7 Steps to a Profit Pulling Guarantee
What do the following successful companies have in common? Domino’s Pizza, Premier Inn, FedEx, Dyson and Direct Line… The answer is a clearly articulated, clearly visible and confidence building Guarantee.
I’ve coached and mentored business owners just like you over the last 14 years, I am always asked “What’s the fastest and easiest way to boost my sales?” While there is nothing wrong with the premise of the question, it misses a fundamental understanding of what makes today’s customers buy from you.
The truth is that a ‘Sale’ in any business happens because the customers know you, like you and TRUST your business brand and furthermore, believe your products will solve a problem for them while delivering the result they are looking for.
However in today’s world, where we are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages 24/7, we have very little trust in what they say, or in what a sales person will tell us. After all, they just want their commission, don’t they!!
So how do you overcome this last hurdle of trust to make a New Customer, the life blood of every business to open their wallet and part with their hard earned money?
The answer is with a correctly structured Guarantee.
When I speak to business owners, I’ll always ask how many of them have a Guarantee and it’s usually less than 20% of the audience. But when I ask them “How many of you would fix a problem an unhappy customer had with your product or service, so you kept them as customers?” then they all raise their hands. “So they trust that you have a Guarantee, you’re just not telling anybody about it” I’ll respond.
So what stops people using this very powerful marketing tool?
Simple, the fear that if they do offer it, everybody will claim on it!! Sounds crazy I know; after all, if your product or service is that bad, I’m going to suggest you’ll not be in business long enough to worry about it.
Over the years I have seen a strong Guarantee DOUBLE sales for clients in businesses. This includes graphic designers, accountants, hair dressers, flying schools, IT companies, software companies, sales trainers, printers, kitchen manufacturers, care homes, online retailers and many more.
So here are my 7 Top Tips for Getting Your Guarantee Up and Running so you can Double Sales
Step 1 – Get really clear on “Why” you are offering this to your customers? What fears do they have before they do business with you? If you don’t know, go and ask your most recent customers and they’ll tell you.
Step 2 – Get really clear on ‘WHAT” type of guarantee you are going to use of the three types available to your business; 1) Product guarantees 2) Service guarantees or 3) Results guarantees.
Step 3 – Work out some potential guarantees, or pull together some of your favourites from companies you buy from, and then model what the format they use. After all it worked on you!
Step 4 – Be 100% clear on the time frame of your guarantee, this is critical. The longer the refund time, 30 days, 90 days or 12 months, the lower your refund or returns rate will be. Some credit card providers, unlike long guarantees, will hold onto your cash. So if you have one that limits their risk, I recommend you read their agreements carefully first, so as to make sure the money flows to you.
Step 5 – Clearly articulate what will happen if for any reason your customer is not happy with your product or service. Make this a 100% transparent as this gives people confidence. Invest in getting a graphic designer to create your own icon for this to use online and in print.
Step 6 – Test your guarantee in a small way first BEFORE you decide to launch it to the world, just in case. Try it on one key product, with one sales person or in one marketing campaign and see the difference it makes to conversions.
Step 7 – Once proven, roll it out across as many areas of your business as possible; as outlined in the previous chapter and get ready to cash in!!
One WARNING! When you put a Guarantee in place, there will be people who claim on it. Don’t get angry about this; be nice, honor it and give them what you promised. That way they may come back. If you don’t, expect them to tell the world on social media and then you’d have lost any trust your Guarantee was designed to create.
