Comments on: Sensis Changing Tactics Again

By: Mac

Mac — Wed, 05 May 2010 01:15:26 +0000

I don’t agree Peter. The Yellow Pages story is based upon the misrepresentation to advertisers of its huge distribution that in reality only has a fraction of usage. Meanwhile, there is massive wastage/pollution/destruction of forests to prop-up this deception that should not be allowed in 2010.

By: Peter Ricci

Peter Ricci — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:34:48 +0000

I think market forces will make this a natural evolution

By: Mac

Mac — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:50:42 +0000

Look what I found! http://stopyellowpages.posterous.com/ is a petition to stop the hugely wasteful delivery of Yellow Pages so only those who have agreed get them! And so say all of us!
(Where is Peter Garrett when you really need him! Betta dump those shares in forests! *L*)

By: PaulD

PaulD — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:36:19 +0000

Yellow Pages time again. Well I wouldn’t remember anymore, because we pulled out two years ago, and according to the Sensis Guy, that was a major mistake that we would regret. All it did was save money, that and the VoIP phones. My communication costs have now dropped out of the top 5 of my fixed costs. The yellow pages advertising (by volume) has dropped by 6% and 7% respectively over the last 2 years. YP obviously have to charge more and more to make up the losses in numbers. I wonder how much the last guy in the book will be paying. I suppose he will at least get all the calls

By: Another Old Timer

Another Old Timer — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:13:08 +0000

In regards to Dr Dennis Fromholzer – I think if you look a little deeper you will also find he was once the CEO of a Yellow Pages business in the states (there are a few Yellow Pages businesses over there). So that makes his “research” even more suspect. As for his powerpoint displays, I’ve seen them as a sales rep from Sensis once showed them to me as “proof” that the book was going to make me money. Also as for the “metered ad program” I got a very crappy response from my advert – Sensis turned up all excited with the results, because they claimed I was getting heaps of calls. Unfortunately for them, most of the calls I received were from telemarketers trying to sell me phone systems! It was a load of crap and I pulled all my spend with Yellow Pages right then and there. But they keep harrassing me to go back into the book, even now two years later!

Also, regarding “Peter Lindsay’s” post above – he sounds suspiciously like an undercover Sensis employee to me – especially since he seems to be alluding to “Karl Morris” as breaching some kind of confidentiality as a former employee of Sensis. I say goodonya Karl, and down with Sensis, with Karen, and all the rest!

By: Old Timer

Old Timer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:27:46 +0000

Re. Sensis
It’s a cultural thing that starts at the top.

If we can side-step the shocking waste of share-holders money as the once house-hold names across all age groups (Whitepages & Yellowpages) has disappeared to just us old timers (imagine such brands having to be Googled!), Sensis needs creativity. And it ain’t gonna get it from the top.

If it were to come from the top, it would need to be from people like the well-meaning but very dull head of Classifieds (Trading Post covers this broad area) who was formerly head of Strategy, the now head of Strategy who is a cold, newly corporatized (female – wince) ladder-climber, or knarly old Sol who must be readying for his golden handshake with the amount of time he spends dining with ‘mates’ back home in the US of A. It’s certainly not gonna come from Brucey A (Sensis Boss) who is still just a step away from his previous lawyer’s role as group Counsel on secondment from Mallesons! (Hasn’t he done well for a boring tit!). Next you’ll be telling me a farmer should be Chairman of the whole Telstra megolith – What? He is?! That’s right! Johnny Howard gave him the nod for fighting the unions on the docks, didn’t he. So, what do you expect from Telstra/Sensis – C’mon!
Karen (from Corp Affairs above), has to show more creativity than any of this mob to keep the company line flowing while the Oz operation sinks like Sol’s previous gig @ T West in the US. (Pity she actually believes what she is saying – who would lie about actually liking and respecting her boss, ‘fatboy Phil’(Burgess)).

So guys, feedback and input from r.e. agents would assist and show Telstra/Sensis/Trading Post has some interest in the real estate segment but guess what, the people that matter really don’t have a real interest in anything except themselves so don’t beat yourselves up over it. Sol understands all this. He knows the Oz operation is on a hiding to nothing so has turned the place into an investment house looking for investments OS otherwise his bonuses won’t be as rich as possible – altho, don’t forget his options were structured at a buy price set at the record low after he had been in the job many months!

Now, what was I doing? This Alzheimers is a bitch! Can’t remember a thing

By: snoop

snoop — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:39:54 +0000

I think they have got themselves over excited about the success in the real estate sector of tradme in nz
I dont think the market dynamic is the same in aus

By: Craig Pontey

Craig Pontey — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:02:51 +0000

Sensis,,,,a sleeping giant but unfortunately misguided and misdirected when it comes to the Real estate industry.

Have they asked for help and assistance from our industry…not that I am aware of

Both REA and Domain are after our help and work with our businesses to develop what we want, need and will pay for….

and what of http://www.google.com.au

Its going to get interesting……and fun

Regards to all Craig Pontey Ray White Double Bay Group

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:56:21 +0000

Thanks Glenn for your interest. Below are some points on some of the questions you raised in your post.

Re: natural progression -
Sensis is a unique business, with interests in directories, mapping, classifieds, display advertising and voice services to name a few. As such, we set our own strategy and business models and have a proven track record of growth .

Re: 2 million visits
We share your frustration with the way online metrics are reported across the industry. However for Sensis and Trading Post, there is no conspiracy. Two million unique visitors go to http://www.tradingpost.com.au each month.

Re:

By: snoop

snoop — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:27:58 +0000

Nett of it is you cant run a media company like a phone company.