While our experience has been a good one, getting into a partnership with one of these “daily deal” sites does have the potential to be disastrous if one isn’t properly prepared. I truly hope that this piece will help others carefully consider their motivation and be realistic about their expectations.

And you’ve also touched on an important element of making any business work: continually providing an outstanding experience and never allowing one’s self to “scrimp” on service is essential. The moment a business owner starts taking his or her clients for granted is the same moment that business will start taking a nosedive.

I always advise MTs: Don’t allow yourself to be curious – even for a moment – about how much latitude your customers might be willing to give you when it comes to quality. Let your service slide just once, and you may not get another chance to redeem yourself. Always give them more than they expect and they’ll keep coming back. I spend a lot of time talking about and expanding on these concepts in the audio book.

Thanks again for your input & for taking the time to share your thoughts!

Although I don’t have any personal experience with using social buying sites from a vendor perspective, I have purchased several as a consumer. I know one of the big concerns I often hear from other MTs about using these sites it that you have to give such a big discount when the client may not rebook. Of the massage coupons that I have purchased, I have gone back at least once after the initial deal if not more and only stopped going because I was not getting the level of service I thought I should be getting.

I went to one massage practice 4 (maybe 5, I can’t remember), after the initial purchase but stopped going for two reasons, it was a little inconvenient and the MT got a little complacent and wasn’t giving the same level of service she did for the initial massage. If I continued to receive superior service that she gave me the 1st and 2nd time, I definitely would have overlooked the little inconvenience of their location and parking issues.

Susan is right that this type of promotion is not for every massage therapist. She goes over in detail everything you need to know if you want to offer your own “deal”.

If you are thinking about using this type of promotion, I encourage you to get Susan’s audio book to make sure that it is right for you. You know what they say, you can avoid many mistakes with the advice of others.