Does your business have a GUARANTEE? 

What is a product or service guarantee? Why do you need it but your customer doesn’t want it … Most business owners I come across are wary of guarantees. They assume that if they had one, all their customers would abuse it and most probably put the company owners out of business. Please understand one thing, customers don’t want the guarantee. By that, I mean they don’t want to rely on it, they just want your product or service to work first time. Consider this, who wants to purchase a new car, only for it to break down and we have to wait to get a replacement or while it’s fixed. No one wants that, neither the business nor the customer. The hassle is not worth it for either party. 

Correct Use of a Guarantee

The correct use of a guarantee is to use it as a sales tool. When a customer sees a guarantee, it creates trust. This is imperative in the sales process. The guarantee tells your future customer that you’ve taken great care to make sure that the product or service you sell will be right first time and provides the appropriate value for their money. That’s what the customer is relying on, not the fact that if it goes wrong then I can get a replacement. They don’t want a replacement or a fix, they want the product that they’ve bought to be problem free – that’s it. 

The other great thing about a guarantee is that you get to write it. For instance, you can specify that “provided you get this product serviced with us every year etc. etc.” of “Provided you keep your monthly payments, we guarantee the service etc. etc.”. The guarantee can be very specific about what it covers and what it doesn’t and can be part of the contract of engagement. 

Guarantees really work when you solve a real dissatisfaction or stereotype in that market place. For instance,  a stereotype that certain professions never return your calls. You can use the following questions to start looking at solving some marketplace issues as part of your guarantee. 

What frustrations do customers experience:

1. When trying to find your product or service?
2. When they go to buy your product or service?
3. After they’ve bought your product or service (e.g. – lack of after-sales service)?

A business with a guarantee will always command a higher price/fee than one that does not. The creation of a powerful guarantee can really help the success of you and your sales team. Download our USP – Creating a Powerful Guarantee – now to get this started.