1300 people respond to groupon ad!!

[Steve]

Holy crap, can you imagine putting an ad in groupon.com and having the kind of response this lawn care business owner got? An article talked about the response. "some small businesses are not prepared for the influx of customers. One small business owner says he felt pressured to offer his lawn care services at $20. He says he was overwhelmed when 1300 people bought the deal." Check out the ad they had in groupon. Has anyone experimented with using this website yet?

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[Hedgemaster]

Lawn care business tips

That article from the Atlanta Fox station was either very poorly written, or I'm a retard. I couldn't make any sense of it. I then clicked on the lawn car ad. Holy crap - a WHOLE WEEK'S WORTH of WORK for ONLY $20!!! That's what it SAYS, doesn't it? I don't get it. Does this "groupon" thing actually make up the offer without any input from the businesses? If so, that's nuts.

[The Cleaning Doctor]

The problem with them is that they want you to take like 50% off and then they want 60% of that. This is what they told me when I talked to them. Well I was not about to do the same work for 30% of the original and still have the same expenses. Imagine cutting 1300 lawns for $20 each? Well actually about $8 after Groupon takes their cut.

If you do do it, you better limit the number of sales.

I would run like He!! from this. Here are a few stories.

http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/6603...roupon-emerges

http://www.retaildoc.com/blog/groupo...ting-business/

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-t...of-you-2010-12

http://www.automatedmarketingstrateg...-about-groupon

Now with all that, read the glowing reports also, especially the comments. Most of them look canned to me. Like they were written by a marketing person but then typed to look uneducated. Punctuation and caps but look at the structure how it is worded.

One last thing.

Would you spend 75% of your gross on advertising?

[Steve]

WOW as you read more about it! ACK, I'd think it be best to steer clear of all that and just do your own marketing!

[jymie]

Here's my take on this. I am thinking to do a lesser service with them such as driveway & walkway edging, hedge trimming or something like that. That way the discount is not as big and you may end up with a new customer when you try and upsell to the other things you do. People that are looking to have things done usually are looking for more than one thing. Plus while you are there, your vehicle is parked out front with your magnets on it so your advertising to the neighbors as well.

[MAKLawnCutter]

I dont know, i read into it and it could, in a way, be a good thing. You as the business owner post what you usually charge and how much of a discount you want to offer, GROUPON.com takes so much of the sales FROM THE SITE, this does NOT include the upsales and such you get. You can allow them to run the ADVERTISING for as many or as few days as you want. Limitations are available (someone just didnt read) on how many you sell per day, per week, per hour, and so on... You can allow it to be available for ... 24 hours to 24 days.

I MAY look into this in February at the brink of the season if this available in my area by then.

Matt

[The Cleaning Doctor]

Here is the problem I saw with this when I checked into it a year ago.

60% of people spend only what it takes to get the deal. They never buy any more. So you do the work at 30% and then never hear from them again.

To me, I would rather go out and get one job at full price than do 20 for 30%.

Think of your demographics that you are targeting. Do you really want this type of client? These people are ONLY buying on price. They could care less about service quality as long as the price is right.

Just my 2 cents on this. I will not use them ever.