[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

Has anyone used the `Groupon`advertising method to get work ?
Would it work for us window cleaners ?
I`ve been reading up on it for awhile now and for the life in me
I can`t `get my head`around any of it.

Thanks for replies,


Lewis  Doubtfire

[windiewasher]

I applied but was told they only had interest in leisure offers ay the moment
There was a guy on there from bournemouth you advertised and sold out.I contacted him  and was doing them rock bottom hoping to have them as full time custys I'm gonna email him ask.him how many of the 300 are now regular custys.

[Pope vader]

what where there charges doctor

[windiewasher]

About 30 % I think

what where there charges doctor

[cozy]

We just had this question in the carpet section. That went to 8 pages so far. It will be interesting to see what windies think of it. I'm going to stay out of this one if I can.  

Here's an example.

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/manchester/BragCleaning/527286

[Jimmy Jon]

I had a call from a customer for a 1 off clean - 2 storey town house, big windows, filthy frames I quoted £35.00 and got the job. The neighbour from across the road comes over and says that they have been on groupon and are waiting to have their windows cleaned for £9.00. Surprisingly they have been waiting 3 weeks and not heard anything - these people are students and moving out so no chance of repeat business there just lots of one off cleans I suspect. no way would I have cleaned that house for £9.00 

[cozy]

Here you go lads, watch this ad

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/bournemouth/HighshineCleaning/465059

The WC gets 3 quid per job.

[Pope vader]

i love this business soon as some one comes up with a new way of getting work, automatily it wont work,  its like telelsales for commercial that doesnt work either,  yet i get work off telesales,  i am think of give this ago on gutter cleaning, as think it might be good for bringing in work to be done on crappy days,

if high shine got 300 custy off it great, even if he keeps 100  than is 100 more than he had last month

[cozy]

i love this business soon as some one comes up with a new way of getting work, automatily it wont work,  its like telelsales for commercial that doesnt work either,  yet i get work off telesales,  i am think of give this ago on gutter cleaning, as think it might be good for bringing in work to be done on crappy days,

if high shine got 300 custy off it great, even if he keeps 100  than is 100 more than he had last month

No Doley, you misunderstand. I think you should go for it. 6 quid (you get 3, Groupon gets 3) for a 20 quid job.

Go and do 300 20 quid jobs for 900 quid. Great idea. Glad you spotted the potential. 300 new custy first cleans Then 20% off second clean, and 10% off the third clean. where do I sign!!!??

300  X 20 quid = 6000

300 X 3 quid = 900 quid

What's wrong with this picture??

Another point is, a custy pays 6 quid for a window clean, bet they love paying 20 quid for the same job after 3 cleans. But they might go to Groupon for the next mug to make a new offer next time. Who knows?

Go for it.

[Pope vader]

i wish i could get 300 x £20 jobs,   i think it is a good idea, u just need to know what each house is going to cost to do and make the jobs worth while,  u need to know what all the charges are

fair enough you might not make a lot on the first clean, but its getting you to custys who want a wc,  then it is up to you to get them as regulars, on normally prices

to me it is the same as having a canvessor, you aint goign to amke money on the first clean, its the cleans after when you can fly around that you make money on

[cozy]

Yes, well spotted, go and do the extra 300 custies at the same time as your normal work and earn an extra 900 quid. You think 100 will stay. Great. After 3 cleans you get the full price. Keep us all updated mate.

[david watts]

been on sky this morning; sounds ok
you get custys;but very few  will stay  may work for some
but youll tend to get penny pinchers do you want them ? do you
my model at the mo is to find them with a lot of money and get as much as i can
not work all day for nowt

[Pope vader]

i wish that worked where i am,  there are houses down here with about 15 windows being done for £7, i lost a £7 job to a bloke charging £5,  they are all penny pinchers down here in cornwall

[Perfect Windows]

i wish i could get 300 x £20 jobs,   i think it is a good idea, u just need to know what each house is going to cost to do and make the jobs worth while,  u need to know what all the charges are

fair enough you might not make a lot on the first clean, but its getting you to custys who want a wc,  then it is up to you to get them as regulars, on normally prices

to me it is the same as having a canvessor, you aint goign to amke money on the first clean, its the cleans after when you can fly around that you make money on

The challenge you have is that if you get 300 customers and keep 100 customers, you've done £6,000 worth of work, so effectively you're paying £60 per customer.  Also, bear in mind that 300 first cleans is likely to be about 8 man-weeks of work.

By all means go for it, but be aware what you're letting yourself in for.

Vin

[Wc Solutions]

very easy:

a company puts an ad on groupon and sets a min number of orders taken.

then groupon will take a very high percentage off you for the ad.

so rough example: your ad windows cleaned for tenner.

you get a min number of say 20 customers = £200 for you? NO groupon take around 40% off that total.

prob not worth it for window cleaning!

seen alot of carpet cleaners on there.

you would have to be very desperate to go with it.

works really well for say a hotel - better for them to get £20 per room rather than it being empty

[Paul Coleman]

very easy:

a company puts an ad on groupon and sets a min number of orders taken.

then groupon will take a very high percentage off you for the ad.

so rough example: your ad windows cleaned for tenner.

you get a min number of say 20 customers = £200 for you? NO groupon take around 40% off that total.

prob not worth it for window cleaning!

seen alot of carpet cleaners on there.

you would have to be very desperate to go with it.

works really well for say a hotel - better for them to get £20 per room rather than it being empty

Indeed.  It depends on the type of business.  It wouldn't work (IMO) on businesses which are very labour (time) intensive.
Now if you were selling bags of sweets and making 40p profit on each bag, it may well pay you to only make 10p profit per bag for a short while in order to get your business known.

[cozy]

I reckon it's good for hotels with empty rooms or restaurants or chip shops. That's all. Like Paul said.

[wpclean]

I think you have to ask yourself if you want quality or quantity. . .  if you want to be a busy fool then knock yourself out and work for next to nothing and see some faceless internet cowboy rake in all the profits !

[bobplum]

who sets the discount rates,groupon or the wc
70% seems a lot,then they take money off the wc
seems a very expensive way to get business

[cozy]

They set them Bob, but you have a bit of leeway on what follows regarding extras. The sales people from Groupon wont go below 65% cut, so that leaves maximum 35% to split 50/50 for the poor punter and Groupon.