–noun [yel-oh] [peyjs]

Overview

Early History
Alexandar Graham Bell registered the patent for the telephone in 1876 sparking a revolution in conversation and business operations. Not long after, in 1878, the first phone directory was published and distributed by New Haven Telephone Company in Connecticut (see Resources for a link to a picture). The contact information for all fifty subscribers was neatly listed on a white card. From the beginning, phone directories divided listings into commercial and residential sections. Coupons first appeared in a 1909 St. Louis directory.

Why Yellow Paper?
While no one knows for sure how the Yellow Pages became yellow, they first appeared in 1883. According to telephone lore, a printer ran out of white paper and substituted yellow instead of waiting for the next paper shipment. A belief that reading print on a yellow background was easier on the eye made the substitution permanent. The Yellow Pages very quickly became a trademark of telephone companies and their services.

RH Donnelly
In 1886 RH Donnelly formed the the Chicago Directory Company which contracted with the the Chicago Telephone Company to provide the first Yellow Pages. The company eventually monopolized the phone directory market and branched out to publish directories for other Bell telephone networks in New York, Wisconsin and Ohio. Today, RH Donnelly is a 2.6-billion-dollar company headquartered in North Carolina and provides both print and internet directory services for 28 states.

Deregulation
Deregulation of the telephone industry in the 1980s didn't just affect phone service; it affected the Yellow Pages as well. The dominant market position RH Donnelly had cultivated for over 100 years was rapidly challenged by an influx of new directory publishers. Telephone directories are profitable, which spurred the growth of more than 2,300 different phone directories published by 250 publishers. Per the Yellow Pages Association, the directory industry has a net worth of $31 billion annually. The three largest Yellow Pages publishers are RH Donnelly, Yellow Book, and TransWestern Publishing.

Internet
While the print editions of the Yellow Pages are still popular, online versions are gaining ground. Online directories first appeared during the 1990s; yellowpages.com launched in 2004. Today, there are dozens of online directories as well as applications for mobile devices. The Yellow Pages Association (YPA) reports that in 2007, approximately half of internet searches utilized online yellow page services. There's even a blog sponsored by the YPA and plans to develop Twitter as a marketing platform.

Real World Experience

Responsible for the Corona, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Redlands, Banning / Beaumont and Temecula print directories, Yellowbook.com online directory and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) product, WebReach.

Directory Responsibilities

• Managing all book objectives, sales projections and assignments for each rep
• Develop market specific plans to address individual needs of each geography and product
• Create and present weekly sales training sessions and team building exercises
• Responsible for weekly area meetings to update reps on objectives and provide recognition to top performers
• Ride with each sales associate on a monthly basis to foster growth
• Work with each sales rep weekly, one-on-one, to identify key needs and develop specific action plans to help improve overall skills
• Provide coaching to fine-tune sales presentation skills and polish cold-calling techniques
• Place a strong emphasis on developing a positive workplace among reps resulting in low turn-over rate among staff
• HR/employee relations
• Developed local marketing placement and created strategic relationships with key trade accounts

A successful hands-on leadership role resulting in refined corporate objectives and employee development resulting in rapid revenue generation and reduced turnover. Regular management of the business side of sales involved multi-region travel for the successful turnaround and development of business processes and programs.

Key Victories

• Over 126% to final objective from the final PRR numbers
• Generated an average of 12% increase for 13 out of 14 Directories over a 2.5 year span (2004-2007)
• Finished 2007 at 119%, 2006 at 112%, and 2005 at 106% to objective
• Mentored 4 senior and coached 3 sales associates to achieve promotions
• 135.4% to objective on new sales dollars (2006)
• Ranked #8 out of 86 managers in Western Region (2006)
• Highest team internet sales in region (2007)
• Team ranked #4 in region for new sales (118% to objective with 4.9 new sales average per month / per rep) (2007)