Excuse me, but this post just doesn't cut it. He seems mystified by the bad experience although such stories are too often heard to be a rare, mystifying occurrence.
Actually, this is a very good opportunity for Groupon to create a new revenue stream. For a (small( fee they can offer consulting services for small business. Say, for $250, before you invoke the Groupon horde, you have Groupon prepare a brief case study on your with expected numbers of customers, expected revenue, etc. It's easy for Groupon to create this, since they have all the data. Not only this will stop the bad publicity ("Hey, you had a chance to get consulting, but chose not to"), then they can turn around and sell these reports to larger consulting firms, too.
Actually, this is a very good opportunity for Groupon to create a new revenue stream. For a (small( fee they can offer consulting services for small business. Say, for $250, before you invoke the Groupon horde, you have Groupon prepare a brief case study on your with expected numbers of customers, expected revenue, etc. It's easy for Groupon to create this, since they have all the data. Not only this will stop the bad publicity ("Hey, you had a chance to get consulting, but chose not to"), then they can turn around and sell these reports to larger consulting firms, too.