News & Notes
The Reality of Advertising in the Telephone Business White Page Directories
This article does not address the usage of telephone directories;
it addresses the function of advertising in Telco Business White Page
directories. The process of establishing and maintaining listings in these
books is dysfunctional at best, but it's the only avenue we have.
There is hardly an Advertiser White page program that does not
contain issues. These issues range from double listings, incorrect phone
numbers, old listings still publishing; to the Telco billing accounts, which in
some ways are worse off than the books. Book listing issues can and do get
resolved through communication between agency and publisher. This is not true
for agency to Telco business offices. Anyway, it's also true that Telco bills
do very little to inform the Client of just exactly what the charges are for,
thus these errors go undetected and unresolved.
A big contributor to this situation is the 3235.
In preparing orders the agency directs the Telco to send the bill to the
Advertiser's address. Here is where the dominos fall - the Advertiser is in
possession of the Telco bill with the information about a book order, and most
importantly, the billing account number. But this information is not identified
and shared with agency. As the agency continues to manage the listing the 3235
orders never designate the Telco assigned billing account number for the
specific book/listing. This can cause the Telco to establish additional
accounts, and/or not close existing accounts (listings) and their charges. It's
not uncommon to find that a caption listing with multiple numbers is being
covered by several different billing accounts. Why is this happening - the
account number, a major piece of information is missing from the 3235.
The solution is to unite the 3235 process with the Telco billing
accounts. Not an easy task as long as the CMR continues to only address one
side of the equation.
Here comes the pitch (you knew it was going to happen) DSI has been
addressing the advertiser Telco billings for 25+ years. We can offer a solution
to bring together the 3235 and the billing account. This creates a win-win
situation for both the CMR and their client.
We have combined two of our products, Tel E-Pay
(the bill payment and consolidation service) with Tel Listing (the 3235
preparation service). Tel E-Pay will explain the Telco charges to the
Advertiser, as well provides the On Line means by which to remit payment.
WhileTel Listing will include the billing account numbers on the 3235 orders
for the CMR preparing the Advertiser's White page orders.
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