Groupon’s Risk of Traveling Salesmen

More bad news for Groupon: The daily-deals giant is losing its top saleswoman.

Two years ago, Groupon put itself on the map with the help of two high-profile national deals. It sold 441,000 coupons for Gap in August 2010 and then 625,000 for Nordstrom three months later. Both deals were closed by one saleswoman, Jayna Cooke, who also persuaded Oprah Winfrey’s producers to feature a Groupon deal in her 2010 list of “Favorite Things.” She remained the top salesperson in 2011 in terms of gross billings and revenue.

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