what % of people prefer to buy their services from a local business?

i advertise in the local tiny little phone book. i do as good or better than the big books and it costs 1/2 the price.

what percentage of people do you think go first to a local business?

i think 20%

to a certain % of people its very important to support the local guy. most people i find dont care at all.

Are you trying to compare how many people prefer to shop local as opposed to shopping online?

It depends what your business is. I generally buy fresh produce locally. If I want a high tech book I may go online.

im a plumber and i am wondering what other people think about people wanting a 'service' person who is local vs. someone from the surrounding area.

its a phone book question. i am deciding on how to renew my local phone book ad. i have idea's on how to make my listing different.

my problem is the name on my company is a city (also a county) and it is not the city i live in....i do get some local work ocassionally and alot of it is because they find out im a local business.

just wondering what everyone thinks about hiring service people? does local mean anything to anyone? what percent care?

or another way to ask it is....what percent use local mini phone books vs. large wide area phone books

The small books hit the recycle bin the day they are delivered.

I think you are better to invest in fridge magnets, t shirts and all those little gadgets that people use everyday. Find a unique product and try a few out. Butter up the local home depot worker to plug your name. Maybe have him wear a shirt of yours under his apron? I have a friend put a bunch of small magnets on his construction van and at job sites other contractors were taking them for future jobs. Try lumber yards, electrical supply houses or even some crazy slogans. Get some fresh minds involved (kids), the thoughts are endless.

A lot of my customers tell me they try to shop local. I don't know how effective the little local phone book is though, or any phone book these days. I can count the number of times I used a phone book last year on one hand.

I've done an article or two about why it makes sense, not only to shop local when you can, but to shop independent local businesses. The idea is to keep as much cash circulating in your proximity as possible. It's more likely to come back to you in some form or another if it's not packed up and shipped across country for distribution to shareholders and execs elsewhere.

Of course, you have to get value for your money. Supporting incompetence or a model that's not going to work benefits nobody in the long term.

I don't think I have ever done business with anybody who isn't local and had it turn out to be a good experience... people have disappeared... my orders have vanished into thin air... and if project work is involved... it's ends up being a big mis-communication and I usually get short changed... I've only had one good business experience with a guy in new york... and he was close friends with my business partner...

Why shop with someone you know when you can walk down a dark alley with money waiving in your hand? just my narrow minded and usually negative opinion...

People have a lot harder time short changing you if they can see you face to face and other people are around...

I know our local community directory brings in great results for many of my clients (far outshining the regular yellow pages, in fact the ones with smaller budgets don't bother with the traditional yellow pages at all) - but it's not put together by the phone company it's put out by the newspaper and it's one of those small town things that is looked forward to. It's inexpensive to be in around here, relatively speaking...

Most people around here care very deeply about hiring local, but there's not enough local businesses to do all the work when it comes to construction and renovation...so there's long wait times.

I just bought an ad in yet another phone book. The saleslady was nice, and came in with a cart in front of her full of her stuff. She obviously had some kind of degenerative nerve disease.

I told her we were in the middle of a move and I didn't have any ad cash available. She took it well and moved on. She called back later and said her assistant manager said she could offer me a deal.

I ended up getting a full color ad that they list for $2178/year for $30/month (84% off). Not that I think the ad was ever worth $2178. On the contrary, the fact that they're willing to discount that much to make a sale tells me something about the market for phone book advertising.