[jasonl]

For a start it is not 80k worth of turnover , it is 667  x£45  jobs which is 30k  , how much does it normally cost to get 667 customers?

Alifetime value of a customer is far more than £200.

You need to look again Jason. http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/london/innovatecarpetcleaning/478784

You get 19.5 quid for each of the  667 jobs.  667 X 120 quid is 80,000. Not when you don't want to see it, but it is in the real world mate. You should earn 120 quid per job, but you only get 39 quid, and half of that goes to the pirates (Groupon). That leaves you with 667 X 19.5 quid = 13006.5 quid.

Hector M I know he's relocated and has no customers. He will have soon if he goes for this scam though. Can't see him coming back in 3 months after working for 85 quid a day and saying "You were right lads, it was a rip off" can you? Because if he gets 667 jobs, how long will he need to clear that much garbage before he has time to get onother customer who's ready to pay "Normal" prices?

If it looks like a good deal to you Hector, why don't you stop cheering Jason on and go get a deal from Groupon for yourself?

Ian Rochester has hit the nail on the head with his post. I'm starting to hope Jason will take the deal now, just to put him out of his misery. People telling him it's worth a try aren't willing to try it themselves. If he can't smell a rat, then good luck.

I am offering to clean 20m2 of carpet for £28   all work in excess of this is charged at £2.50/m2  ,   with 100% coming to me , I am not  giving Groupon 50% of the £28 either  , its called negotiation.

[cozy]

Jason, knock yaself out mate. I don't see anyone on here pushing past you in the queue to get one of these great deals.

If you're convinced it's the way forward for you, then go for it. You must see something that most on here can't see. I'm trying to point out what I see as a cr@p deal. I've nothing to lose if you sink or swim, we're in different countries, so all I'm trying to do is point out what you seem to have missed.

I'll bookmark this thread and see how you got on in about 6 months. Just incase you sell over 600 jobs on Groupon. That's how long you'll need to clear all those good deals you'll get.

Hector will still be in business though in 6 months, because he wont be taking part in this great deal. It's not for him apparently.  

Just an after thought. Perhaps you could call one of the companies who have tried Groupon and see what they think. Not hotels or chip shops, carpet cleaners. Then you can't miss.

[derek west]

i hope for all our sakes it doesn't work for jason and for any other carpet cleaner out there.  lets face it, if it does work then we'll all have to work for nothing. no offence J.

[garyj]

Errr actually Cozy there is someone looking very seriously in to this..... Me.  Admittedly not with carpet cleaning but the principle is the same, Thanks for the phone number Jason.
You're all lucky to  get someone like Jason willing to try this, if he can't make it work then doubt anyone else on here could.  

Hector, I'll let you answer your bit  

[clinton]

Looks like we will all be round at dereks for xmas dinner if it does work

[cozy]

Errr actually Cozy there is someone looking very seriously in to this..... Me.  Admittedly not with carpet cleaning but the principle is the same, Thanks for the phone number Jason.
You're all lucky to  get someone like Jason willing to try this, if he can't make it work then doubt anyone else on here could.  

Hector, I'll let you answer your bit  

Yes we are lucky aren't we. Throw a grenade in the room and step outside 

I didn't say "Nobody" is interested Gary. If Jason can't make it work nobody can??  Why's that? Is he a carpet cleaning guru or something?

[Helen]

Looks like we will all be round at dereks for xmas dinner id it does work

Booking of 2 seats required please .........oh make that 3 as me Mum always Xmas dinner with us
Cheers D.....nice of you to offer

[clinton]

Helen

Yes think il book 3 seats too please

[cozy]

Don't worry about the grenade bit, I think you know I'm not usually on this section of the forum. I don't know what or who you mean about numpties or anything to do with any of that. I know Jasons posts from talking about Facebook, I think. I'd never describe him as a numpty, or stupid. I just don't understand why he wants to defend Groupon.

I've never seen such a strange reaction from someone when disadvantages are brought up in a subject. I find it hard to understand how someone could go ahead with something like Groupon when it's developed for the hotel and food industry.

Knee jerk reactions in business never work. It seems that Jason is in panic mode and is grasping at straws to gain customers as fast as possible. If nobody seems to be keen about doing the same thing, then surely he should take another look at it.

The thing that should worry Jason is that if he sells 200 or 700 jobs, it will take months to clear this backlog and will be impossible to get through if other work comes his way. The only winner is Groupon. They advertise and get the same return as the punter who does all the work. What has Groupon got to lose? What has Jason got to lose?

I find this concept fascinating, that's why I'm posting in this thread. I honestly didn't believe someone in carpet cleaning would be interested in a chip shop gimmick.

[derek west]

note to self, not sure a turkey will be big enough, get costings for osterich.

oh and bloomin big oven.  

[Steve Rothwell]

Are you thinking about it for the cd side of things Gary ??

[garyj]

Ohhh never even thought of that, nice one.

No it is for something else, or was until your idea 

[Steve Rothwell]

royalties please     

[cozy]

Do you read the flipping posts you comment on  

I never said you said Jason was a numpty.

I can now think of at least 11 numpties on here.

How much research have you put in to come up with "its for the hotel and food industry", showing your ignorance as well now. At least look in to it before you start putting it down.

Calm down, this section of the forum is for advice and help. No need to be abusive. I always thought you were fairly adult. Please re-read my last post as you seem to have misunderstood all of it and you're under the impression I'm calling you names or something.

I don't want to explain everything twice, that's normally not needed. Just calm down, like I said, and re-read it. I'm reading everything I can find about Groupon on the net, and it seems it's the fastest growing business in the world at the moment. It gets good and bad press and even Google made a 6 bn dollar bid for it which was turned down.

Even the founder of Starbucks is now joining the board of directors, so as you can see, I'm not ignorant to what Groupon is.

It was originally founded as a coupon set up for the hotel and food industry, but because of some smart boys on the board, they've expanded into other businesses.

This all sounds great doesn't it. So why don't you go for it along with Jason and show everyone what a clever bloke you really are, and that when you read stuff properly, you understand it. It's because of people misunderstanding posts that we all have to move slower in this thread.

[Steve Rothwell]

Gary trying your landline......

No result   

[garyj]

Actually I'm on that already. Claiming that as my idea  .

Can pay you in tea and coffee, might stretch to a biscuit if you bring J.

[garyj]

Off the phone now, was telling someone my great idea 

[Neil Williams]

For Jason's sake I hope he achieves what he wants.
For a carpet cleaners sake and for that matter any other service industry I hope it doesn't take off or else we'll all be in trouble.
I don't sell 'extras' or whatever else you want to call it whilst I'm at a customers property, I don't like it one bit when I'm the customer and I have no intention of going down that route either.
And this is the dliema for those who want to go down the coupon route. If you're fully booked up for the next 8 weeks with super deals, just how are you going to find the time to do any 'extras' whilst you are there, because if you do then you aren't going to get around all the customers for that day. But you might say, only take on 3 coupon jobs a day with the intention of selling more. But what happens if none of those customers want anything else doing other than their 20 sq/m (or whatever your special offer is). You could end up quite poor for that day.

[cozy]

Some good points there, and for those who can be bothered reading longer tan 90 seconds   http://www.aneclecticmind.com/2011/03/18/why-groupon-is-bad-for-business-and-consumers/

It a case study of a small one man business (Helicopter ) and what offer he got from a cold calling Groupon salesman.

Having said all I have so far, if I were a chip shop owner or a hotel / Guest house owner, I'd give Groupon a limited trial. Problem is, Groupon don't do "Limited". They bang out the coupons and move onto the next (In my opinion,  poor sod)  business

By the way, here's another Groupon deal in progress.

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

[John Kelly]

That deal, 425 sold at 8 o clock. £28 which is paid to Groupon, this includes VAT. They then pay you 50% of £22.40 which is £11.20. Thats how I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong.

Utter MADNESS