[Scoop]

For heavens sake guys. You really need to think carefully about this. Cozy and others have made some excellent points that I think a few may have missed.

Groupon is in the business of making money for .... Groupon! They have a clever business model which sells Jack the five magic beans in exchange for his cow.

Jack is the tradesman. He's a builder, a cleaner, a tattoo artist, a shopkeeper, an honest working man/woman who does a good job but is having trouble filling those 40 hours a week with paid work. The magic beans are the promise of the extra work to fill the 40 hours. The cow is the labour of Jack, which he often attaches no value to. Jack thinks that if he's working for £6 an hour then he's better off than if he's sat at home getting under his missus' feet.

Jack often forgets to factor in his overheads. His fuel, his wear and tear on equipment, his pure water, his sandwich for lunch, even his daughter who has suddenly developped a taste for nice clothes. As long as Jack is 'Hauling sixteen tons' as the song goes, he's making progress.

From what I have seen the Groupon system takes about 2/3 of revenue and then expects a hefty discount to be pushed towards the customer. So Jack is now working for maybe 25% of his usual expected earnings. That's fine if he is making money. But in the world we live in today Jack is now running at a loss. He is actually paying for the privilege of hauling sixteen tons.

Nobody should sell themselves short. Work has a recognised value. I never noticed Tesco giving me a 75% off voucher as I walked in on a Monday morning because it was their quiet time. If you're not busy then get a good leaflet and go and leaflet as many houses as you can. Find customers who value your work for what it costs, not giggling 23 year old housewives who have spent a day surfing the net for your slave labour and who will drop you as soon as they can't afford a night out on Friday.

And don't forget if half a day's leaflets only brings you one customer then that's the equivalent of 4 Groupon customers and maybe more

[Helen]

Clean up to 10 windows and earn yourself......................£3.00 whey hey can't wait to get back into window cleaning

Scoop.....terrific post made all the simpler by using a fairy tale............you are in the wrong business mate.

Cozy..........see you on the carpet side later 

Doley would you really clean 10+ windows for £3.00? No you wouldn't it wouldn't cover your overheads.

High shine got 140 takers on that deal, and my money is on they will all be one offs

[Pope vader]

i wouldnt be doing it for £3 it would be for gutter jobs which would be high prices to start with, 

[cozy]

i wouldnt be doing it for £3 it would be for gutter jobs which would be high prices to start with, 

Doley, not being funny or having a pop at you, but you've not understood the system Groupon use. They offer deals to custies with a reduction of minimum 65% but normally 75 to 80%. The rest 15% is then split with the tradesman (YOU). So if you do gutters for 5 quid a meter, you would end up doing them for 7% of 5 quid per meter which is 40p.

If you think that's a good deal, go for it. Let us know how you got on mate.

[cozy]

Cozy..........see you on the carpet side later 

That's not me on there Helen, it's a clone.  I'm a nice guy really.

[Tom White]

For heavens sake guys. You really need to think carefully about this. Cozy and others have made some excellent points that I think a few may have missed.

Groupon is in the business of making money for .... Groupon! They have a clever business model which sells Jack the five magic beans in exchange for his cow.

Jack is the tradesman. He's a builder, a cleaner, a tattoo artist, a shopkeeper, an honest working man/woman who does a good job but is having trouble filling those 40 hours a week with paid work. The magic beans are the promise of the extra work to fill the 40 hours. The cow is the labour of Jack, which he often attaches no value to. Jack thinks that if he's working for £6 an hour then he's better off than if he's sat at home getting under his missus' feet.

Jack often forgets to factor in his overheads. His fuel, his wear and tear on equipment, his pure water, his sandwich for lunch, even his daughter who has suddenly developped a taste for nice clothes. As long as Jack is 'Hauling sixteen tons' as the song goes, he's making progress.

From what I have seen the Groupon system takes about 2/3 of revenue and then expects a hefty discount to be pushed towards the customer. So Jack is now working for maybe 25% of his usual expected earnings. That's fine if he is making money. But in the world we live in today Jack is now running at a loss. He is actually paying for the privilege of hauling sixteen tons.

Nobody should sell themselves short. Work has a recognised value. I never noticed Tesco giving me a 75% off voucher as I walked in on a Monday morning because it was their quiet time. If you're not busy then get a good leaflet and go and leaflet as many houses as you can. Find customers who value your work for what it costs, not giggling 23 year old housewives who have spent a day surfing the net for your slave labour and who will drop you as soon as they can't afford a night out on Friday.

And don't forget if half a day's leaflets only brings you one customer then that's the equivalent of 4 Groupon customers and maybe more

Post of the week.

[Pope vader]

its ok cozy,  where does it state that i have to give a 65% reduction,  what happens of i say 150 for gutter cleans but will do it for 50,   what percentage do they take

[cozy]

They wont touch you mate. It's the way they make their money. Look at any Groupon advert. No way around it, the custy gets a massive discount. You get a crap price. Before you make a mistake mate, re-read the thread.

The salesmen will call you if you contact them. See what deal you get. All I've seen is 75% to 85% discounts. Give them a call.

[Pope vader]

cheers cozy, just found something about 50 and 25 of whats left,  might contact them and see whats what and report back,  will use gutter cleans at 100 so numbers are easy to work out

[cozy]

Go for it mate. Be careful though.

[TomCrowther]

I knew Scoops was away with the fairy's!

[cozy]

I knew Scoops was away with the fairy's!

Scoops was post of the week mate. Got the point across for nearly everyone.

[Scoop]

I knew Scoops was away with the fairy's!

At least you've stopped ignoring me Tom  

Thank you Tosh. That's an honour coming from someone who's done more posts than I've had hot dinners  

Thank you Helen and Cozy - I hope there's a grain of truth in the fable.

In reality we all want what's best for each other and it's out of concern for fellow professionals that we put up the warning signs (not to be negative). Doley as you're already signed up I hope it works for you.

[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

Cozy,Doley,members,I still really don`t get it.
Do Groupon quote your price to the customer,or what?
Imagine,a terrace house,back -to-back,3 windows
And a fan-light,if ya leafleted it,to get it,you`d
Possibly have to quote no more than £3.50p. !
Do Groupon take at least 65per cent of that ? ? ?
Will Groupon with their advertising system ever make
A millionaire for a window cleaner ? ?
Jezzzzzz, ya`d have some glass and a half to clean.
I wonder how much pure water ya`d use or how many
Scrims ya`d wear out doing it ?
The mind bogggggggles 


Lewis Doubtfire

[Pope vader]

they quote what the original price is, and what the discount is

[cozy]

Cozy,Doley,members,I still really don`t get it.
Do Groupon quote your price to the customer,or what?
Imagine,a terrace house,back -to-back,3 windows
And a fan-light,if ya leafleted it,to get it,you`d
Possibly have to quote no more than £3.50p. !
Do Groupon take at least 65per cent of that ? ? ?
Will Groupon with their advertising system ever make
A millionaire for a window cleaner ? ?
Jezzzzzz, ya`d have some glass and a half to clean.
I wonder how much pure water ya`d use or how many
Scrims ya`d wear out doing it ?
The mind bogggggggles 


Lewis Doubtfire

As I understand it, and from the offers I've looked at, and the people who've had calls from Groupon sales people, it's like this:
They call you and do a deal tat goes with 65% to 85% for the custy as rebate, the rest that's left, you split with Groupon.  So a job for 100 quid gets offered online for 15 quid, the custy saves 85%, the rest (15 quid) gets split between the tradesman and Groupon. That's why they sell so many deals. ho could say no to an 85% drop in price?

Here's an example.

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/bournemouth/bournemouth-carpet-cleaners/536317?CID=UK_AFF_1047_10_1_1&utm_source=aff_1047&utm_medium=aff_10&utm_campaign=aff_1&utm_content=aff_1&nlp

[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

I recon it`s safe to say,well nearly perhaps that nobody on CIU
Has done any window cleaning thru`Groupon yet ?
I did comment on the carpet section,ya`ve probably seen it,go
Over and have a look if not.
Whats 85 per cent of  £3. 50p ? I know its just an example and
Hypothetical,but as ridiculous as this sounds going with Groupon
Ya`d be worse off doing a massive country mansion `out in the sticks`
That might be anything up to say £150 including perhaps massive
Conservatories for a few quid !
Do the £3.50p terrace for 40 pence.
It`s getting past my bedtime for this maths.
I just don`t get it at all,like most have said it`s Groupon making the
Dosh while we graft for next to nowt !      :     

Lewis  Doubtfire

[LMG]

From what I read of it .

They sell a £20 coupon for the alotted amount say at 80% discount (to keep numbers easy).

£20 at 80% discount = £4

They take 50% leaving £2 for you ..

Now there is a way to make money on this.
Which is upselling the customer, everything over the £20 discount voucher is yours .  The Voucher is only for £20 worth of work at that discount. The windows/gutters/jet washing etc could be worth £35 - £40 - etc...... So you work out tha math on this . It isnt as bad then when you look at the Voucher being for only £20 worth of work ....

Please feel free to correct me if im wrong ... :-)

[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

Hi, LMG,members, this is my `take`on it.The `key`to
The whole business from our `side of the fence`is to
`up sell`when ya get to each job.The Groupon system
Being just perhaps a little more refined ( if that’s the
Description) than say leaflet `drops`at £5 per room,then
up selling`when ya get thereand the customer ends up paying anything
Perhaps  up to or over £100.( I understand we keep that)
It`s possibly a `mild `form of pressure selling.
It`s the only way we can make anything realistic out of each
Job surely ? ?
Many of us window cleaners have added carpet cleaning to our
Daily `grind`,myself included .
Years ago,I`ve run errands and fetched old peoples medication
From the chemists for the price of a `cuppa`.I`ve even tuned in
One old ladies TV when the reception was`nt too special.

P. S. Anyone know how long Groupon have been around ?

Lewis  Doubtfire
`

[LMG]

Yeah . That is the way it should be. UPSELLING is the way forward.

I think most of the replies have their merit. But not looked at the bigger picture. The Voucher is for £20ss Worth of work. Yes I do agree you will have a major part or a window clean will be for little money. If upsold then it can make you a lot of money....

But if you Aim your own advert to your own venture then I can only see ££££'ssss...

I am a glass half full, not a glass half empty. 

Think on this..

A £20 voucher discounted down so the customer has committed to you by purchasing it for say £4 .....
For work on a Gutter clean ...  The gutter clean will cost the customer £50 minus the voucher  ....
Then you have made £32 on that clean   Happy days  all around.. Some will be a smaller earner some may be bigger ... But hay if you can do them when not busy then your filling in empty space in your diary ...

So those who only think in the box will always stay in the box ... Those that think outside the box can reap the rewards ... ;-)