Using deal of the day advertising has changed dramatically since my first post on it last March.   The main change is that these types of sites have sprung up like mushrooms in 2011.  It started with Groupon, then Living Social.  As a result, consumers have access to cheap services, any day of the week.  There is no scarcity, and this hurts the merchant.

I ran an endermologie deal with Groupon last August.  It caught me off guard, as it sold out (300 coupons) in a few hours and clogged my GenBook online scheduling system.  I also made the mistake of not setting up my GenBook ahead of time properly, which resulted in some double-bookings which my receptionist had to spend lots of time to correct.  But, two months later, things are humming along nicely.  I’m getting about a 15% conversion rate, which is pretty good.  I came up with a “Groupon only” client special, which many are choosing at around $700 a package.

This month, my Living Social Deal landed, and it, too sold out the maximum of 500 coupons.  It was for a choice of a chiropractic visit, one hour massage, or weight loss consultation.   About 90 purchased the chiropractic deal; 6 purchased the weight loss, and the rest the massage deal.  This will probably be the last time I do such a deal, but I don’t regret it.  It’s a lot of work, but it definitely brings in a lot of foot traffic into the office.   Some of the massage clients are converting into chiropractic patients, but most just want a cheap massage and are off.  Not all is lost; though, I am collecting their email addresses, and will launch our FaceBook campaign to penetrate through to their list of contacts.

The bottom line:  the big deal of the day sites (the ones that bring in big numbers; i.e. Groupon and Living Social) will require you to offer a massage deal with your chiropractic offer.  So, if you don’t have the capacity to offer massage therapy in your office, you cannot do a deal with these sites.  Try Google offers, Amazon offers, and Trubates instead.

Secondly, don’t be afraid to negotiate a bigger cut.  After all, you are cutting your services 50% for the deal.  Demand a 70% cut, and go from there.  You have therapists to pay, and laundry service for the sheets; not to mention your regular operating expenses.

Lastly, you must consider using automated, online scheduling.   You want to dedicate as little as possible staff time scheduling these Groupon appointments; zero if possible.  Save your staff for your regular-paying clientele.  Don’t worry, this is the internet age we are living in; get with the times.  After all, these folks are getting word of these deals online and are getting their vouchers emailed to them, so they have a computer, internet access, and are comfortable transacting business online.

Plus, online appointment scheduling systems will handle those appointment requests much faster than even two humans manning the phones.  No busy signals and tied up phone lines; real-time display of available appointment times in seconds; emailed appointment reminders, and an electronic record of customers’ appointments so there is no way they can say you scheduled them at the wrong time.  In fact, I make it a requirement for coupon purchasers to schedule their appointments online (it’s mentioned on the voucher), and I even tell them that if they call the office wanting to make an appointment.  100% of them said “ok, I’ll do it, thanks.”  None have complained about it.

I will be coming out with a new ebook, “Using Deal of the Day Sites to Create a Surge of Patients” very shortly that outlines all the steps necessary to run a profitable deal; and perhaps more importantly, reveals the mistakes I made and what to do instead.  It will include instructions, scripts, and the intake  forms I use that are strategically designed to convert/ upsell.  If you aren’t opted into my email list, make sure to do so to receive word when the ebook is ready.