Don't Let Groupon® Ruin Our Community

I've been talking to some small business owners from all over, including right here in Tallahassee, Florida. There is a great new marketing company that oozed into towns all over the US, and if local businesses don't watch out, it will be the end of them.

Of course I'm talking about GROUPON®, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for what this mega email marketing company has accomplished. They waltz in to every town they target, grab up lots of email addresses, and then they offer a daily coupon special to save money for the subscribers. At first blush it appears to be a great service. In fact, my brother Danny,  a Florida real estate attorney, told me about it months ago, and he absolutely loves it.

So why the warning about GROUPON®? Because their business model appears to be capable of putting local businesses out of well, business. Here is a simplified version of how it works.

GROUPON® approaches a local business, say Joe's Paint and Body Shop, and offers to do a mass-email campaign designed to get Joe more business. They ask Joe to offer a limited number of coupons for 50% off (or another deep discount) for one of Joe's services. Joe must agree to pay GROUPON® an amount of money that could be 1/2 of what Joe receives from the coupon sales.

Sounds like a great deal. Joe's customers get a huge savings, Joe gets more business, and GROUPON® is able to earn a good bit of money for this email campaign. But here's the problem. In our example, Joe is working for 25% of his normal rate. I don't know about him, but this Joe couldn't do that. My profit (from what I can remember about profit all those years ago) is no where near 75%. In fact, most businesses are lucky to profit 15% in a good market. So Joe is grossing 25% and his costs are most likely in the neighborhood of 85%. Thus Joe is losing roughly 60% per GROUPON® customer.

Now if the GROUPON® gig is worked wisely, Joe may give 50% off on a service that requires the purchase of other services. But this is not always the case. I have heard stories about restaurants that have gone out of business because they did not expect such a rush of customers at the discounted rates. They could not recover from the losses of just one campaign.

Joe Wrote The Book On How To Sell A Home Today

WARNING: The Internet & digital marketing systems have changed the way sellers need to market a home for sale. It's not about getting a home sold anymore, it's about getting a home sold and netting the most money from the sale.

To do this, a seller needs to hit the digital market hard in a coordinated effort that alerts ready-buyers (all at the same time) to ensure buyers understand they are competing for the right to buy the home.

While it only takes ONE buyer to sell a home, it takes MULTIPLE BUYERS for the seller to bid the property up to its highest value in today's market. You see our full explanation about how to sell a house here, or you can buy the book and really get into the nuts and bolts of selling a home in the digital age.

Get the book that explains it all, in a manner that is understanding to all, even technology neophytes. It's available on Amazon, a trusted source for consumers.

Now technically, shame on the business owner for not doing the math up front. How many customers can you lose 60% with before you have to shut the doors? Surely there has to be another way!

Joe-Pon For Tallahassee Coupons

Local Businesses: I have created a form on my site for you to request a coupon campaign. This campaign will be free of charge, the only money it will cost you is the discount that you pass on to the customer. Instead of you having to pay for advertising, you can invest a similar amount in a direct email campaign through the discounts that the customer receives. Joe Manausa Real Estate: Though we will not receive any money for this service, it is part of our paying-it-forward approach to doing business. We hope that our happy Joe-Pon subscribers and all of the businesses involved will refer their friends and family members to us when they need to sell a home or buy a home.

So, let's get the ball rolling. Every reader can do their part in making this service work for everybody. Click on the social media sharing buttons and tell your network of friends about Joe-Pon. Once we have a large enough subscriber base, businesses will be attracted to start offering significant savings to you in the form of coupons! So tweet, share, Digg, Stumble, Reddit, Mixx it up, Buzz it up, and forward a link to this post to everybody you know.

Hey Billy Poole, how about you tell everybody on your list about Joe-Pon and you and I will get together and put the first big coupon deal together. I know your low prices coupled with a discount is going to hurt, but I want some 1/2 off 1Fresh Stir Fry!

Your Local Expert In Tallahassee

Are you ready to go see a home in this oft-overlooked, amazing neighborhood? Do you have further questions on the Tallahassee real estate market? If so, you can leave a comment below, give us a call at (850) 366-8917, or drop us a note and we'll give you the local information needed to ensure a successful, smooth transaction.

As a local born and raised in Tallahassee with a focus on customer service, I promise you'll find great success when working with Joe Manausa Real Estate, just as have our past customers. You can read thousands of their reviews reported on Google, Facebook and Zillow right here: Real Estate Agent Reviews Tallahassee.

Have you heard about my new book "The Business of Getting Business?" It's a comprehensive guide for small businesses to help them make the move to digital. For those of us who want to survive and thrive in a world where large corporations are taking over, it is a must-read. It's also the perfect guide for how to sell a home in the digital age. You can find it on Amazon (UK) for immediate delivery, or you can go to Amazon (US) to reserve a copy at a pre-US published rate.

Think all REALTORS are alike?

Read what people are saying about working with Joe Manausa Real Estate! You can see thousands of real customer reviews reported on Google, Facebook and Zillow at this link: CLICK HERE FOR REAL ESTATE AGENT REVIEWS.