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Yes this is a valid promotional tool. When Tires PLus built a new store in our development they came around door to door selling a similar VIP product. The one thing I liked is that it never expired. I think I spent $39, about the price of 1 oil change. For that I received 6 free oil changes. Plus additional discounts off other services. And the VIP card also entitled me to an additional 10% off all services not covered by a coupon on the card. Over the years I have spend about $3,000 there, so yea, they made their money back off the free oil changes.

I do wish everyones sample images posted here were bigger than postage stamp.

I really like this idea. In fact, I always enjoy posts from Don, Martin, and Claude, and have been lurking in the forums for years now- signed up just to post on this...

For those that doubt that people will pay money for coupon cards or books, I'll be another person to say that they do sell well. Around 15 years ago as a teenager I sold the local Indianapolis Zoobook, which is a very thick coupon book sold by a private company that gives a percentage to the local Zoo. I sold them from a mall stand for like 8 bucks an hour plus a small commission and others working for the company sold by telemarketing. To this day, just like many other people, I buy a Zoobook just about every year for $20-25. The beauty of a coupon book with many businesses is that just about anyone can justify the cost of the book.

Anyway, my first suggestion would be to think of a handful of other niches that might sell well. Clearly we know that auto repair shops and pizza shops work well. Perhaps a "healthy" alternative like a sub shop, a hair salon/barber (perhaps his and hers coupons), and maybe something else. The key is to think of services that everyone needs or wants.

The reason to select multiple niches is the easiest way to ramp this up and make more per customer is to upsell them into multiple discount offers. Once someone agrees to buy 1 offer for $20, offer to package in a second card for $10 more, then maybe 2 additional ones for $40 total. I suspect nearly no one would change their mind on 1 card if you make this offer, and many may agree to the upsells.

To take this a bit further, I might ask for their email address as well and start building a list. I might not even offer anything specific, but say that they will receive exclusive discounts if they opt in. Of course, I'd come up with at least 1 initial offer. For other niches that are more specific (smaller target market) I might try to pitch those to the list, especially if I can get them to periodically complete a short survey- maybe bribing them by offering them a discounted card in exchange. There will be many customers who end up spending $100 or more over time this way instead of just being satisfied with a single $20 sale and moving on. Over time, more money might be made from the list than the upfront sales.

I like this idea so much, that I might get started on it myself. The hardest part is signing up the businesses, which shouldn't be too difficult. Even if you visit 20 or so and suck at sales, at least 1 is bound to say sure why not. After that, the cards will sell themselves. I would think no matter how poor the pitch going door to door, at least 1 per hour would say yes. Walking at a leisurely pace, even for someone like me who is out of shape and a smoker, surely you can knock on at least 20 doors, talk to 5 people, and sell at least one discount card.

For even more sales, I'd likely setup a simple website to sell them and be sure to print the website on the cards because you can be sure that as people redeem the discounts, other customers will ask where they got the card. If they say "some guy knocked on my door" it ends there, but if there's a website listed, there's incremental sales right there with no special promotion on your part.

But why stop there? Surely some local blogs and websites would like to make some money from your affiliate program that you will set up. If you live in a big city, chances are that there's a handful of couponing blogs hungry for ways to monetize their traffic. Of course, if you've come this far, you'll want to have some sort of refer-a-friend feature as well. Instead of cash, I'd probably offer something like 1 free discount card for every 2 friends that make a purchase, perhaps with a limit of 1 card per business. People are much more willing to help their friend get a free discount card than thinking they are "doing it for the money."

Of course, I love the idea of selling in quantities to other businesses to hand out as free gifts, even if discounted all the way down to $5 each in larger quantities. Maybe $100 for 10, or $250 for 50. Insurance agents were mentioned, and there are countless others- apartments, smaller car dealers (buy here pay here), etc. In fact, you could probably sign up a handful of small businesses to sell them for you retail.

Schools and charities may have been mentioned, and they are always looking for more ideas to raise money. Back in high school, we sold magazines and were consistently one of the top schools for sales. The secret was twofold: many of the parents were affluent (i.e bought many themselves) and the kids won prizes (that were actually good) offered by the fundraising company. If you go this route, be prepared to speak in front of a large group of students to motivate them, and give them a reason to want to sell.

Now I want to go out and try this.

I do have a handful of questions for anyone who has done this, and a couple comments just to throw out there.

1. For discount cards, do you use a plastic card, laminated card stock, or just card stock? Or something else? I'll check out some of the fundraiser websites for more ideas.

2. Do you suggest the merchant hole punch the uses or some other method?

Further considerations:

1. It's probably a good idea to collect and remit sales tax if it pertains to you in your state. Many states have restrictions on paying the sales tax for customers, so if you want to sell at an even price (so you don't have to carry change) you might have to price your cards slightly lower so that the tax adds up to your final selling price, such as $18.69 at a 7% tax, which would be $20 even total. To test pricing, you could print a price of something like $25 on the card itself, then after you have a certain number of sales, test offering it as "a special promotion" at $20. Of course, you would have kept track of percentage conversion to compare the two. I imagine a price that equals one product or service on the card is a compelling offer.

2. Many cities now have soliciting licenses you have to get if you go door to door. You may have to pay a small tax, have your photo taken, and carry an identification card from the city to produce upon demand. I doubt this would be an issue really, but it's a good idea to check this out and stay on the right side of the law.

3. You'll likely want to accept all forms of payment. If you have a smartphone, there are countless companies that you can sign up with to accept credit cards- just read the fine print, as some have rather long waiting periods for the funds.

Don, Thanks for sharing the info. on your free oil change cards.

Great idea!

All the best,

Martin

Great idea for a "viral' SMS campaign!

"Share this With Your Friends, and get a FREE Oil Change for Each Friend That Signs UP!

Hmmmm...

Thanks Martin - I am doing the 'selling ad space on Restaurant menus' method.
I actually saw this idea before the original thread title and thought to comment as I think it's a unique method of advertising that's relatively untapped. I plan on approaching Restaurants tomorrow. Will let you know how I get on.

Thanks,

James