UnMarketing, 2nd Edition

8Aiming Your Company at the Bottom of the Barrel

Twenty-five years ago, we loved leafing through three big books: Encyclopedia Britannica, the Big Book of Amazing Facts, and the Yellow Pages. Maybe we wanted to read them because of our lack of friends in third grade, or for Scott, it may have been spurred by the avoidance of people commenting on his bulbous head, or perhaps it was just a general interest in things that drove the desire. Whatever the reason behind it, we could sit there for hours with those books.

Fast-forward to the present day. The encyclopedia has been replaced by Wikipedia, the big book is now called the Internet, and the Yellow Pages are called Google. Yet many businesses and phone directory sales reps continue to use these big hunks of paper and try to justify their use of them. We've had this debate with many people about businesses using tools like the Yellow Pages. Most people say it is a great doorstop, booster seat, or a thing to beat people with when they don't pay up on a gambling debt. But let's look at the case that most people say justifies using them: “They work in some markets. People still use them. Like old folks, shut-ins, and people who are still locked into AOL contracts.”

So, let's roll with that—people who still potentially use them. We have a few issues with this way of thinking.

• You are aiming at the bottom of the barrel (the hierarchy of buying). As you can see when you look at the hierarchy, even people who use the Yellow Pages on ...