The biggest secret to success in business is to always maintain a competitive advantage in everything you do. One of the best ways to get and maintain a competitive advantage is to always make it as easier for your prospect or customer to say yes than to say no. The way you do this is by taking away the risk by offering a powerful guarantee. When you remove the risk for anyone who is deciding whether or not to do business with you, it results in a powerful advantage in your business success.
When you take away the risk to your prospect or customer, you lower the barrier of action, thus eliminating one of the primary obstacles to buying. Let them know, that if they are ever dissatisfied for any reason, you will give them their money back, redo the job at no charge, or whatever else it takes to demonstrate your total, passionate commitment to their satisfaction. It's simple, the more risk you assume in every transaction the more likely it is that your prospects and customers will buy what you are selling.
A powerful guarantee can carve out a strong position for your business in the market. It will position your business as a producer of high-quality products or services. When you offer a powerful guarantee it is automatically perceived as a promise to the prospect that they will not be disappointed, and it focuses their attention on your commitment to quality. But, any guarantee must be perceived as powerful, credible, and it must be the centerpiece of your commitment to quality.
Your guarantee should not be designed with the idea that your customer will be compensated if your product or service fails to deliver what you promise. It should be designed to convince your customer that your products or services won't fail. Just getting their money back rarely covers the serious inconvenience the customer has felt by your product or service failure. It doesn't cover the customer's time he or she has spent in buying, consuming, and then complaining about the product or service.
A powerful guarantee means that you will do more than usual for the customer if your product or service does fail to deliver what you promise. As long as your guarantee is backed up by a solid recovery program, it will give your company a good shot at retaining your customer's business even when they've been victimized by a failure. As buyers become more sophisticated and the media becomes more cluttered with advertisements, companies today are more dependent than ever on repeat and word-of-mouth business. The compensation provided to customers by a powerful guarantee can go a long way toward stemming the potential loss of critical business resulting from occasional failures.
Repeat business from unhappy customers is directly dependent on how effectively the customer's compliant is handled. But it's obvious that if an unhappy customer is to be appeased they must first complain. Studies have shown that on average, more than 50 percent of consumers never complain when they have a problem. And, only 9 percent of those dissatisfied customers will ever purchase from the same company in the future.
This is why offering a strong guarantee is so important. It gives you valuable customer feedback. Because studies have also shown that, if a company resolves a problem quickly through a strong guarantee, 82 percent of customers will purchase from the company in the future. This is why you should look at your guarantee not as a possible expense but rather, as an investment in your good reputation.
Don't forget your employees. Offering a strong guarantee will make your employees feel better about working for your business. It will make them feel confident and proud that they work for a company that stands unequivocally behind the products or services it produces, and also protects its customers with a strong guarantee. In addition, it's more enjoyable for employees to interact with happy customers.
Guarantees can be of exceptional benefit for businesses trying to attract first-time buyers. For example, fees for many types of professional service firms can often run into six figures. By offering compensation for a service failure, the guarantee reduces the perceived risk and creates value for clients. In addition the negative consequences of unsolved problems are high. Bad service from a restaurant can ruin someone's evening, bad service from a hospital or law firm can ruin someone's life. The greater the customer's possible expense, time lost, and risk, the greater power your guarantee will have.
Offering a guarantee can guard against the temptation that businesses often have to cut corners on services so that they can maximize income. It can reduces the temptation of sales people to promise something that the business can't deliver on. A guarantee forces companies to have open and honest communication with their customers to make sure that all their customer's needs and expectations are met to your best capabilities.
Guarantees force a company to specifically define its customers' needs and to understand the best way to meet those needs. It also enables a company to measure customer satisfaction by establishing a system for constant customer feedback and communication. And finally, a guarantee will give a sense of urgency to the whole process by forcing your business to focus all its attention and resources to succeeding.
Of all the things a company can say to its prospects and customers an unconditional guarantee of satisfaction is perhaps the most powerful. An unconditional guarantee says, in effect, "We will meet all of your expectations." It makes absolute customer satisfaction a mission statement for how your company will conduct its business.
Guarantees allow you a lot of flexibility. For example, you could offer a thirty, sixty, or ninety-day guarantee. You can even offer a one year or even a lifetime guarantee. The possibilities are limitless. Many businesses have great success by offering a free thirty-day trial of their product and if you're not completely satisfied send it back and they pay the postage.
When you offer a guarantee you should strongly consider offering a bonus in addition to their money-back. For example, if you give free reports, a book, or a CD with your product or service and your customer is dissatisfied for any reason, don't just give the customer a full refund allow him or her to keep the reports, book, or CD as well.
When you offer a guarantee, don't be short or abstract with it. You must be specific. If your product or service is good and performs for your customer, the longer the guarantee and the more specific you make the results they will have, the more people will buy from you.
Your guarantee must be sincere. You must stand behind your guarantee 100 percent and with no loopholes. A phony guarantee or offering one that has loopholes can do more to harm your reputation than anything you can imagine.
When you guarantee your product or service you are telling your prospects and customers that if they do business with you, they will never again make a bad or incorrect purchasing decision. This is a very powerful and persuasive way of making your point. It turns prospects into buying customers. A strong guarantee will cause a prospect to get off the fence and buy from you instead of your competitor.
A strong guarantee can give you a tremendous competitive advantage over your competition. It will also automatically cause your business to start performing and delivering your products and services at higher levels of satisfaction than ever before, so you can live up to your promises.
Whatever your business is, whether you sell products or provide services you can and should offer a guarantee of some kind. By offering a strong guarantee you are not merely limiting the customer's risk, but you are also promising exceptional, uncompromising quality, and customer satisfaction.
There is an unwritten universal law of business that says, "If you don't give your customers what they paid for, you should not get paid." Offering a strong guarantee ensures that you adhere to this law.
Copyright© 2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. A former ad agency executive and marketing consultant, Joe's work in personal development focuses on helping his clients identify hidden marketable assets that create windfall opportunities and profits, as well as sound personal happiness and peace.
Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com
Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com
A person or business that might buy from you is... Read More
Most people mistakenly assume that when you talk about marketing,... Read More
Business Systems that work for anyone, are a fundamental necessity... Read More
The usual complaint from companies is that Marketing simply does... Read More
When Advertising, it's not always better to be the lone... Read More
Many artists create art but when it comes to marketing... Read More
Mailing lists may be the cause of more heartbreaks than... Read More
Wouldn't you love a simple formula for easily growing your... Read More
Easy Direct Marketing Methods for Insurance AgenciesThis Month: Strategies for... Read More
If this is the first marketing article you are reading,... Read More
Some people have little difficulty attracting and maintaining clients who... Read More
Radio advertising can be a small business's best friend. It's... Read More
When you want to win and woo new clients with... Read More
Cause marketing is a relationship between a for-profit and a... Read More
For any business to be successful whether on or offline... Read More
Marketing is something that we do to let people know... Read More
In a previous installment, we spoke about how to come... Read More
Market research specialists have discovered a new tool which enables... Read More
Business marketing is essential for professional services, such as consultants,... Read More
There's no such thing as a captive audience--any of us... Read More
12/20/04According to a recent article by ComScore Networks, about three-quarters... Read More
At the very heart of any successful marketing strategy is... Read More
When commercials come on the television do you get up... Read More
If you are in the mobile car wash business and... Read More
One of my favorite quotes is often used to describe... Read More
Far too often we see small businesses rush into doing... Read More
Expanding your subscriber list, whether it be for your ezine,... Read More
In the international bestseller "Blink," Malcolm Gladwell explains why our... Read More
Motivating strangers to give their money away is one of... Read More
No, that's not a typo in the title. Resolutions are... Read More
The goal of successful marketing is to create long lasting... Read More
To be your own marketing expert you first need to... Read More
Offline, it's called word-of-mouth advertising. Online, it's known as viral... Read More
When you're just starting out in business, it's a safe... Read More
Marketing is the key to success with any business, online... Read More
©2004 Jeffrey DobkinThere are two types of lists, determined by... Read More
It takes money to make money is an adage we... Read More
Who says scientists can't market? Here are 10 easy marketing... Read More
The toughest job you face as a B2B direct marketer... Read More
Everything you will ever need to know about internet marketing... Read More
I've discovered a really fantastic way to discover what works... Read More
Differentiation, niche marketing, and positioning. These and other related business... Read More
The Driver of All Marketing EffortsYou need to determine what... Read More
Maybe you don't want to work that hard, or maybe... Read More
Revolutionary ideas have always been the mark of mankind. It's... Read More
We live in a world that for many has become... Read More
The term "internet marketing" was virtually non-existent a short 8... Read More
Can you remember the last dozen advertising messages beamed at... Read More
If you are like most service professionals and small business... Read More
Small & Mid Sized Business owners, have you revisited your... Read More
Every company searches to lure customers to their product. Unless... Read More
The trick to a good promotion is to attach your... Read More
The point is what you give to another you give... Read More
I don't know about you, but I secretly love watching... Read More
Take a moment to reflect on the current reality of... Read More
Have you ever left a seminar thinking: "I could have... Read More
If you really want to pull more profits from your... Read More
If a nonexistent man can change the world and millions... Read More
I'm a board member of a local nonprofit and we... Read More
The world of marketing has changed. With increasingly better educated... Read More
Here's a proven, and truly easy way to start increasing... Read More
Many of the business owners I speak with are looking... Read More
There's just no time to waste in a cyber day;... Read More
What's your Selling Sentence? If you have a business, you... Read More
Rule Number One when writing marketing materials is "Know Your... Read More
The importance of pricing can not be underestimated as incorrect... Read More
Marketing |