Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Jamie Pearson on September 26, 2011, 08:06:40 pm
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Been watching the uptake of offers on Groupon for the Edinburgh area.
Knowing all the companies that are involved its interesting to see who has sold the most.
One of the companies reported 14000 hits on their site in one day!
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Just noticed one of the 4 is running a second offer now.
They sold best part of 250 on the last offer at £29 and over a hundred this evening already.
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Thats alot of cheap cleans... almost like working for Groupon on minimum wage!
I had a call from an asian gentleman today wanting a good "deal" for his stair and lounge carpet. I told him to go check out Groupon! ;D
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I am trying to understand why they are doing it.
Do they still get money from the Groupon sale even if the customer doesnt book/cancel?
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I think they get a cheque every other month. I think the customer only has a short time to cancle thier purchase via Groupon who deal with that.
Customers that dont book is what you are hoping for! lol
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I agree Tony, the bigger picture would be that the £29 job is the least you'll get where you could infact get £58, sounds a bit underhanded but Groupon is like a voucher with an expiry date if a buyer doesn't take the deal up by the time allowance then it's there fault.
Shaun
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This is what I figured. There are best part of 400 cleans to do before march.
I hope they are new business and aint cleans that would normally be booked by others regular xmas rushers.
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Whoaaaaa. Just read one of them properly.
3 rooms for £29 !!!!!
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we have just done the groupon offer in Exeter. We did that well we have just done Bristol and Bath. Had operators on phones all day...NON STOP. You have to see through this. IT IS A MARKETING TOOL. We were clever and restricted the post codes. Guess what... we had hundreds of bookings from the restricted postcodes. The referal rate is awsome and we now already have created over 300 bookings in the last 3 weeks for next year at our normal rate. Commercial enquiries have gone through the roof. You have to crunch the numbers. It is not for the faint hearted but belive me... it works and as an introduction to a service your work sells its self. Guys this is no joke you have to use it as a loss leader and it creates loads of work. Just be wise and put some thought in to how to do it. If it is quick money you are after DO NOT DO IT. If it is used as it is suppose to be, it a orsome. I know some of you slate this but business is business and business is about marketing your service or product and crunching the numbers. ;)
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I can see why one of the companies would be using it to jump start their carpet cleaning service.
I have also seen some offering 25 miles of an EH postcode. That is potentially over 2 hours away.
One of them know exactly what they are doing.
I am just surprised to see them on there and wondering what the attraction is for them.
It has to be exposure. 14000 hits in one day certainly will get them noticed.
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Call me Steady Eddie if you want, but I'd have to be almost on my knees before throwing everything at a £29 carpet cleaning deal.
Sorry but I only want real customers not penny pinchers.
And there was me thinking we'd heard the last of Enterprise style carpet cleaning.
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Call me Steady Eddie if you want, but I'd have to be almost on my knees before throwing everything at a £29 carpet cleaning deal.
Sorry but I only want real customers not penny pinchers.
And there was me thinking we'd heard the last of Enterprise style carpet cleaning.
I haven't done it personally but certainly would consider it. It can be great for building a portfolio or database of customers.
Martin 8)
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Morning Martin hope all is going well in DRY Brighton............Monty seems to have made this work but i assume he has a team of people to distribute the jobs too making it viable and i cant see how a one man band could handle it......any ideas.............Regards Alan(swindon)
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Sounds like monty has made it work as alan said.
Maybe a truck mount and a one man band would come into itself to handle all the work
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Reading one of the listings they have a 10 man team and each job will be done in within 2 hours.
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The only good thing I see with groupon is that they may well be bringing new people into buying carpet cleaning which may benefit us all in the long run. £29 minus 40% is working for peanuts, no matter how you go about it. As far as building your database is concerned your building it with people only willing to pay £29 for a £100 job and they may well be difficult to convert to those kind of prices next time around.
Simon
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it's £29 minus 50% simon, so £14.50 for 2 hours work, or £7.25 per hour, which isn't enough to pay staff let alone materials, costs etc.
the £29 for 2 hours work is what they were saying was the best deal for us they could do, in that we couldn't get anything that made any more money then that.
groupons defence to this is that they're pumping all the money they make back into finding more customers, which means this time next year after everyone has done all the cheap cleans for nothing, when someone searchers carpet cleaner on google, groupon will be the first result, and any other way a customer will be likely to find us groupon will be there.
i'm not sure if you get the money for work you don't do even if the customer bought the coupon. from what i gather it's based on up selling. you're supposed to push for another room to make it work, but i can't see too many customers who've paid £29 for 2 hours work wanting to pay another £40 for a lounge, plus at this point you've done most of the house and i find most customers don't always want the whole house done any way.
they act like the deals are one off but in fact are running them all the time just with diffrent companies. i was told they only use companies at most twice a year, which means if groupon starts stealing all the customers which surely must be their plan, then we'll have no choice but to use them, but can only use them twice a year.
my other concern was that as the coupons last a little while, 3 months if i remember correctly, custoemrs will use them over busy periods like xmas where you'd normally have loads of well paid work you'll now be stuck with these
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My job average for my Groupon was £56 , average time on site was 80 minutes .
The spin off for commercial and referrals was more than worth it .
I think a few people here need to google "paradigm shift" marketing is constantly changing ,and so must we if we are to stay competitive.
I will be doing 2 more deals in the next month ,and will write up a day by day report on it.
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2 more deals in the next month? have you confirmed with them or just thinking about it? was told they only allow at most 2 times a year for each company
also another thought with groupon when people say it's great etc, is how true is that. it's possible (though maybe not in this case) that companies on here are suggesting their competition to try it out and lose a lot of money, not able to take on good jobs etc. but then the same could be said for if it works people saying don't try it i guess.
jason: if you're managing £56 for 80 minutes work are you doing a different deal on groupon? the ones they appear to only be allowing now is the £29 for 2 hours work, so if you're managing more work in less time you're not sticking to the agreement, could look bad. is the £56 before groupon's share? is not this means you're upselling approx £40 on average?
how much is your normal rate? for £56 for 80 minutes work that's almost normal rate for me, but you've given 75% away to groupon and the customer so doesn't quite add up. are you upselling at a higher rate,e.g. a lounge would normally be £40 but for groupon customers it's £80?
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cleaningprobournemouth.co.uk
dry-fresh.co.uk
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if you've already done 1 deal, how can you do 2 more in next month? by the rules i've been told you'd be allowed 1 more at best.
also i've added a bit more to my other post above yours
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The vast majority of Groupon customers EXPECT to pay more than the headline price , in most jobs they ask for a price on furthur work , which is done right there and then . Most customers , well almost all were medium to high income properties .
My sister is a high earning solicitor , she booked a £34 spa treatment in a hotel near Nottingham , her 2 friends did the same , and after meals and accommodation they spent over £600 in the hotel
https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/sheffield/clumberparkaug11/656320
It is not a scam , bait and switch , or a rip off , just clever marketing .
If your deal makes Groupon money , you could do these deals every week if you wished.
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sorry for doubting you but they tell me you can't do the deals that often, although you might be correct the people are groupon say otherwise for carpet cleaning. do you have any proof?
that sucks more from what you said, our ideal customer who'd normally pay full price now pay with 75% off for the first £100, and you may not be able to get an increase rooms. for me 2 hours is almost our average job.
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Hi
Almost everyone is assuming that you will only get the small amount and that in future they won't use you ec, where is the proof for this assumption?
Jason has done it, it seems, and it also seems to have worked, surely he is proof it can work.
Say you get 300 jobs, some will be just that price and others will need/want more doing, for which you charge normal price and they may use you in future, some may not, but there don't seem to be a lot of assumption that it doesn't/won't work?
Martin 8)
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And while your doing all these cheap deals what
about the day to day customers who ring from
your ads etc wanting a clean?
Or your regulars?
Do you put them on the back burner while you
deal with Groupon customers?
John
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looking and reading the comments about groupon, it is obvious to me that some of you really have no idea how it works and what it brings in. Looks like I may have to go national with it then. ;D ;D ;D
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My local Groupon is Birmingham and there's a £29 for two carpet deal on there today and with seven hours left he's sold 87. One thing it does prove is that if the price is attractive to the consumer they'll go for something that maybe they otherwise wouldn't. I suppose you could say, well, bypass Groupon and offer your own £29 deal direct to the consumer but then you'll be unable to reach such a wide audience as Groupon. I'm intrigued by the whole thing and am tempted to look into it a little more but I think you would have to plan your campaign well. My other concern would be how and when you are paid and just how well Groupon's customer service people deal with complaints. I'm sure that Mrs Smith or Mrs Jones is sure to ring up complaining about a leftover stain somewhere along the line! I'll keep watching this topic with interest! I think the only downside is that it is inevitably going to devalue our trade.
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Good post jb
Was going to say am sure there will be some shrinkers and other come backs as its not just a piza half price deal.
Weere talking carpets and some expensive ones too out there with all sort of problems if you dont know how to clean it right..
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Alleluyah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lord be praised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JB
Clinton,this has been my whole point all along.
Personally I think I would go out canvassing and foot
Slog for work before getting involved with Groupon.
Apologies members,ya know I`m out of it now,but I
Just could`nt resist it
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Lewis Doubtfire
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http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/newcastle/maid-to-clean/970701?nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_270&a=61
This one was in my inbox today
It would be interesting to see how many do become repeat full price paying customers, they may well get in touch next time they require carpets cleaning " hi are you doing a 2 for £26 offer like last time" Then when you say no off they trot to groupon to see who is. Its just devaluing carpet cleaning as a service. Just my view on it.
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Who sets the initial price?
Can you not offer cleaning at say £ 75.00 - 100 a room?
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Who sets the initial price?
Can you not offer cleaning at say £ 75.00 - 100 a room?
You negotiate it with Groupon , they want low cost to the customer and BIG discounts it is hard going trying to get them to offer anything over £40 .
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So are you saying these customers on the cheap deal seem to refer more. Possibley because they cant believe they have got such a good job at a unbelieveable cheap price.
I just cant see them paying more next time.
Mark
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http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/newcastle/maid-to-clean/970701?nlp=&CID=UK_CRM_1_0_0_270&a=61
This one was in my inbox today
It would be interesting to see how many do become repeat full price paying customers, they may well get in touch next time they require carpets cleaning " hi are you doing a 2 for £26 offer like last time" Then when you say no off they trot to groupon to see who is. Its just devaluing carpet cleaning as a service. Just my view on it.
Interesting small print on the 2 for £26 offer..........." Extra charges may apply for excessively dirty rooms. Room must be cleared prior to service."
And of course we all have our own definitions of "excessively dirty" and reserve the right to charge extra to move furniture.
I think I'll stick to providing a quality service with no extra charges at what I consider a reasonable price.
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Exactly mark they'll just look on groupon for
another cheap deal.
John
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Even ifnyou do build a database of groupon customers which youmhave done for next to nothing, most people have their carpets cleaned ever 18 months - 2 years, so you've a long wait on your hands before having any chance of repeat business and given these people go for cheap deals who is to say they'll pay full price next time. That's one he'll of a gamble and one hell of a long time to have any hope of recovering your losses.
I take whatvJason Lawal says with a pinch of salt, he's the master of embellishment, that's a posh word for bs ;D
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Unbelievably it says regardless of size.
I did 2 rooms at a mosque last week, the
smallest was 56sq m. And they were pretty
clean so nowhere near excessively dirty.
John
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hi jason was the £56 before or after groupon had there half and did you do the 2 or 3 room deal i worked out if it was the 2 rooms for £26 deal and you average £56 if you get 100 jobs thats£5,600 wich could be done in 3 weeks doesnt sound so bad does it folks . even with the groupon £13 per job its still£4,300 ;)
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Never tried groupon but i find this thread interesting, the way i see it is that you are paying groupon to do your marketing, you sit at home and they get you 100-300 and you go out and do the jobs and try to upsell wherever you can.
You have spent no money on advertising/marketing
You have spent no time walking the streets
You have guaranteed work
Work out how much you could/would spend on advertising/marketing to get that money guaranteed and you have the answer to the question........is it worth doing groupon?
Wether it devalues carpet cleaning as an industry, i doubt it as so much of the population dont or ever get their carpets cleaned.
I dont doubt that it has worked for the people on here who have admitted to doing it and some people on here just protest far too much for them to be credible.
That said i still cant decide wether i would do it, but, if your going to thrive you have to be open to new ways of marketing.
Tony
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on the flip side of what i said if you dont manage to upsell then its a lot of hours for£1,300
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Never tried groupon but i find this thread interesting, the way i see it is that you are paying groupon to do your marketing, you sit at home and they get you 100-300 and you go out and do the jobs and try to upsell wherever you can.
You have spent no money on advertising/marketing
You have spent no time walking the streets
You have guaranteed work
Work out how much you could/would spend on advertising/marketing to get that money guaranteed and you have the answer to the question........is it worth doing groupon?
Wether it devalues carpet cleaning as an industry, i doubt it as so much of the population dont or ever get their carpets cleaned.
I dont doubt that it has worked for the people on here who have admitted to doing it and some people on here just protest far too much for them to be credible.
That said i still cant decide wether i would do it, but, if your going to thrive you have to be open to new ways of marketing.
Tony
You are correct but the key is to restrict the post codes. This gets you loads of callers who cannot use a voucher so what you do is give them an offer taylored for there post code. This creates lots of work in and around the same areas as the vouchered work. Email me and I will help you sort your campaign and let you in on the secret of success. mick@thecarpetcleaningpro.co.uk
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True enough....but....if your struggling then £1,300 may be a great deal, given that its £1,300 minus costs and not marketing/adveritsing + £1,300 - costs, depends how you view it.
Tony
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Spoke to someone from one of the companies today.
Domestic carpet cleaning is a new venture for them. The 400 cleans they sold they have had a number of up takers paking additional charges for mileage, additional rooms.
They looked at it as a marketing exercise reckoning around 10% profit for the whole project would be good.
They reckon it's the most effective way of driving traffic to their site to date and it has gained them additional work in other sectors of their business.
I see one of the 4 offering in the Edinburgh area was selling Dry Fusion cleans.
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http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/people/join-the-team/join-the-team.shtml
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The guy in Birmingham has now sold about 170. So that's 170 multiplied by £14.50. It would be really interesting to find out just how much the final figure is once all the jobs are complete and any extra works have been added up.
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another thought to add. everyone on here so certain they'll be able to get plenty of repeats out of this, but think about it from groupon's point of view, the people who tbh have much more power then you given the amount of work they can easily get. when the customer wants their carpets cleaned again it's in groupon's interest that the customer uses groupon over you, so groupon will more likely have a structure in place like focusing carpet cleaning adverts to the customer 6/8 months after there last clean, or something even better that can't be resisted. they already do this from the amount of work they can get i'm sure getting a previous customer back is going to be even easier for them.
the price difference between using your services which the customer knows works, and groupon's which the customer also know work it just too huge.
i think people have different rules from groupon depending on the area. we def had no room for movement as much as he tried to convince us i was firm on what we wanted minimum from each sale, and he went back and forth trying to get it so we can have a higher value on the coupons but he couldn't get past £29 (of which you get £14.50) for 2 hours work. we could not set the amount it was groupon telling us what we have to do at the least. at first i was told 50% is minimum discount but it ended up being more like 70% minimum plus then a further 50% of the reaming 30% goes to groupon. it's not like i could even say to them i charge £200 per hour and will give 75% of that off so charge £50 per hour, we had to go by their maximum hourly rate.
i have someone who could easily try this, but the fact that as standard without upselling, it'd cost me to clean someone elses dirt, and then i'd be funding a company that is trying to steal my customers and give them back to me for a massive reduced price just seems so silly.
trouble i see is people on here look and say £1300 is a fair amount of money, but it's for so so many jobs. groupon is shrinking our prices making it even more competitive in an unrealistic way. we should be fighting over a new method to get new well paying customers like google, but instead are focusing on paying to clean someone elses dirt.
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bennymon: if you give groupon a call i'd be interested to know what you get out the call. i spoke to craig and from what i understand deals with carpet cleaning in this area so you may get the same guy should you decide to trial groupon.
there was no chance in hell of getting £56 or anything close, it was £29 for 2 hours work, not 2/3 rooms but 2 hours work, and then groupon took half. if you get a to do a better deal i'll be shocked. the only way i could see this working is to literally do all 200 jobs and pay yourself nothing. of course if there is no work any way you're getting nothing, but you could end up wasting time cleaning someone elses carpets and you'll have nothing left in your pocket to show for it. you would earn more from macdonalds
also remember each job is not paid cash so there is potential further charges (although small) and no potential tax free jobs ;)
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Even ifnyou do build a database of groupon customers which youmhave done for next to nothing, most people have their carpets cleaned ever 18 months - 2 years, so you've a long wait on your hands before having any chance of repeat business and given these people go for cheap deals who is to say they'll pay full price next time. That's one he'll of a gamble and one hell of a long time to have any hope of recovering your losses.
I take whatvJason Lawal says with a pinch of salt, he's the master of embellishment, that's a posh word for bs ;D
Why the personal attacks Simon? I use my real name , I have never personally attacked you or you character , and never typed anything on here that I would not say to a persons face , I can back up what I say on here with real life results. I hope to meet you one day , and see if you are as wise with words face to face ( though I suspect not .) If you do not like the way I do things you are entitled to say , you are not entitled to make up opinion on what I have or have not done when you have never looked at my business or indeed met me.
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Jason,
You have never attacked me personally? Not long ago you said you had served one of my customers and that I had walked out of the job and was rude and arrogant. When I challenged you about it, as usual you wouldn't give any details, not even the customers name and town, because you merely wanted to besmirch my name with a cheap shot. That's personal.
It is your constant quoting of figure that makes me take anything you say in that regard with a 'pinch of salt' because they are merely figures you could have invented in order impress, for all we know. If you were being genuine you would be a lot more forthcoming on detail, 'how to make money out of groupon,' for instance. To do that you don't need figures and instead reveal your strategies which would be a lot more believable and I dare say helpful to anyone else considering groupon.
Simon
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I think this thread is going off topic in the wrong direction.
I am going to lock it before this gets silly.