Groupon can do wonders for your business if you do it right. Here is how you can do a daily deal special like a marketing pro and see some profit in the long run.

Step 1: Do you need to do a Groupon?

If you already have a ton of customers and can’t handle anymore. Don’t do a Groupon. Do a Groupon if you need more customers.

Step 2: Remind yourself why you are doing this

You are doing this to get repeat new customers. Repeat new customers will help you grow your business. The way you get repeat customers is by providing a great product and amazing service.

Step 3: Ask All Your Employees

Ask yourself and the people you work with if they are ready to handle a ton of new customers. Give them a warning that the next few weeks will require a little extra work from their end and you appreciate it. This is important because you don’t want your employees to treat the customer like crap and have your online reviews go down. See the graphic below:

Step 4: Cap the Amount You Sell

Only allow a certain amount of Groupons to be sold. The Daily Deal sales guy will try to make you do an unlimited amount but that is what he is trained to do. Cap the amount you can handle. My suggestion is figure out the number of new customers you can handle in a 14 day period and double that.

If you make your cap amount to be unlimited, you and your team will be overwhelmed and won’t be able to provide great service devaluing your business reputation. Worst of all this will drive business away in the long run.

If Groupon pushes you to sell more than you should go to another daily deal competitor like LivingSocial, JuiceInThecity, or the hundreds of other competitors.

Step 5: Train Your Employees to Upsell and Be Nice

A. Treat daily deal members really nicely. They are customers you NEED to come in again.
B. At the end of your service with the customer. Ask if they have had a positive experience and to do you a personal favor and review your service on Google Maps, Yelp, or Foursquare.

* Almost all new restaurants I checkout are through Yelp and Google Maps. You can really get a ton of positive reviews with a Daily Deal burst and this can help you find new customers in the long term.

C. Remind the customer that you are a small business just getting things off the ground, so if they have any friends or family that would be interested in your service you would be happy to offer them a 10% discount.

I also encourage sending a personal “Thank You” email at night with a direct link to your business on Yelp and Google Maps.

Step 6: Stay Organized and Force Repetition with Email Addresses

Add all the email addresses from the daily deal into a email newsletter service like mailchimp or iContact. Send out monthly updates with a coupon (something small like $1 off or free 15 minute consultation). Remind the customer that you still exist and greatly value their business. One service I’ve seen people use and like is MobManager to help keep their daily deal customers organized.

50% of your users will unsubscribe from your newsletters, be okay with that and keep plugging away.

Step 7: Enjoy Your New Repeat Customers

Congrats on the new business you deserved it!

Are there any steps that I missed or things that could greatly help a positive outcome for businesses doing a Daily Deal special? Please, let me know in the comments.