Any GOOD experiences out there with therapists using Living Social or Groupon?

by Nancy Henson

May 20, 2011

A fellow therapist inquired about Groupon's services and they took down all her information. When they pushed for a ridiculously low priced massage special, she declined and stated her services are worth more money than they suggested. GROUPON RAN IT ANYWAY! By the time she noticed it, there were about 100 e-mail inbox "receipts" from that special and Groupon tried to reason with her, saying oh that person is fired now and we can just say it's for regular Swedish massage and I think they gave her a slightly bigger cut. She is a positive person who tries to see the best in every situation, so she agreed and hoped they would become permanent clients. I hope this is not the norm!
Load Previous Replies
  • up

    Amanda James

    I agree with you very much, as long as you do your research and still provide your 1/2 price clients as if they are paying top dollar you can succeed. If you treat people like they are only in for the deal than they will be. I talked to living social today about running an ad and I'm very excited about the business exposure and being able to get the word out about how much massage can help. If you are doing massage solely for a big pay check you need to reevaluate why you are a therapist. Help others and they will in turn help you.

    Alyson Schlobohm said:

    I won't say I disagree with what you've said 100%, but it sounds like to me that you've never run a special with Living Social or Groupon. I must say, when I first spoke with Groupon, their "I'm doing you a favor" attitude rubbed me wrong. I was fortunate enough to find out about their competitor, Living Social, before I ran with Groupon, and still say to this day that it was the best decision I ever made. I had just started out on my own as a Massage Therapist - fresh out of Massage School and renting a room on my own - so I was struggling to find affordable means of marketing myself. Living Social gave me 24 hours of FREE advertising with their email blast, and I even had people call and ask if they could just book an appointment with me directly.

     

    On top of that, within 6-months I had a base of about 35-40 clients - again, that was only 6 months of finishing the program and going out on my own. These 35-40 clients were using the discount services to find a Massage Therapist that was a good fit for them, and they've been faithful to me ever since.

     

    The chunk of change my "run" with them put in my pocket allowed me the financial freedom to pursue other forms of marketing. 

     

    Finally, I vividly recall both companies asking me several time if I was comfortable with the amount of business it would bring to me. I developed an Excel spreadsheet as long as my arm with all possible scenarios including the 50% off, my 60% cut, estimated taxes, how many massages I would have to do per day to fulfill my number of purchasers, how many other clients I could accomodate per day, etc., etc., etc., etc.

     

    Bottom line - do your homework, know what you're getting in to, get EVERYTHING in writing, and you CAN be successful and happy with running a special with Living Social or Groupon.

    Relax & Rejuvenate said:

    Some discount services may be worth it, but I think the business proposition to the spa/therapist is fundamentally flawed.

     

    1) They build clientele  -- BS, or at least not the clientele I would want. They "brag" that they reach new clients across NYC with their specials, that is not a selling point, quite the opposite. If you believe the build a clientele, you have to believe that New Yorkers buying 1/2 price spa services will someday shun all other 1/2 price services from Groupon/LS and all their competitors, trek across town, passing dozens of spas along the way, and pay full price for your services because they were so blown away by the 1/2 price deal that all that effort is worth spending 2x as much money. I don't think so

     

    2) They have "high-value" clients. More BS. Check out reviews on YELP or TripAdvisor and you will find a remarkable correlation between the price paid (low) and the amount of complaints (high). "i paid $99 on Hotwire for a $400 hotel room and they gave me the smallest room in the house, blah, blah blah"

     

    3) They have "high-value" clients II. "Deal" clients are treating themselves. When a 1/2 deal is a treat, they can't afford you the other 364 days of the year, can't afford to spend anything on products, and are very unlikely to rebook

     

    4) They are creating a "bargain" culture and denigrating the services received. Perception is reality, and high priced is perceived as better.

     

    5) anyone whose business model is predicated on YOU taking a 50% haircut, then handing over 50% of what remains to them is not a sustainable business model. It is a parasitic one. The parasite ultimately devours the host and moves on to another host. When you lose money on a treatment, the more you do, the more you lose. You don't make it up on volume.

     

    6) They don't believe in their own business model. If they did, they would be willing to charge 0% for offering the deal and ask for 100% of revenue from all repeat business for the next 6 months. Every "deal"sales person i spoke with would claim how great they are at driving repeat business, but are flabbergasted when i ask them to put their money where their mouth is.

    Oct 31, 2011

  • up

    Relax & Rejuvenate

    Could not have said it better...

     You don’t do drugs, so why do flash sales? (well, maybe not everyone here...)

    http://www.hotelsmag.com/MembersOnly/blog/BlogDetail.aspx?topicID=1...

    Mar 2, 2012

  • up

    Lee Edelberg

    I'm self-employed with a private studio in a town of 30,000. The area is saturated with MT's and other body workers.  I'm just at the end of a 1-yr Groupon feature.  Last April (2011) I sold 253 sessions at half-price for a 75-minute massage.  Groupon takes 1/2 of that plus 2-1/2 % for credit card fees. So I  got a little less than $20 per sale.  
     
    The good: a lot of people tip, maybe 1/2, and usually $20.   Many of them were nice enough people who I would be happy to have as clients.  A smaller number were obviously not interested in my work at all except to get their cheap massage. And then there were a certain number of people I HOPE never call me again.
     
    Groupon paid all the money within 60 days of the feature closing, so I took in almost $5,000. Very handy.  After that I worked free excepting tips. 
     
    Some things surprised me:
     
    I have picked up almost NO new clients. Maybe 4 or 5.  People responded well to my massage and many talked about rebooking, but have not.  My comments on the Groupon site run about 85% positive and there is no "bad press" about me online, so it's not my technique. I do a modest follow-up email and at Christmas sent a promotion to everyone who had come in to date.  From this point of view, it's been a failure. 
     
    I think it's partly the state of the economy since long-time MT's in business locally are complaining that it's never been this bad, and partly due to Groupon itself. Every 2 or 3 weeks someone runs a 1/2-price massage Groupon and it's hard to believe that it's not influencing the market here.
     
    Lastly , what seems truly bizarre, is that with 21 days left til expiration, only 1/2 of the original 253 have been cashed in.  There are over 100 people out there who paid their money and haven't contacted me yet.  The calls have stepped up some in the last week or so, but in no way close to the number still out there. So that will change the final tally of $ per session.
     
    FWIW the Groupon staff is very accessible and easy to deal with.   I'll update in 3 weeks after it's truly finished.
     
     

    Apr 7, 2012