“I can’t do that! I’d get taken to the cleaners!”, is a common reaction whenever we suggest putting up a strong guarantee. One that makes you gasp and wonder how you’d ever fulfil on it.

But as a mentor of ours is fond of saying, “If your underwear doesn’t tighten, your guarantee isn’t strong enough”.

Strong guarantees do three things:

  • You stop being a commodity
  • You never compete on price
  • Help eliminate buyer’s remorse

Here’s why.

All purchase decisions involve an element of risk. You wonder what happens when things go wrong. Will the supplier stand by their product or will they try and weasel out of helping you.

A strong, no holds barred, guarantee differentiates you from competitors who only offer statutory guarantees. Your guarantee shows you stand behind your product or service and have absolute confidence your clients will get the results they’re after.

Strong guarantees demonstrate that you are willing to put yourself on the line, proving your commitment to your clients , therefore you can charge more and get it.

As to buyer’s remorse – that niggling feeling of “Did I do the right thing? Should I have bought this?” a strong guarantee can alleviate these negative feelings as new buyers will go, “Well, if anything does go wrong, I have a long term, solid guarantee – so what am I worrying about!”

Here are some real examples of rock solid guarantees. Guarantees that show you the supplier is serious about their quality and reputation.

All Heads Service in Melbourne repair car cylinder heads for mechanics around Australia. A cylinder head is an integral part of your car’s engine and a replacement could cost you between $3,000 and $20,000+ depending on your model.

Before reading the guarantee realise All Heads just supply the head. All the mechanical work replacing it is done by your mechanic!

This is their “Unique No Risk Triple Iron Clad Guarantee” (Underlines for emphasis are mine)

  • Our Hassle Free Parts and Labour Warranty – In the unlikely event that we make a mistake, we guarantee to either fix the mistake or replace the cylinder head and reimburse you for all reasonable expenses incurred in removing and replacing the cylinder head.
  • Our Exclusive No Fault Warranty – If at any time during the installation of our cylinder head you make a mistake that damages the head, we guarantee to either fix the mistake or replace the cylinder head and reimburse you for all reasonable expenses incurred in removing and replacing the cylinder head.

[Ed: This is like buying furniture from Ikea, completely mucking up the assembly, breaking bits and then either having Ikea send someone out to fix it or completely replace it at their cost! You’d have Buckley’s chance of doing this!]

  • Our No-Blow Gasket Guarantee – If at any time during the life of the cylinder head warranty the head gasket blows that you purchased from us – we will clean, pressure test, surface and re-assemble the cylinder head with new valve stems, plus provide a new head set free of charge.

Check out their guarantee page here http://www.allhead.com.au/must-read/all-heads-guarantees/ for some powerful testimonial examples.

My second example is client Pixel Perfect Pro Lab in Sydney.

Pixel Perfect print images for professional photographers. Back in 2003 we recommended they offer a 110% money back guarantee should a print not be satisfactory.

Boy, did we meet some resistance! The conversation went like this…

“Can’t do that, we’d get taken to the cleaners” and so on.

“So what happens when you make a mistake?”

“We fix it of course.”

“Then what’s stopping you from telling people and offering the guarantee?”

Suffice to say they succumbed and emblazoned their guarantee all over their marketing material. And in the 10 years since have not had one claim!

 

We worked in other areas to grow Pixel’s business and they are now the only profitable professional lab still standing in Sydney. Every one of their competitors has gone to the wall.

A few days ago we suggested an office fit-out and refurbishment organisation increase their guarantee from one to a staggering ten years! Theirs is a very price competitive market and having a guarantee like this helps him carve out a niche looking for quality, value and is not price sensitive.

The long guarantee also gives him a reason to send his tradespeople around every six months to do a “quality check” and fix things. Keeps him in front of his clients – so when they need something more done – who will they call? And who will they refer on?

We’ve all heard of horror stories with accountants and bookkeepers mucking up the accounts. Issues that could see you end up with major unexpected tax bills or fines.

Here’s what we suggested a bookkeeper offer as a guarantee along the lines of…

“If you provide all the material to us by our processing deadline, we guarantee to lodge on time. And should we make a mistake, we will fix it at no charge and pay any penalties imposed by the ATO.”

It’s one thing to fix mistakes – everyone expects you to do that. It’s quite another to take responsibility for any fines caused by your mistake. Most bookkeepers would never dream of offering that. And yes, you could get insurance to cover you.

And finally our own guarantee.

Our goal is to create help you rapidly grow your business. Our programs are fixed price, and if after implementing everything we recommend, you still don’t get the results we’ve agreed, we will continue to implement new strategies and work with you at no charge until you do.

So if you would like help creating an outstanding guarantee, rewards and referral systems our Two Heads Are Better Than One consultations are an ideal way to start. In two short hours I guarantee you’ll walk away with ideas you can immediately implement. Ideas which will remove perceived risk and help you close more business.

Call us on (02) 9499-7958 to get started.

Rashid & Barbara.

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