you have alot of experience, find out which network they use and let them know you will be participating in their glass program and would appreciate the opportunity to service their insureds. Let them know you will make their job easier if they just have the insured give you a call, you'll take it from there. When we get agent referrals that's the first thing out of the insureds mouth "my agent told me to call you, and you'd handle everything". They have to know they can count on you from start to finish. **I'm sure you know this, never let a warranty issue get put on a back burner it deserves more attention than a new claim, the insured should never have to call agent or network and they won't if you handle all issues promptly. Now go out there and sell, sell, sell.

Thanks for the great info! I can't tell you hoe much I appreciate it!

Hey where'd you get that ninja icon?

Do you mean "hoe" or "how" (lol). Regaarding the NINJA click on MORE SMILIES he's under characters I think.

Sorry about the spelling on a lot of my posts. I get to typing too fast and make mistakes. I need to be more careful.

I install glass much better then I type. Promise.

Keep in touch with us as you go along! We will love hearing how you are doing, and if you get to a point where you need some moral support, hey, we are pretty good at that too!!! LOL!!

Glass Lady, moral support and "sewing" that's us right? Haven't seen him on here lately I'm happy to say.

And we do both VERY WELL!!! LOL!!

Thanks for the assistance so far and the assistance I'm sure you'll be in the future! There is a lot to going on your own, but I'm resolved to do it. I'm tired of getting the shaft job from corporations.

P.S. Thanks for the ninja icon too!

You are right, there is a lot to it, and you will learn something new every day!!! You will be fine!!

Hey Don't panic, you forgot, shopping in the frozen food isle! LOL!!

Yeah Glass Lady I did, ya know I have an above average IQ and a pretty quick wit, but I never understood what he meant by the frozen food isle comment; unless it's to do with the effect cold temps have on certain bodyparts of the female. I'm just glad not to be hearing from him these days, we're a friendly bunch if he couldn't get along here, he can't get along anywhere.

You are probably right about the frozen food isle. Either that or he thinks women are too lazy to cook anything but something you can pull from the freezer and nuke. I don't remember what he said verbatim, but I do remember that it was pretty tacky!. Once Webmaster told him to chill, I guess he decided that he couldn't have any more fun. Come to think of it, we haven't heard from "wouldn't you like to know" lately either.

Hey it's 5:07 in my time zone..........I'm outta here