Want your QSR to do a "deal of the day"?

In part 1 of this series we interviews Raife Watson, Director of Sales and Strategy, Living Social, and find out the basics.

QSR Media: What does a QSR need to know when deciding to enter in an arrangement with you?

Raife: LivingSocial provides the following ten tips to clients to help them prepare for the results of their deal.

• Do your homework: Know the date the deal will go live. Daily deals sites can reserve the right to post your deal at any time, but staying in close contact with them can save you from any inconvenient surprises.
• Know your deal: Know the full details of the deal – what is being promoted and brief your staff. Don’t rush customers through – what you are seeking is return business.
• Read the fine print: Understand your commission on each deal, and how and when it is paid to you.
• Man your phones: In the first week, and especially on the first day, ensure your staff are briefed to take calls and make bookings. Ensure you have the resources: Think about hiring additional staff to take bookings in the first three days, and prepare a script for them. This internal process is just as important as any external marketing.
• Don’t let down your existing customers: Ensure you are prepared for the extra business. You need to provide the same high quality service to your existing customers. They will notice if you don’t.
• Develop an ongoing strategy: Before the deal goes live, have sales and marketing strategy in place to create loyalty and maximise repeat bookings. Don’t use daily deals in isolation.
• Take ownership of the process: Make it work for you on your terms. Only take on what you can handle.
• Track the success of your deal: By collecting information about your new customers and the sales they generate you’ll be able to accurately determine the impact your deal offer made and if you should consider doing it again in the future.
• Understand it’s a promotional tool: It’s best not to treat daily deals websites as an immediate revenue stream. Promotions are designed to bring in new customers and generate brand awareness.

QSR Media: What are some of the logistical challenges involved?

Raife: LivingSocial publishes over 1,000 deals per month – so that means coordinating with over 1,000 merchants / business owners and scheduling a diverse mix of deals to surprise & delight our members on a daily basis.

QSR Media: What makes you different from your competitors?

• LivingSocial is the only company in the industry to offer hyper-local deals, matching merchants with subscribers in their area.
• Award Winning customer service department. The only group buying customer service that is available via email and phone, seven days a week: Mon – Fri (7am – midnight), Sat - Sun (8.30am – 5.30pm).
• LivingSocial focus on both consumer AND merchant needs. We are becoming more than just a marketing channel for merchants, and we hope to identify and solve merchant problems in other areas, like technology, payments etc. LivingSocial leads in development of innovative online merchant tools, such as Merchant Centre, Partner Tools and the Mobile Redemption apps, which give merchants the opportunity to track, analyse and maximise their campaign ROI;
• LivingSocial focus on experiences, not just discounts. Our goal is to create great experiences for our members, and we work with our merchant partners to build and promote those unique and valuable experiences.
• LivingSocial’s Facebook community of 750,000+ is the largest among all group buying sites in Australia, with 64% of total market share; LivingSocial’s Facebook pages offer extra exposure to our merchant partners as well as the unique experiences offered by them.
• LivingSocial has the largest reach in the industry being present in 38 markets across Australia and New Zealand, offering deals at hyper-local, citywide and national levels, in categories of daily deals, Escapes and Families