Have you noticed you have increased your ad size each year or added new headings, but your advertising bill only increases slightly?  There is a reason for this and it is not because you have a kind and benevolent sales rep who ‘really likes you’.  Ever try to decrease your ad size with the yellow page rep?

No matter who you are dealing with in life, if you understand what motivation they have, you can figure out the best way to work with them.   This sounds like an obvious thing and we all know what motivates people…money.  Understanding how they get their money is the important part though.

The most common type of motivation, or way to incentivize someone, is to give them a commission.  A common example everyone is familiar with is the restaurant server who is paid primarily on tips.  Since most people tip a percentage of the bill, you can look at this a receiving a commission.  The server’s motivation for offering you an appetizer or dessert is obvious when looking at it this way… the greater the bill, the greater the tip, or commission. 

I mention this example of motivation because it is clearly different than the way a yellow page sales rep is motivated.  This rep has a different incentive plan to work with and they are not going to get paid the same amount like the server who just has to sell something to make a commission. Now imagine if you only tipped a server if your bill for tonight’s dinner was larger than the last time you ate at the restaurant…this is the way a yellow page rep gets paid.  A yellow page sales rep goes into their sales meeting needing you to purchase the same amount of advertising, or more, as you did last year to make a commission.  This is why you find yourself being pitched advertising programs that are bigger each year, even though the consumer’s reliance on the yellow pages dwindles each year.   With their starting point for commissions starting at the amount you spent last year, the yellow page sales rep is heavily incentivized for you to spend more, and this is why they are willing to ‘sweeten the deal’ as long as you spend more.

It is human nature to want to get a good deal on anything.  It sounds like a great deal increasing to a half page ad for a couple extra dollars a month.  But ask yourself - do you really need an ad that size?…or do you even need one at all?  When you understand that your rep’s bottom line is the amount you spent last year, you can begin to understand some of the reasoning behind their proposals.  It is not uncommon for yellow page reps to offer increases in ad size, white page listings or internet yellow page listings for free or heavily discounted as long as you maintain your spend.  Even though they may be giving away everything it seems, what they are really doing is keeping their commission.