Anyone got an opinion on the BEST OF organisation?

Hi, just met with someone from the best of organisation, for example Best of Cardiff etc. Anyone have any opinion on the organisation or have any personal experience?

Cue huge debate!

I guess you have to look at what it is they are offering and whether you can achieve that result more cost effectively.

If it's about building web presence and search engine listings then here's a great place to do that for free for a start.

Let the argument commence........

No personal experience Deborah but aware there are several Best Of operators in the offline 4Network ... who may be along in a minute ..

If you wanted an intro to several of my connections who are not 4Netters ... then PM me. I'm surrounded by Best Of Evesham ... Bromsgrove ... Malvern ... Worcester ...

/thinks ... how come Harmony House isn't on Best Of ... makes note to ring Phil Hendy

I went to a seminar run by the founder of The Best Of (he also set up MyMag and My Little Wrapper)...he told me that I could join and so I was pointed in the drection of the branch local to me over in Bournville - I rang said woman who told me that I was better off joining the FSB so I did and didnt join The Best Of..I also rang their HQ to tell them that they had lost a potential customer.

Ringing their HQ is a pain in the bum - they never answer the phone and you have to leave a message on an answerphone and they may or may not ring you back in the afternoon.

The guy who runs the Bromsgrove branch of The Best Of is probably one of the most profitable franchisee (according to the founder of said business) and must be doing ok because he has sponsored one of the buses - I see it go past my flat daily.

Do you know what..... if you want to know what it is like then give me a call.....

Our web guy gave me this advice

Search for services in your geographical area that people would normally search for on the internet (plumber / hairdresser / mechanic?) - see if BEST OF comes up on first page of google as a likely place to go source these kind of services.

Then do the same for professional services / B2B type industries like ours (and yours?) and see again where best of comes on that first page as a directory of such services.

Then you can draw your own conclusions about how effective it might or might not be in helping your business get more customers.

I really like the Best Of person in this area as a person & she runs some good networking evenings which I have been to but we concluded that being registered on Best Of wasn't a good cost effective avenue for us.

I have just moved to Hereford and during my research into the local market The Best of came very, very high up the rankings and that certainly does not happen by accident. Then today Brian Hughes (our local Best Of rep) gave us a very interesting 4Sight at my first real world meeting. He mentioned what he did and even during my one to one he did not push the service onto me. If anything it just made me more intrigued. Given the size of my operation it might not be the most cost effective solution for me ... but I'd certainly suggest him to other people who are looking at marketing themselves.

Bottom line, I guess it will all depend how organised and how passionate your local rep is.

Just bear in mind, the Best of s are not the same as yellow pages. The good ones (yes we are all individually owned and operated) are marketing consultants.... unfortunately my sites, The BEST OF PORTISHEAD and The BEST OF CLEVEDON.. don't have directories..... I have a portfolio of my Clients who are absolutely the cream of the crop in Clevedon and Portishead.... I dont work with rubbish businesses....

Ask yourself, if you rang yellow pages or your local pages or whatever on a Sunday to get advice about business issue that you have.... would they give you a solution? IF you are looking at The Best of as just a Directory, you are totally misinformed and missing out on a HUGE opportunity.....

In my experience, the Best ofs are only as good as the person running the local franchise. Some are excellant, some are poor.

I agree with Lisa.. in one area I tried to contact someone they didn't answer the telephone or have an answering machine...

/\ what Lisa said.

Agreed

Great thread, have always thought about this myself..........

Spot on with the comments about individuals - I have met a few, and had referrals from some and the hard sell from others, and all points in between. Definitely depends on who you have in your area, in my experience.