Should I offer free service for my directory?

I hope John will come in and reply as he has some great first hand knowledge on directory sites and cold calling for directory sites. If you do some forum searches you can find a few of these threads.

As for the directory here are my thoughts on it.....
The value in the directory is the citation and the traffic.
To get traffic you will need to have it be a valuable directory that is found. For this reason I would fill it with free basic listings. Then you upsell for the better listing.

As for calling you may be getting voicemails if you are calling from another area code. Since many of these businesses would be small operations they might screen out telemarketers via the area code. Also if they are one man operations they may be busy with clients when you call. Try the before 8 and after 5 method if you find that to be the case.

Which directory software are you guys using?

Offering free is always a flag for people. You can get past that flag by showing how the free offer benefits you both.

Personally though I would never be a part of a directory that put my info up and then sold me the lead that came from said info. After all the customer was trying to contact me not your service.

I don't want to say it is a bad model but personally I don't like it.

Many directories use the model of tiered listings with the most basic free (and normally given automatically) and the higher levels paid.

If I were doing this myself here is how I think I would do it.

I'd have 3 levels
1. Free - Bring these in with basic info (name and phone only?)
2. Cheap - Full Basic Info (address, email, website) charge something so cheap that no one would say no like $199/yr (or less but at least $10/mo)
3. Expanded - Think Google Places - photos, videos (have a limit and upsell more. 5 photos included - $50/yr for 25 photos, $100/yr for 100 photos, $200/yr or unlimited)

Upsells would be banner ads and featured listings plus any related services you could offer like web design, SEO, and etc.

You are 100% correct that you want them in the door. But a list of paying customers is worth more than a list of free customers.

List everybody and work with upsells.

Since I don't sell this stuff myself but do it in house I get a lot of cold calls. So I picture it from the other side.

Leads are great.
Directories are great.
It is the combination of the two that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

How would you feel if google had someone search for you and after that someone had picked you forced them to fill out a form to contact you and than only passed on said contact if you paid.

That isn't customer or business friendly. Normal leads come to an unbranded website (sometimes branded) and are looking for who to do business with.

It's that difference which throws me off. But like I said it is personal. You could use this model and have people who love it. Basically I am a focus group of one. Remember that and take anything I say with that grain of salt.

John, who I mentioned, above would be able to give the best real world advice. I don't believe he ever used a model that combined leads and directories but he may have or at least he can say why he never used that model.

When it comes to telemarketing and directory sites he is the most vocal expert on them that actively posts here.

I have a tree service business myself, and we use directory sites that list all the tree services in our area. As a contractor myself, I can tell you that most sites that charge er lead give crappy, three week old, the work has already been done, leads for $12 - $25 each. That's poo.

I wait until my sites get number one on Google, then I charge a monthly fee for featured listings, but I don't sell leads. People on my site can get a quote from a few or all the contractors listed, and I don't charge to send leads to contractors. I just call them up and say, I need your email address so I can email you quotes that come through our site.

I've had people say it was suspicious, I just tell them to go to my website and check it out for themselves. I had lady not give me her correct email, so when I got a quote for her, it bounced and I called her and got her correct email and sent her the quote. I had one guy not give me his email because the website wasn't owned by a black person.

All that doesn't matter. Deliver value, and people will pay you. Let the fearful people see the good work you do.

That's my advice. I've been in directories since before Google Local. I have Millions of pages of directory sites up and running right now. You can check me out by searching tree service fort wayne (www.treeservicefortwayne.org) or tree removal fort wayne (treeremovalfortwayne.com). My sites should come up number one. (If they don't, let me know )

If I were you, I would offer it for free. There are so many directories and free posting sites that are operating for free. Even your directory has a good traffic you will not be familiarized because you're not free. Free directories are known not just because they are free but because of the products and services that are available in the directories. If you want to gain more leads and earn more.

You can't expect to charge for both the listing and the leads!

Directories can work in many ways. One of the best models I have seen is giving away free listings with a set time period for ending. In otherwords, you get the first 2 months free and then it will cost xxx. We are so confident that you will love our services, we offer this try before you buy service.

However, it is very important that you keep up with when people join and contact them with enough time to either secure their payment or remove them from the site. If you offer a free trial and people see businesses listed on their for long after the 2 month (or whatever) period, you will lose a lot of credibility.