I spoke with Matt Taber at the Wills Wing Demo Days last week. I
had thought that Matt's school was one that didn't need additional marketing, as
he already had a billboard on interstate 75 near Atlanta. But he told me that he
used Groupon twice and that he was making good money from the training hill and
tandem package that he sold at a "discount" on Groupon. He said that he has done
it in various cities around Lookout and had to withdraw it from Atlanta as he
was getting too many folks signed up. He'll be going back to do it again to keep
the number of students up at his school.

You maybe remember that Matt requires that new students go through the ground
school and hill lessons first before they ever get a tandem aerotow. He knows
very well that this provides him with by far the greater percentage of people
taking the lesson package. Those schools that can't provide a scooter tow or
training hill lesson before aerotowing tandems operate at a significant
disadvantage. Of course, Matt has the instruction resources that can handle the
additional student teaching responsibilities. He actually wants to train new
pilots and increase the size of the local hang gliding community. Of course,
this greatly benefits his full service business.

I also spoke with Dustin Martin. He and Mark Knight were about to let out a
Groupon ad in Phoenix when the motor on Mark's plane blew itself out. Dustin
said that they reached a very good deal with Groupon where they got $100 for
each tandem aerotow (they are just giving rides essentially). He feels that
Groupon and others like Groupon are very interested in hang gliding lesson
coupons because they are so high profile, so much fun, so directed at their
demographic, and when he rejected the original deal, Groupon came back desperate
to have him.

Notice to hang gliding schools, you have a lot of power in these negotiations.
Get what you want and need.