Thanks for the kudos. I wanted to point out my post was not meant to attack anyone, nor discount someone's reason for doing it - it was simply to point out - against my business model - the math absolutely does not work out, and to maybe get some wheels turning for those that don't have a CODB and biz plan really thought out to the pennies.
And even past the math, if you have commissioned techs - this is a morale killer. If they are hourly, your costs are going to be even higher as you're likely going to be forking out serious OT as it seems this would stack your schedule, too much too fast, rather than a nice even steady flow of phone calls from various ads planned to hit the streets at different dates through the month. My ads hit the first week, middle second week, and end of the third to beginning of the 4th week each month.
Also - this is training the public to buy "deals" and not quality, and especially hurtful to wait for them. As a customer myself to many things - I look at this this way. No company will provide a service at a loss or break even point, so they have to be making something - how are they going to do that. Then down the road when I do call them back, and I remember that $100 deal, and now they want twice that for the same service - it's a turn off, well now they are clubbing me over the head. Also, in terms of referrals - if you've been referred, the custy and referral know each other and likely have a strong relationship - if custy 1 tells custy 2 about their price - custy 2 is likely wanting one heck of a deal too, or, if custy 2 talks to custy 1 after a regular priced cleaning - they aren't going to be pleased about the price difference.
The public wanting deals is why manufacturing is all but gone here in the US, it's not the big corps, it's not our big brother, the responsibiliy lies squarely on the general public - we have price shopped our way out of manufacturing, as well as price shopped our way out of solid blue collar jobs in the US. Personally I won't support this on that basis alone.
IF - groupon is currently adapting a new biz model for service companies and different industries with different margins, cycles, needs - I applaud them - maybe it will become a broad fit marketing wise, for now I see it as a cashflow "life ring", thrown from a cruiship that rather than taking you on board, drags you to the next island and leaves you, for our industry at least.
@ Brian - you are absolutely right, you can spend money on print ads and not get the desired return, one mailing virtually never "does it". But it's a process - if this owning your own biz thing was just add water - everyone would be microwaving their own company.
Print ads are an art, you have to have the right offer, countermarket against your direct competition, plus, against even the other non-competetive ads - after all - the people reading these ad pubs will only have so many extra dollars that month to spend on the things in the publication that month, as well as brand yourself.
And to brand yourself takes time - years.
With print ads you can typically expect results in 3 months, sometimes longer, but that's what I have found - 3-6 months to see the real return you can expect.
And again - you are right, it takes those three months and it's respective cost, so lets say that it takes that - I'm now at an even spend with groupon, but not providing services at 25% of gross throughout, and building a brand at the same time which is as priceless a commodity in our biz as it gets.
Example - I say two words, yellow vans - you say _________ __________
We all know it's not because of their amazing service - then why? Because they have built a brand, and anyone wanting to be in this industry with intentions of it being a career - needs to start considering the long term plan they have or don't have. At some point you need to find effective and successful methods for print ads, referrals, maybe even radio and t.v. - because groupon isn't going to brand you, it's to narrow of a market on both sides, theirs and ours.
And again - I am very interested to read the math or "goes intos" number wise as to how this would or could be profitable and across it's pretdetermined timeline. And please, nobody take my post as an attack on you - just trying to put more solid numbers to it than traditional ad efforts, because its far from traditional advertising.
serv pro - nice
