New compact business directory due out next month

Colleen Geschke says it was one of those frustrating outingswhere you drive from store to store in search of a specific itemthat ignited the idea for her latest business venture.

Last summer, as Geschke and her husband, Randy, were driving from Store to store, hoping to find a certain toy for

That's all it took to start the wheels in Geschke's head turning.

Geschke decided that what cell phone users need is a convenient listing of businesses that's small enough to fit into the glove compartment or map pocket of their cars, their briefcases, or women's purses.

After researching the feasibility of publishing such a directory, Geschke phoned her mother, Kay Renfro, and asked if she wanted to join her in the new venture. Renfro agreed.

The mother-daughter team formed Moter Directories Inc. here and set to work developing the first of what they expect to be an annual Spokane business guide, called Mobile Pages. ("Moter" is a combination of the words "mother" and "daughter.") About 50,000 copies of the directory currently are being printed and will be available next month, Renfro says.

"I've tried carrying a phone book around in my car, but it's too big and it was always getting in the way," Renfro says. "I thought this would be the perfect solution, and others have been real receptive to the idea, too," she contends.

Geschke believes the directory will be a welcome convenience for busy people who could use it to call ahead to stores to see whether they carry a particular item; to order dinner from a carry-out restaurant while driving home from work; or to look up the address of the doctor's office they're trying to find.

The Mobile Pages directory will be about the size of a Reader's 'Digest magazine and less than an inch thick. Each of Spokane's about 12,000 businesses will be listed with their phone numbers, addresses, and location coordinates. The coordinates will let the user know how many blocks north or south of Sprague Avenue and how many blocks east or west of Division Street a particular business is, Geschke says.

The directory also will be divided into 36 industry-related categories, which will appear in the directory in alphabetical order-from animals and pets to trucking. An icon has been developed for each category, and the appropriate icon will be atop the outside corner of each page of the publication.

Each business will be listed under one category, unless it opted to pay $10 for each additional category listings. Likewise, for a $45 fee, a company could have its name in bold-face type, Geschke says.

Advertisements also were sold to businesses, Geschke says. The number of ads for each category has been limited to about four so that a business in the downtown area, one in the Spokane Valley, one on the North Side, and one on the South Hill could be represented, she says. Those ads, which were designed by Moter Directories for the businesses, have been placed on colored pages at the beginning of each industry category. Moter Directories handled the layout of the directory.

Clip-out coupons were placed at the back of the directory. Geschke says she believes the coupons will be the publication's biggest selling point for consumers. A business could place such coupons in the directory free of charge, she says.

The Mobile Pages that's due out next month contains about 10 pages of coupons, Geschke says. The directory will be sold for $7 a copy by businesses that have placed a coupon in the publication, she says.

Prior to starting Meter Directories, Renfro and Geschke had worked together in the insurance business here for the last 12 years.

Geschke says she quit her job at Farwest Insurance last September to begin researching and doing some of the leg work for the new directory. Renfro quit her job there in January to dedicate her time to the directory.

Geschke says Meter Directories, which used a couple of independent contractors to help with sales this past year, would like to hire at least three salespeople within the next three months to help sell advertising for next year's publication and to contact each business to verify its listing information.

"We expect it to come out on an annual basis," Geschke says. "We have too much involved to do this just once."