I have a confession. I recently did a campaign on Groupon, with the same deal (which they insist on) 3 carpets for £29.
Groupon take 50% of the money plus vat which leaves me with £11.50
My reasoning was this - I was recommended, as a new business, to do free cleans in order to build client database and attract attention. Free cleans, advertised through leaflets, did indeed seem to be my best port of advertising.
Groupon came along with this offer and i felt like i didnt have much too lose. I would still be, in effect, working for free, but with groupon there would be no leaflet distribution to worry about. It would put me in the spotlight, at no significant cost to me other than labour and time.
Im yet to decide if I would do it again (ive completed 10 of the 30 groupons sold) however it has made me some big jobs already, since many people clicked onto my website through groupon and phoned up to make larger orders.
Also, neighbours very often hear me outside their house and pop in to get a quote.
In addition I have so far managed to upsell maybe 50% of the groupons sold, offering them additional rooms at a fair rate.
I wonder if it can be a good way of advertising if you have a lot of time on your hands and are willing to work for free. Only time will tell though and ive heard lots of mixed views on this.
As I mentioned in another thread - 3 rooms takes me around 4-5 hours if done with care. Sometimes longer. Its a lot of unpaid work.
