If you own a restaurant or retail business, chances are you're being solicited by discount programs and daily deal providers. Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you aren't getting into something that can hurt your profitability. Look for these five signs of scams and bad business practices, and never hesitate to push back.

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5Warning Signs Merchants Need to Know
About Scammy Discount Programs
By Access Development
Blog.accessdevelopment.com
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2. Businesses receive an endless
string of phone solicitations
for marketing services.
Many of them are for
discount programs.
A lot of those discount
programs are scammy,
and can hurt your business.
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3. The next time a discount
program calls you in search
of a free offer, look for these
five warning signs:
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Some programs simply want the
deepest offer they can possibly get
out of you, even if a public BOGO offer
won’t work for your bottom line.
INFLEXIBILITY ON COUPON TERMS.1
Choose a partner that can help you hone in
on offers that will allure customers and drive
company profitability. Keep in mind, most
digital coupon platforms can change offers
at any time.

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A coupon should work within the existing point
of sale system, whether that’s through scanning
bar codes or simply presenting a printed offer
or mobile coupon.
CHANGES TO YOUR CURRENT POINT
OF SALE TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESS.
2
Merchants should back away from anyone
looking to sell an expensive scanner or
register just to be able to accept coupons.

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3NO INFORMATION ON WHO WILL
HAVE ACCESS TO THE OFFER.
Big crowds are great, but many small
businesses won’t be able to handle swarms
of crowds coming in with a publicly available
BOGO offer. In fact, such a swarm can crush
a business’ long-term viability.
Every program should be able to tell you
who their primary members are.
In general, we recommend limiting your
audience to memberships in order to
drive new business without cannibalizing
existing business that is willing to pay retail.

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4MONEYTO PARTICIPATE OR
REVENUE ON EACHTRANSACTION.
Merchants are the product that
comprises discount programs,
and consumer memberships
to those programs are
generally sold for profit.
The merchant’s investment into the program
should rarely extend beyond a quality offer
that people will want to take advantage of.

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NO FEEDBACK CHANNELS.
Every program should offer a way for a
merchant to ask questions, air issues and
provide feedback.
Again, the discount program product
doesn’t survive without merchants, and
those merchants should have the ability
to provide feedback and complaints to
the program.
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Discount programs provide a great way to
reach new audiences without the pressure and
unprofitable crowds that come from daily deals
and public-facing coupons.
But like any marketing channel, they have to
be vetted before you commit to making a deal.

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Read the full post at http://j.mp/5signs_dps
Offer a discount with America’s largest private discount
network for free.
Visit http://merchants.accessdevelopment.com to enroll today.