Do you offer a compelling guarantee in your business and communicate this up-front in your sales & marketing message?
Many business owners I talk with find it incredibly difficult to offer a strong guarantee and even when they do offer a guarantee, do not use this consistently in their sales and marketing message. When working with my clients, I help them implement a compelling guarantee in their business which gives them an edge over their competition and close more sales.
When your customer purchases a product, they end up carrying 99% of the risk associated with the purchase. If the product doesn’t work, breaks down, or doesn’t perform to expectations, your customer has parted with their dollars in exchange for disappointment. Fear of being burned or taken advantage of prevents many people from spending their money to buy something they really need. Providing a compelling guarantee reverses the risk associated with a transaction – transferring it from the customer to you, and breaks down natural barriers in the sales process. Follow these guidelines to create and implement a compelling guarantee for your business.
Creating your guarantee
The strongest guarantee you can make is on results, not products or services. If you guarantee that your customer will receive the benefits or results they are looking for, the specific product or service they’ll need to achieve those results becomes irrelevant. People buy benefits and results – For example, they don’t buy IP telephony services, they buy the ability to communicate with out any interruptions. Once you understand the specific benefit or solution your customers are seeking, find a way to guarantee that benefit or solution. If they don’t get the results, offer to compensate them for it.
In order to create a compelling guarantee, think about it from your prospective customer’s point of view and identify the major objections your potential customers raise during the sales process.
- What kind of risk do they take on when they make a purchase?
- How much time will they need to test or experience your product or service?
Brainstorm a list of things about your industry that really frustrate your customers. They could be service-based (service level availability, employees who don’t perform or respond timely) or product-based (products that break, do not perform). Then, take a look at your list and decide how you can make sure these things do not happen. Think big – you can do a lot more than you think – then determine if you can actually make good on your promise. If you can’t guarantee the first frustration, then move on to the second. Below are some tips on writing a powerful guarantee:
Be specific. Explain exactly what you are guaranteeing. Don’t make vague guarantees that a product will “work” or a service will make you “happy”. These words mean different things to different people. Guarantee specific performance or results.
Include a clear timeframe. Put a realistic timeframe on your guarantee. Very few products or services are good forever. Offer a 30-day or 90-day free trial; guarantee results within a set number of days or weeks. This can protect your company, and sets out clear expectations for your clients.
Be bold. Unbelievable guarantees get a customer’s attention, so go as far as you realistically can with you claim. Find a way to stand out over the competition – who may also have a guarantee.
Tell them what you’ll do. Explain what you’ll do – how you’ll compensate them if your product or service doesn’t deliver. Be specific, talk money, go above and beyond.
Implementing guarantees
Communicate. One of the most common mistakes businesses make is to not communicate their guarantee upfront as part of their marketing and sales message. Communicating your guarantee up front will help you increase the quality of your leads. Put your guarantee everywhere – your website, brochures, invoices, advertisements, and other promotional materials. It will only help attract customers if they know about it. Send a newsletter to your existing client base informing them of your new guarantees – you never know how many customers you can convince to come back and spend more in your business.
Train your Staff. Once you have decided to offer a guarantee, you need to ensure your staff are properly trained on the specific policies and procedures associated with that guarantee. If you offer different guarantees for different products and services, ensure this is made clear as well. Train your staff on how to sell the product using the guarantee as a benefit, and understand every application of the guarantee in your business. To ensure your staff is not making any false claims or promises, create a guarantee script for them to use and stick to. This will prevent customers from returning with false hopes for their money back, or other compensation.
Create a claim form. Ensure that each customer who makes a claim about your product or service fills out a standard form. Doing so will help you prevent fraud, gather important information about the customer and their reasoning, and create a “hoop” for the customer to jump through if they want their money back.
Keep a claims or return log. Create a log or filing system for your claims. This will give you a snapshot of your guarantee program, a record-keeping system, and a wealth of information about each customer’s experience and motivations.
Use the information. Take the claim forms your customers have filled out, and review them regularly. While some of the claims won’t be genuine, there will be some real feedback you can use to improve your product or service, or to modify your guarantee. You may need to make it more realistic, or change the specifics.
Making a compelling guarantee means standing by it and delivering on your promise. While guarantees will increase sales for most businesses, they can also be the fast track to business failure if their product or service isn’t a quality one. Take the time to ensure you have a compelling guarantee and implement the processes to handle the claims before you implement the guarantee.
If you have any questions or need help with creating a compelling guarantee in your business, click here to schedule a short call on my calendar.