Groupon

[shah269 0]

OK very dumb question.
Can you make is such that the coupon can only be used say Monday-Friday?
Maybe it can be used as a tool to level off the week with respect to the number of tandems?

Also....more tandems cheaper jumps for the rest of us

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[chaospilot 6]

You can negotiate the terms with Groupon. I do not see them allowing you to only accept Monday thru Friday based on their experience with the Skydiving Industry.

Bryan Cavage, D-19100
AFF I, Tandem I, Vidiot
http://www.dropzonesolutions.com
-Social Media Consultant and Skydiving Gear Guru

[AStack75 4]

Quote

OK very dumb question.
Can you make is such that the coupon can only be used say Monday-Friday?
Maybe it can be used as a tool to level off the week with respect to the number of tandems?

buywithme (another Groupon-type site) has done that in the past.

[Mr17Hz 1]

I think this is most powerful for dropzones who have "Off Seasons" when they are still open but don't do much business. If gift certificates are sold in this quantity but are only redeemable March-May, it can help to snowball a new season of "word-of-mouth" marketing, as well as get your staff busy early in the year so that when the weather gets nice everyone feels like they are already mid-season. Also the cost to the dropzone is often less during this time because the planes are going up with empty slots on a daily basis... that 9th slot on a plane costs the DZ much less than the first 8! Many people introduced to the sport in this way will bring friends or come back again, and they will definatly be talking to ALL of their friends about the "killer" deal they got online to jump out of an airplane.

Matt Christenson

mattchristenson@realskydiving.com
http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software.

[tkhayes 348]

my experience with Groupon was that I could NOT negotiate the terms. It was their way or the highway

[liftedtitan 0]

Quote

Quote

how many groupon customers return for AFF or more tandems?

Not enough to justify selling tandems under $140

any numbers to back up this statement? How many is "not enough?"

Lets all be honest for a second. DZ's make money, the owners don't run and opperate for the fun of it. You mean to tell me that a tandem for $235-$250 is making them JUST enough to be content? Please. Don't get me wrong I think they should make money, but to say that if they sell 1,000+ tandems UP FRONT for $150 a pop they are just breaking even. You have to be kidding me.

So please explain why quite a few DZ's participate in Groupon. Are the DZO's for these DZ the dumbest guys in business?

Moriuntur omnes, sed non omnes vixerunt.

[headoverheels 333]

Quote

Quote

how many groupon customers return for AFF or more tandems?

Not enough to justify selling tandems under $140

You can make tandem jumps for that amount, no video, with no coupon needed.

[diablopilot 2]

Yes, but it has been shown at that continuous pricing level (not a special) that he profit must be made elsewhere.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[MakeItHappen 15]

just an FYI if you want to see groupons

google 'dropzonename site:groupon.com'
replace dropzonename with your favorite DZ.

eg

skydive houston site:groupon.com
will show this link

another interesting one to check out is 'sportations site:groupon.com'


.

.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[kallend 2,106]

Quote

just an FYI if you want to see groupons

google 'dropzonename site:groupon.com'
replace dropzonename with your favorite DZ.

eg

skydive houston site:groupon.com
will show this link

another interesting one to check out is 'sportations site:groupon.com'


.

Exploiting the plight of Tibet to make a profit is tacky in the extreme.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[skydived19006 4]

(Bump)

I just looked through this thread again due to an email from a Groupon salesman asking me to explain to him why I'd asked them to stop calling me.

I don't trade with Groupon for the usual reasons, primarily among those being that we're a 1 182 weekend operation, everyone has a "real job" including the DZO. We run pretty much at capacity May through September, etc. Additionally, throw in 98% of what TK gave on top.

One thing that I never saw mentioned, and just occurred to me. One argument for the positive is that the cheap tandems increase the number of full pay who tag along. So, the staff are doing more, and making more. Here's what some will see as an asshole move. Why not ask the staff to do the cheap-o tandems at the same rate of discount? Will the TI see the value in doing tandems for $15, and the packer packing tandems for $6, if they "know" that they'll also be doing more full pay work?

Anyway, I thought that the best response to the Groupon guy would be no response at all. He really don't give a shit about the reasons why I refuse to do business with them. He's just trying to start a conversation, knock down my arguments, and make the sale.

Martin

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[normiss 848]

With the amount of work involved, I won't do $15 tandems.
ESPECIALLY 182 tandems.
Why anyone would ask me to cut my rate in half is beyond me.
I'm not a doctor being force fed some new legislation.

[SEREJumper 1]

Quote

One argument for the positive is that the cheap tandems increase the number of full pay who tag along

In my limited experience, the discount site buyers don;t bring along full paying customers. It may happen once in a while, but the discount shoppers will just look for the next place to get the discount.

Now the extra word of mouth you could get from happy customers is a possibility, but those people may also wait for the business to run another discount rather than paying full price.

It just depends on the instructor about getting paid half for the tandems, some would be ok with it since they are pottentially jumping more. Others would rather jump less and get paid full price. Intereting question, I'm going to start a poll in the tandem section about it.

We're not fucking flying airplanes are we, no we're flying a glorified kite with no power and it should be flown like one! - Stratostar

[skyjumpenfool 2]

We have a local DZ that's been offering Groupons... In talking with some woofos/future skydivers, when asked why they are waiting to come out and jump, the response I've heard on several occasions was "I'm just waiting for them to offer a Groupon".

I guess it's a supply and demand economy? But, I'm not a fan of the Groupon.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[diablopilot 2]

I find the Groupon/Living social sites bring in a lower quality customer, those that are just looking for a deal, and show up with a dissatisfied attitude to begin with. Many appear not even to really wish to skydive, almost as if they are doing it just because it was on "sale".

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[fencebuster 7]

I have done two Groupon promotions -- "2 tandems and two t-shirts for $260." One stated that the jumps needed to be scheduled in advance. The other was scheduled for "Weekends only." Our first Groupon sold out in 2 days (scheduled to run for 5). It remains to be seen how we'll do on the next one. We lost a little on the first one, but it drove business and was like low cost advertising. We also scored some AFF students as a result of the Groupons. A significant number brought a full paying customer along. Some bought video. We'll see how many don't redeem, but as the weather gets colder, I suspect we'll have a number that don't. For a DZ just starting out, it was a good marketing tool and kept us busy, making the staff happy.

Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208
AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I
MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger
Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

[skydived19006 4]

normiss

With the amount of work involved, I won't do $15 tandems.
ESPECIALLY 182 tandems.
Why anyone would ask me to cut my rate in half is beyond me.
I'm not a doctor being force fed some new legislation.

I was actually being somewhat sarcastic. But why not, if the DZO is going to work for free, why not the staff? Though the standard Groupon discount is 50% to the buyer, but Groupon keeps half of that, so it would be to the business/crew %25 the normal rate. Though, Groupon is willing to give better percentages to us, how generous!

When explaining to the previous Groupon sales chick, I related my business and Groupon to her job, asking "If your employer offered you a "deal" where you'd get to work another 4 hours a day at 1/4 your normal rate, you'd jump right on it wouldn't you?"

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[JerryBaumchen 1,434]

HI Martin,

The best story I have ever heard regarding selling tandems was told to me by DZO Jamey Woodward. At one time Jamey was running four dz's and I always considered him one of the best businessmen in the industry.

One year he decided to rent a kiosk in the Bellvue, WA mall. This mall IMO is the most up-scale mall in the entire Seattle area. He rented the kiosk for three weeks during the Christmas season.

He had a young woman staff it selling coupons for tandems. At first, he did not sell even one and he started to get panicy because it was very pricey to rent. But as it got closer to Christmas, especially that last week, they started selling like hotcakes. Jamey was of the opinion that it was because some wife/girlfriend had not come with any for the hubby/boyfriend and they just decided to go for it.

He also had a 90-day expiration on the coupon. He said that less than half of the coupons that he sold were ever redeemed.

JerryBaumchen

[normiss 848]

The DZO's I'm familiar with have SIGNIFICANTLY different investment in their business than do I.
I am but am employee or contractor with an agreed up rate of compensation for my work.
Were I the actual DZO or had deals like some do, damn right I'd be making more jumps for ANY amount.

[skydived19006 4]

JerryBaumchen

HI Martin,

The best story I have ever heard regarding selling tandems was told to me by DZO Jamey Woodward. At one time Jamey was running four dz's and I always considered him one of the best businessmen in the industry.

One year he decided to rent a kiosk in the Bellvue, WA mall. This mall IMO is the most up-scale mall in the entire Seattle area. He rented the kiosk for three weeks during the Christmas season.

He had a young woman staff it selling coupons for tandems. At first, he did not sell even one and he started to get panicy because it was very pricey to rent. But as it got closer to Christmas, especially that last week, they started selling like hotcakes. Jamey was of the opinion that it was because some wife/girlfriend had not come with any for the hubby/boyfriend and they just decided to go for it.

He also had a 90-day expiration on the coupon. He said that less than half of the coupons that he sold were ever redeemed.

JerryBaumchen

Jerry,
I believe that I either talked with Jamey, or had read something he'd written on the biz. Seems that he'd also fronted a few guys a few hundred jumps so that they could make 500, qualify to be a TI, and go to work for him.

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[skydived19006 4]

normiss

The DZO's I'm familiar with have SIGNIFICANTLY different investment in their business than do I.
I am but am employee or contractor with an agreed up rate of compensation for my work.
Were I the actual DZO or had deals like some do, damn right I'd be making more jumps for ANY amount.

I wouldn't honestly expect TIs and packers to work for half of the going rate in the hope that they'd make more in the long run. Just trying to make a point. For me, it pretty much equates, I already work 7 days a week, don't want to go to 8, especially for less money!

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[normiss 848]

Yessiree.

[JerryBaumchen 1,434]

Hi Martin,

Quote

Seems that he'd also fronted a few guys a few hundred jumps so that they could make 500, qualify to be a TI, and go to work for him.

That would not surprise me.

Of all of the DZO's that I've met since 1964, none of them knew more about what made money and what did not in the operation of a dz.

He could break down just how many students came from this effort ( maybe radio ads or something else ), that effort, whatever effort; he simply knew details and he studied them.

JerryBaumchen