Today, I had a very abrupt phone call from the Pages Jaunes, ostensibly to enquire whether I'd like to pay over 150 euros for an extra line of information on my Yellow Pages insert. I said it was expensive and I didn't have the money, could they send info via paper/email etc and I have to say she was not quite as rude as some British companies I've spoken to in my life (hello, Egg, that would be you!) but she was absolutely insistent I should take her up on it, and very rude when I said I'd not got that kind of cash to fork out for directory details. I made that mistake in Britain, paying for a bigger Thomson Local ad and not getting a single call via them. Pages Jaunes don't even come up first on a search for anything on a Google search, like Yell do. She refused to put the phone down and whilst I consider it highly discourteous to put the phone down, I really wanted to. Has anyone else had a similar experience, or are Pages Jaunes' experiences generally more positive?
Has anyone paid anything to Pages Jaunes, and if so, was it worth the investment?
Strangely, I had a call from URSSAF last week, and someone else the week before, all of which ask for me, then don't say who they are or where they are calling from. They then launch into a monologue without me knowing who they are or what they want. Bizarre. Is this just the style?!
Did this in a previous firm in which I was a partner, complete waste of time and money, they even managed to sell us a short video sequence where they came and filmed the premises, the staff, etc, and then cut most of the interesting stuff out ! Frankly, none of it ever brought in any new clients. They've rung me twice since I set up my own firm, and both times I've told them politely where to dismount.
So true, Valerie. I've now vowed to pay them nothing!
I wouldn't mind if Pages Jaunes came up as the first thing on an internet search for my business, but it never does, so I advertise with the directories that do. I haven't had a single call via Pages Jaunes. I'm surprised they are so expensive, to be honest. Free advertising is the way forward!!
Pages Jaunes' sale teams are terrible. They would not give you a quote until you have a registered business and they are so pushy that most small entrepreneurs end up paying 500€ to 1500€ for a year. I have a couple of customers spending 4000€ per year with them! (they are in the PVC window business so not so surprising...)
I always warn French entrepreneurs I help to limit it to 500€ to 800€ and not fall for the many extra charges: line in bold, micro site (think 1500€), charges for extra towns you want to appear in, etc.
If you are an artisan or own a restaurant, this is still a must have as most French people in an office environment start t search there. Otherwise for services I wouldn't consider it, you are more likely to do better with GoogleMaps, Googles ads or your own website.
I ‘was sold’ the extra lines by pages jaunes and have to say in a very pleasant way, otherwise i wouldnt have bought it. Has it made a difference absolutely not, I have not received one call from the publication so next year it will be back to the free listing only. One tip with these types of organisations, they can get you unwittingly in to an automatic year on year deal so just check your prelevments.
I have to say, though, although not 'sales' related, but when I was cancelling my Sky pack back in the UK, and Vodafone and Talk Talk were all LOVELY - the guy from Sky chatted to me for ages after I said I was cancelling and they couldn't keep me because I was moving to France - he said 'I hope we never have your custom again, in the best possible way!' - and the Geordie girl at Talk Talk was the same, told me about her dad living out near Carcassonne - just goes to show how desperate people must be when they're in sales. Still, rude doesn't get anywhere!! Thing is, when I've got a nice sales person, I end up feeling guilted into buying something - much more likely to buy!! I actually WANTED to stay with Sky and Talk Talk because of those two people.
I get the eco-energy and windows cold calls quite frequently but as I always answer with the name of my shop they usually apologise and hang up. Pages Jaune on the other hand were very rude and I had to tell them on 4 occassions that I didn't want to be listed. (all I got from the last listing was more cold calls from "business services")
The best cold call I have had recently was from a fake potential customer that wanted to buy a bike but couldn't get to the shop and so wanted my web address. I told him that the site was under construction and so I couldn't help. Then 3 days later a rep called to see me offering fully integrated web solutions for small shops - just a coincidence? No, she had all of my details including the under-construction web address.
Ouch! I confess ... have to make cold calls from time to time as part of my job. (I'm sure many of us on here have to make a sales call from time to time?) However, I'm always very polite, and never call at mealtimes, and never insist if people say they're not interested. If anyone ever speaks to me in Greek, or asks if I have windows, I will know they are SFN! It IS a horrible job in those call centres though, where they have to make 'x' amount of calls per day.
But I agree, some are SO aggressive - I find the ones from energy and telecomms companies the most intrusive - asking how much the bills are, who is my provider etc. I try to be polite-ish to all cold callers (after all they are doing their job), but even I have trouble with those ones!
I think I might just refuse to speak French with cold callers... It'd be predictable and might backfire if I spoke English, so I might learn a bit more of something highly unpredictable. I was thinking Tamazight but there's too much outsourcing to Morocco, so that might not work. Maybe Japanese? That'd really freak them out. Or Greek. And I'm just going to speak it until they hang up, having understood every word of their probably insults. I might say 'I'm very sorry, I only speak Greek; have you got a Greek speaking team member?' over and over.
Just tell them you've used your green energy credit impot, stops them all in their tracks ;-) (doesn't work for pages jaune but thankfully they haven't called me, I've made a note of some of Sab's for them!)
Just had to join in with this as I can so relate to what you've all said and love the ways you deal with the hassle of sales calls! We get bombarded with them as well but my husband developed a brilliant strategy in the UK which he still uses to this day! He sits and listens to all they have to say, answers 'Oui' to most of the questions, then turns round and says 'Yes please I'll have whatever you're selling. This is a rented house and I am on Social Security (or French equivalent) so come and do the work and then send the bill to the local authority'! (not true of course but it works every single time, without fail). Maybe we should start a Top Ten list of ways to beat the Cold Callers!
If you can just hang on for a minute.....ou ne quittez pas.....
* walks to barn with cordless phone, turns generator on, leaves phone in barn, returns to house, mixes G&T, lights fag and settles on sofa with selection of magazines *
I've noticed there are some things they really hate Emma. They hate being thrown off their script more than anything else, and that's easy to do. They hate when you ask them for their surname. They hate being asked their number - they haven't got one, being in a call centre. They hate being asked if they like their job. They hate it if you get personal. They may be being recorded, remember, it's pretty nasty stuff they do and conditions they work in normally, but in the end it's they who decided to bug you so don't feel too guilty about it. They hate it if you start asking them questions that are on their script. Try asking them if they have windows... They hate it if you seem delighted they called because you've been looking for the chance to run a little idea you've had for a new business by someone, and maybe they would like to help you out a bit, and you do have an excellent trial offer on just now, as it happens.
In fact, the possibilities are endless... amuses-toi bien :-S
This cold calling happens all the time. I live with someone with a Spanish surname and the phone is in her name.
I amuse myself by varying my tactics every time I pick up the phone and say hello, hear a slight hesitation, and then a questioning: 'Monsieur Carmona?'.
After an internal sigh I generally either say 'Non' OR ask who's calling, getting her to spell it, then give the name of her company, spell it (my French is very bad, so she has to do this very sllloowwwwlllyyyy), then ask her phone number and offer to call her back as I'm busy right now, or after all that tell her that Mme Carmona isn't actually there, OF if I'm feeling very cruel I (could, I've never actually done this) say 'ne quittez pas' and gently lay the phone down and get on with my life, OR ask for her HOME number so that you can call her at home and piss her off too, OR scream at her about how rude it is to cold call, OR ask her to hold a moment while you check, count carefully, and come back and say, 'It's ok, we have windows thank you' OR make out you think it's an OLD FRIEND who's having a joke with you - "Oh COME ON Janet, - hahaha - I know it's you - hahaha - oh you make me laugh Janet, hahaha, Or sometimes, quite often unfortunately, I'm just resignedly polite. Ask them if they mind if you carry on eating/going to the toilet/helping your kid with his homework as they talk, including all the sound effects and interruptions that would entail. It could be fun :-S