One of the reasons people don’t buy is the perceived risk they believe they are taking in purchasing a product or service.

These risks include – Making the wrong decision and:

  • Losing money
  • Not receiving what they paid for
  • Not being satisfied and then not being able to get their money back.

There are a number of risks that people have to get themselves comfortable with to purchase a product or service.  One strategy to overcome these risks is to offer a rock solid guarantee that will make the purchase risk-free, or at least decrease the risk as much as possible.

What springs to mind when you think of a guarantee?  If your mind has gone blank, an obvious one is the Domino’s guarantee.  They guarantee every customer a fresh pizza in 30 mins or less!  It didn’t promise high quality or low price, just fast delivery.  They focused on the thing that their customers wanted – we’re hungry now!  That definitely makes them stand out among their competitors, especially if you’ve ever had to wait over an hour for a Pizza Hut!

A strong guarantee:

  • makes ​it less threatening for people to consider the offer:
  • you lower the barriers that prevent people from doing business;
  • it gives them a compelling reason to buy today without the fear of looking bad tomorrow.

By removing the risk to buyers through guarantees, a business will stand out.  It makes it easy and fun for people to buy and profits will dramatically increase.

A strong guarantee will turn prospects into sales.

Conversion rates from lead to customer are often given little thought by the average business owner, and invariably when I ask someone out of the blue, they take a guess.  That’s not good enough – you have to start measuring it NOW.

Regularly business owners massively overestimate the percentages… one business we worked with guessed they sold to “80/85 percent of people” who called or came into their business.  After some serious testing and measuring we discovered it was nearer 35 percent.  It was a huge shock to the owner, but it also represents a tremendous opportunity.

Think of the bottom line difference you can make by significantly boosting your conversion rate.  If you can take your conversion rate from 30 percent to 60 percent – you’ve just doubled your revenues.

It’s possible, and here are some suggestions to make it happen:

Write a guarantee addressing the customer’s key frustrations in buying from you.

Pick out the one thing that people are scared of when buying from you, and guarantee that it won’t be a problem. Let’s take some examples: a hairdresser that guarantees “you will like your haircut and so will 98 percent of your friends”, or, a dentist who guarantees you “no pain?” otherwise you’ll  refund their money, or put things right.

Once you’ve finalised the guarantee, make sure you tell people, and advertise it.

Here are some useful hints and tips on using a written guarantee to achieve more profits:

  • Find out what your customers want above all else, and then promise to deliver just that.
  • The best way to find this out is by listening to your customers…they’ll tell you.
  • What do your competitors guarantee?
  • What would you love to guarantee?
  • Include this promise in all your literature and advertising – make it a real selling point.
  • If you don’t deliver on the promise, make sure your team are empowered to correct it or offer a refund.
  • Don’t ever promise more than you can deliver.

Most guarantees relate back to your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), so if you haven’t read our blog on identifying your USP – ‘How to generate more business than your competitors…’ read this now.

Once you’ve chosen your USP, coming up with a guarantee shouldn’t be too mind numbing.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog and we hope it’s been helpful.

If you have any questions, or would like a copy of our free tool to help you create, your guarantee feel free CONTACT US.