Groupon Follow-Up: Here are the numbers

Marketing
1

So with all the “Is Groupon worth it?”…
[I]My Groupon: $100 of service for $49.[/I]

As the OP here, I thought I’d check in to let you know how it’s going.
This is a re-post from the original thread

Again, I’ve been in business since September of 2010 beginning with zero clients, knowledge, or resources (except for all you lovely, smart people here at WCR!). I’m just learning the ropes and ran Groupon to get my first bit of cash-flow.

I gathered some numbers here in my second month after the Groupon ran (March 9th-April 9th):
I’ve kept track of my clients, advertising method (how I got the job), drive time, time spent setting up, time spent cleaning, time spent cleaning up, stats of the job (#of panes cleaned, screens repaired/built, sq.ft. of wood/cement power washed, linear feet of gutter cleaned/washed…etc), degree of dirtiness, and how much I got paid for that job.

With those numbers I set up a table that calculated: number of jobs per cleaning type, time breakdown (minutes/pane, sq.ft./minute for power washing, linear ft./minute for gutter cleaning, screen repairs per hour, etc.), avg. time spent on each job, avg. time spent not “in the act of cleaning”, avg. $/hr per job type, avg. $/job, and total $ for each job type.

Here’s what I found: This might be too personal of a revelation. I don’t know if it’s professional to give out these numbers.
Remember, I’m a one man crew.

Total hours worked last month: 123 hours, less than 5 hours per day.
Total jobs worked (i.e. one resident with multiple cleaning types - gutters & windows=2 jobs): 48 jobs (40 were Groupon)
$ Earned from Groupon jobs: $4,164.75 (@ $48.12/hr at the end of the day, that’s $3,164.75 in upselling)
Money not earned: $1,650 (with the $75 of “Free” service given after my cut)

Non-$ Averages - Revealing my own personal skill.
(includes time spent traveling, schmoozing, setting/cleaning up, moving around…all equalling total job time):
Window Cleaning:
2.56 minutes/pane = 23 panes/hr (when cleaning ins and outs)
1.72 minutes/pane = 34 panes/hr (when cleaning just outs)
Avg. Time on Window Job - 2.71 hrs.

Gutter Cleaning:
1.67 linear ft/minute
Avg. Time on Gutter Job - 1.49 hrs.

Power Washing (Cement):
6.52 sq.ft./minute (391 sq.ft./hr)
Avg. Time on PW Job - 2.27 hrs.

Number of call-backs: 1, a gutter who’s strainer got clogged from new debris and he wanted to blame me!
…

I know it’s not $125/hr, and I know it’s not worth it for some. But for me, it was a way to get into the game quickly. One guy asked me, “Don’t you know how to advertise?!” I’ve sent out over 3000 pieces (which I couldn’t have done without the Groupon revenue) yet to receive a reply. SO, this is better than sitting at home twiddling my thumbs for the time being.

Digest.

2

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

So again, how many “groupons” sold?

3

208 Groupons sold (with six months to use, expires July 26th, 2011).

4

Great post!

5

Interesting.

Well, those numbers sound solid. Not amazing, but solid. Good for you, man.

You did some monster upselling. Awesome.

6

So what would u say is the key to your upselling?

7

I have be kicking around the idea to something in august since we basically flatline that month. Still playing around with the numbers. But I havent given up on it yet.

8

Sounds good to me. Like you said its better then sitting around doing nothing. Looks good for someone just starting out and trying to get their name out there.

9

You did good Garrett. Thanks for your time, effort, and experience. Hope you are able to utilize your investment w/ groupon and use it to your advantage. Take care and stay busy.

10

Is there anything more effective than this Kevin? I’m talking about building a customer base fast.(not trying to find 1 job that pays you $4,000 dollars an hour) It’ll be interesting to hear how much repeat work he gets off of the 208 he sold. By the way he’s tracking them I’m sure he has a nice system in place to keep them on board as clients.

11

Bravo man! Good job upselling! Zig Ziglar

12

Well, as you said, if you’re stuck, and nothing else is working, it’s earning some money for you. If you’re content earning $48/hr, then it’s a victory, right?

I agree that it will be interesting to see how much repeat work this results in. I would suggest communicating every month with all of these people, starting now, to cement the relationship, and try to stimulate referrals.

And I would offer them a “RenuPon” or “VuPon” for the next service, or for a friend of these people that missed out on the Groupon, and offer a different service package that was specifically engineered to be high-margin and expensive, but full of value that their market would appreciate.

As for the “I want to build a customer base fast instead of trying to find 1 job that pays you $4,000 dollars an hour” comment, that’s also personal preference.

Just realize that it will mess with your head, eat up your time, and start to define your future service offerings, and overall brand.

You need guts, perseverance, and very calculated efforts to build a high-margin client base from scratch. It’s much harder, but far more lucrative in the long run. And every time you make compromises and accept more and more low-paying customers, they negatively affect your ability and desire to accomplish that goal.

Speaking from experience, that is, as someone who built a strong little client base from nothing, and then sold it.

The less we’re willing to work for on an hourly basis, the more easily we can find ways to make it happen. I’m sure you (and everyone else) would agree.

If you want to earn $100/hr from the beginning (or $300+/hr or more, or whatever), you need a different approach. That’s more my area of focus, and expertise.

Kevin

[SIZE=“2”]P.S. I have a lot of respect for Garrett to have successfully upsold so many members of this price-shopping Groupon demographic. I honestly do respect that. It’s impressive to me.

AND $50/hr is nothing to sneeze at. Sometimes we forget that. Who gets paid $50/hr at a “normal” job? No body.

It’s a respectable income, for sure. You can support a family on consistent wages like that. I respect that a lot.[/SIZE]

13

I don’t want to earn 100 or 300 per hour. I want to have 100 or 500 guys earning $50/hour while having it grow systematically, profitably, predictably and sustainably without me having to do anything other than tweak/create the systems.

So are you agreeing with me that you don’t know a better way to grow a business?

14

[QUOTE=panelessperfection;129950]

You need guts, perseverance, and very calculated efforts to build a high-margin client base from scratch. It’s much harder, but far more lucrative in the long run. And every time you make compromises and accept more and more low-paying customers, they negatively affect your ability and desire to accomplish that goal.

Nothing but truth right there.

15

Thanks Rob, and welcome to the WCR community.

16

No, I don’t agree that this is a blanket brilliant approach, at that profit level.

It depends on personal preference.

Why not have 200 or 1,000 guys earning $25/hr? It’s way easier to find and land even lower paying work, right?

Personally, I’d rather have 10 guys earning $225 per man hour, than 200 earning $50/hr. Too many headaches (for me).

In fact, I’d rather have 2 guys working for me, earning $300 per man hour, than 10 guys earning $225 per man hour.

Personal preference, Don.

As far as the systems thing, for sure, you’re right. Build a little system of systems, sleep in and eat Cheerios every day while your business (and people/crews) earns the money for you, without your involvement.

17

I’m curious to hear a better approach from you.

18

Bravo bravo - Well said :slight_smile: Your line would be my personal preference as well… As easy as 50+ employees would be to manage <---- being sarcastic.

19

It all depends on what you want, Don. If that’s what you want, it’s the right approach for you. It’s not what I want, so it’s the wrong approach for me.

There is no perfect model that can be applied to everyone. It depends what you want.

20

Thx Justin :slight_smile:

I would also hate managing 50 people. Or even having someone do it for me. I don’t want the headaches. Not at that price point.