Hi all, I am about two days away from running my first Groupon campaign for pressure washing and looking for some fresh feedback- I searched through the archives and everything is a bit dated.
I do understand that I cannot expect a whole lot of money from these jobs but I would like the volume and exposure.
Any feedback would be great before I turn the launch key… good, bad, indifferent…
Thanks!
At a minimum, I would set a very low amount of deals that you can sell. Groupon isn’t the best for marketing and you don’t want to sell a lot and later realize that the deal wasn’t good after all. Although I suppose with pressure washing (vs. window cleaning) you should be able to upsell on the need for customers to have their windows cleaned, at least the exterior, after the pw. is done. If you haven’t done a Groupon deal before realize that you are not just signing up to run it once and then you’re done. They set it to refresh every month. They hadn’t mentioned this to me and it ended up selling 2x as I had said I would offer. I ended up referring those customers back to Groupon to get a refund although it’s still a hassle.
My recommendation is to have a long-term plan in place for follow up and repeat business. Think of the Groupon as your “foot in the door”. And only expect 1-3% return rate. That being said I agree with cleanandclearmn…use this as a window into windows or repeat power washing. For example; after you have completed the work you send another email marketing campaign (30 days after job) of your own to these Groupon people locking theme into future cleans. Keep track of everything on a spreadsheet. Who bought, who’d you upsell, who bought again etc. I have done several Groupons with my old business and swore never to do it again because cheap people expect cheap prices now and in the future. And worst of all they will work you for everything you got…and they love to complain. So if you have Yelp plan on some bad reviews whether you do your best work or not. That being said do your best to retain that 1-3% for the future. Best of luck to you!
I agree with the @cleanandclearmn. Have a minimum amount of coupons.
Make sure your coupon makes sense. Most people are coupon professionals. They just want what the coupon is offering.
Trust me I did a 15 window special people with 30 Windows would only have me clean the 15.
You will run into people who haven’t cleaned there home in 20 years the only reason there doing it is because there is a coupon, so the repeat business will not be there
If you are not a good salesman forget about it don’t do it. If your doing it just to fill some days up keep it to a minimum like we said. I have one repeat customer out of all the ones I did years ago.
I would never do it again ever.
Don’t do it! Unless you are jacking up the “original” price enough to make the jobs worthwhile. The exposure you get will only be valuable if you have some sort of way of being recognized by surrounding neighbors. If you have your truck lettered or a sign that says something to grab a neighbors attention like “Professionals in the process of making this house look awesome. We would love to give you a quote too” You may get a few jobs from passersby.
Most people who buy groupons for that type of thing are not normal pressure washing or window cleaning customers. They are cheap people with filthy houses who saw a deal to get it cleaned up. My mother in law bragged about getting a Groupon for something like $3/windows in and out before I was in the industry. She agreed to the bare minimum, no upsells, never called the guy again and was super proud of the bargain.
I had a similar experience using Valpak with a $99 dollar special for 12 windows. I was hoping people would pay to have the rest of their house done. Nope. I have gotten a few really nice customers from it but the majority literally walk me around the house showing me which 12 they would like to have done!
I used to be a big fan of these types of sites, not so much any more. Haven’t got time right now to cover everything but here’s a few tips from what I’ve observed to date:
Check the small print for when they can re-run your deal and also the commission rate fine print. One company I dealt with would run my deal for say 5 days, then have a day break and re-run the deal maybe 2 more times. The break was for a reason - and not for my benefit! The commission rate was higher for lower sales - so the break meant that the overall sales were broken up into 3 ‘separate’ deals effectively - meaning I paid more in commission, rather than what I would if it was based on overall sales.
Another company seemed to have a high turnover of sales reps. The latest one kicked off our relationship by telling me company policy was to release funds on voucher redemption only, as opposed to the lump sum method I’ve been used to. I flat out refused to entertain this and mysteriously it was no longer company policy. They will try to squeeze you any way they can so decide beforehand if you want to be a pushover or not.
Your terms and conditions are vital to have clearly laid out. As @Majestic66 says, many are coupon professionals and will swoop on any ambiguous conditions or loopholes they spot. Decide on geographic area you’re happy to cover without a travel surcharge, hours you’re willing to work (e.g. Mon-Fri, 9am - 5pm - I often got coupon holders demanding I do the work at the weekends as they worked all week, despite the work being exterior based!) what the deal offering does and doesn’t cover, maximum areas/windows/seperate buildings etc.
These sites can be handy when you’re starting out to fill in some gaps in your schedule and it’s not all bad. You do need to be savvy though or you risk being crushed.
hi–i’ve sold about 800 living social and few hundred groupn–Love it! gotta know how to work it. powerwashing: get the least expensive coupon you can and upsell. email me if you want…been doing coupons for years…love it. Angie list is a disaster with a contract on it… but groupon-you gotta know how to work it-how to get to do all the windows in they’re house when the only want whats in the coupon-give them a deal…coupon people are good. email me-
What’s your avg hourly rate with the groupon people ??
$80-100.i have $125-150 minumum…coupon or not and i tell them. Its not groupons policy-its mine. some refund the coupon…oh well. most don;t.
Seriously? Am I right in thinking that you are happy to sell vouchers at below your minimum and then effectively refuse to service them?
Lol … I would love for someone to tell me that after I just bought a coupon for 79.99. " Sorry buddy your spending more ". I would say " ok why don’t you come over ".
What if a restaurant did this … No no you have to bring 3 more people to meet our minimum.
Your opening your self up for bad reviews. honestly think about it …someone is buying something them your telling them they have to buy more , but not at the discounted rate.
How does that go over with you if the shoe is on the other foot ?
Shady??? Haha
i’m sorry…I worded it wrong and put myself in a bad corner…my fault…forgive me…I talk to each person , explaining how the coupon works. we then discuss what they want done. there can be a lot to the transaction but people know whats up and the price before i come–we’re both happy. sold a ton of coupons and it works well. I;ve just refined how its done over time.
Thanks all, I think ill skip it for now! Side note though- how do you collect tax on the groupon services? seemed strange to me to ask a customer for a few bucks because groupon doesn’t withhold tax at all…
Its actually really complicated on the book keeping end. Il be quick because this is for HST (tax) in ontario canada so probably irrelevant to you.
$50 for $100 worth of window cleaning
Out of that $50 the customer paid you only get $25 right (For example purposes).
The tax man views this as you selling a $50 gift certificate through a 3rd party and they take a fee.
You actually only collect hst (tax) from customer on $25 YOUR ACTUAL revenue. The $25 groupon collects is a input tax credit for you (as in operating loss) and the other $50 is a marketing expense.
I have done groupon twice over the last 4 years. Has been okay lots of repeat clients we still serve to this day. The number one thing is dont sell too many. The groupon reps going to say oh common lets make it max 200 sold. Say screw you its 50 max and thats final.
The way I see it is: SPEND $1000 on marketing to get $3000 in revenue. OR use groupon and GET $1000 to get $3000 in work value.
So your paying on the back end dearly rather than dishing out upfront for the marketing.
Basically don’t do it.
Yup you got that right! Its one of those “wish I knew then what I know now” things.
