Who wants to pay full-price for anything? Not I.

So I “lit up” when social buying sites like Groupon and Living Social started cropping up. They round up deep discount offers from all kinds of businesses and present them to millions of potential customers.

That “millions” is misleading. Groupon, for instance, has about 60 million consumers signed up but that’s nationally. The offers (and the businesses that make them through the social buying sites) are mostly local: restaurants, spas, etc. I received three offers: 50% off Asian Fare at Soo Woo, 60% off at Women’s Film & Art Festival and 70% off Botox (Ouch!).

I’ll give you my e-mail, but not much more!

Consumers start by logging onto a social buying site which, somehow, knows roughly where you are. In my case, that’s Miami. You’re asked to confirm that, then they ask for your email address and age. No big deal. Then up pops up another screen that asks for more information: name, address, etc. This is a little off-putting for some of the people I’ve talked to.

I found the geography a little odd at times. Today’s deal of the day at Groupon is for a business clear across town. If you’ve ever driven in Miami, you know that it might as well be in another country.

Don’t Jump on the bandwagon, yet!

Nonetheless, small businesses seem to find social buying sites to be dream marketing tools. They pay no initial set-up fees and commissions are negotiable.

Groupon handles all of your purchases through their website and they’re very involved in making sure their clients are successful. If you’re not successful then they’re not successful.

Of course there are potential downfalls. If you run, say, a mom and pop ice-cream shop that regularly serves 40 or 50 people a day, what would you do if 500 people showed up?

How can i lose? Profits are slimmer?

And, in a recent survey, 32% of business owners lost money running these types of promotions.

Open bar…we’ll lose our shirts!

I’m not sure how the survey was conducted and I’m never sure how companies calculate “loss”. One of my favorite examples of this problem comes from a friend who ran a bar in a ski area up north. Business was fine in winter when people were skiing but a little slow in the summer and shoulder seasons. So my friend suggested to his partner that they send a letter to all the adults for miles around inviting them to a party with a free open bar from 7 to 9 on a Friday night. “Are you nuts? We’ll lose a fortune,” screamed the partner. My friend ran the math and finally convinced his partner. And they did lose money from 7 to 9. But in the next six hours they had their best night ever! And for the rest of that off-season, they had one profitable night after another. The math worked.

Will I ever make my full price again?

I think that’s the same kind of math that makes the deep discounts on social buying sites a good idea. In a way, it sounds like the Marketing Allowable from Direct Marketing 101, but you have to run your own numbers before you get involved. And you have to consider things like:

- Will discounting your product or service damage the integrity of your prices? Will people just wait for your next coupon and not bother to pay full price?
- What is the potential Lifetime Value (LTV) of customers who come in for special offers?
- Are they “opportunity seekers” and not repeat customers?

You also have to think about your current customers. Will a loyal customer paying the regular price get irritated when newcomers pay half that? Maybe and maybe alienating your current customer base isn’t worth it.

It can also become an issue when businesses don’t treat social site buyers as well as they treat their regulars.

Maybe I’ll go to your cafe this week.

Just the other day, I bought a Groupon for a local restaurant. When I showed the hostess my Groupon, she (and the rest of the staff) made my guest and me feel out of place in every way imaginable. I’m not going back.

For some businesses like salons, spas, restaurants and recreational activities, social buying can be great idea. But what about other businesses like lawyers, accountants, advertising agencies, realtors and other services?

What do you think of this social buying phenomenon? I’d love to hear from you. Please comment below.

I had blogged about the fact that my Mom insisted that I write thank you notes, and how those handwritten notes still made a huge difference in my life.

Then, I received an unexpected one myself from a great salesperson. I had raced into St. John’s (who sell beautiful knitted suits) and asked the salesman if he could find me a black skirt quick! I was leaving for Rhode Island to speak at the Travel Learning Conference, and somehow, I didn’t have the skirt that went with my favorite St. John jacket.

He went to the back and found two, and one was a size too small. He told me to try it on anyway, and it could always be blocked a size larger. It did fit, and I bought it and ran out the door, in time to make my flight.

Then I received this beautiful handwritten note from my savior, Armando.

You know I’m headed back there to see what he has for Spring. How great is that? A handwritten thank you note from someone who saved the day for me?

My Grandmother, Mammy, used to take months to painstakingly knit ghastly itchy sweaters and send them to my sister, Margo, and me for the holidays. Scarves, too.

At least Margo’s were in semi-pleasant colors but mine were usually green. Mammy knew that Emerald was my birth month’s color and she didn’t take into account that I looked like a turtle in that color.

Mom had a rule: you must write a thank you note within the week. I’d wrack my little brains and come up with something pathetic like: Dear Mammy, Thank you for the nice sweater. Love, Lois.

Mom put the kibosh on that and sent me back to my desk. Eventually, I’d come up with something half decent, longer anyway:

Dear Mammy, The green sweater is very warm and will come in handy this year as the winds are howling here in Long Beach. Thank you for knitting it for me, and spending all that time to make me a nice sweater like this one. Love, Lois

Mom smiled. She was right, of course. It didn’t matter that I looked like a red eared tortoise in the sweater; I had to show my gratitude.

The idea holds in business too. When I spend time now to write notes to clients to thank them for the kind things they say about us, for their business, for a lunch we’ve had together, they appreciate it. Here are some ideas you might want to try:

· Write a hand-written thank you note and be specific about what you appreciated (at the meeting, or the gift, etc).
· An email thank you is nice as long as you also send the written one.
· I also try to remember birthdays. One time I was speaking about this on a podium and a lady raised her hand and said the only birthday card she got that year was from her oil burner man. That was sad. Made a birthday list and be sure to mail all the cards for that month in the beginning of the month.
· Send gifts to people who are important to you. This week I received a wonderful present from a friend in Canada: Red Olympic mittens. I love them, and the best part was that they were unexpected, although it is coldish in Miami these days.

· We’re all so over-booked every day, and so once every few weeks I write out cards “I miss you” so I don’t lose touch with people I care about. You might try that too. It feels good.

My friend Andrea Nierenberg, the Queen of Networking, writes three notes every day. I’ve gotten into the habit myself. You might try it too, and let me know how it works. Also, tell me your ideas here on comments!

That happened to me last week, when I was invited to speak in Europe at a conference, and I was on a conference call, and perhaps my response was a bit curt. The sponsor of the event thought I was mean…and didn’t even appreciate her offer (which I did). I’ve been wanting to speak in Prague for a while, and when the invite came in…I just blattered out my questions. And, she was gone. I missed out, and felt awful about it.

My Mom used to say, “think before you speak”, and if you’re angry, “sleep on it” before responding. You’ll feel altogether different in the morning. And, I usually do that. When the poor Prague woman wrote, I didn’t.

Joe Biden also had a foot in the mouth disease last week when he accidentally blurted out that there is a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Academy. That is the bunker where they hid Cheney, when 9/11 happened. Well, it is not a secret anything anymore. If only he’d thought,, waited, considered before he said it. Michelle Malkin talks about it on her blog today

Guess we should all think about this on Twitter and Facebook… and email.

Days fly by for me, in a frenzy of activities….from direct marketing for our clients, my social media network, my real network of friends, my new books (I’m writing), my columns and all the mundane things I do, like paying bills, returning calls, and handling the challenges of board membership.

In the course of doing all of these activities, I let others slip by. One of those things that I’m always fighting with myself about is Organization. When I was a kid, my mom said I had a disorganized mind and that was why I was so creative. Now, there’s no excuse.

So, I started calling Kate Sandberg, who had worked for us in New York. I invited her to come and visit with me in Florida, and help me to organize my desk, my closet and this visit…my new book. I had clippings everywhere and articles I’d written and in one weekend she managed to get me all straightened out.

I call her my Organizing Angel. My closet is immaculate, my book is in order, and she helped me to purge over 10,000 emails that were sitting in my home computer.

Now I’m free of clutter.  In a few months, I’ll invite her back again for a refresher. Each time she flies in, it gets easier, and there’s less clutter and more seconds for me during the day. And, we go out for dinner and celebrate….and always laugh through the process.

You can email her at: k8sandberg@yahoo.com