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Part 2 - Field Guide

7 Ways to Make Guarantees Work 

by ENS Media

Consumers fear making poor choices, paying too much, or not being able to get service after the sale.

Properly promoted and administered, your guarantee can minimize your prospects’ perceived risk in doing business with you; your guarantee can be your competitive advantage.

1.) Promote Your Guarantee - Many businesses have excellent guarantees but fail to advertise them out of fear that customers will abuse their guarantee. In reality, less than 3% of consumers abuse guarantees, refunds, and return policies. A marketing investment of less than 3% is a very realistic marketing expense, especially if it creates a trust and comfort level which results in customers buying from you instead of your competitors.

2.)  Name your Guarantee – Instead of simply saying guaranteed, give it a name. For example:  For delivery or repair business - “Pickle Nickle on Time Guarantee”,  Food or Restaurant - “Love your Pizza Guarantee”,  Jewelry/Diamond Store - “She’ll say Yes Guarantee”.  

3.) Post It - Publicize your guarantee internally on posters, invoices, contracts, and at all of your customer touchpoints. Train your salespeople to use your guarantee as a closing tool.

4.) Train your staff to honor your guarantee cheerfully - Empower them to do so without management approval or involving the customer in annoying red tape. A refund given grudgingly won’t generate positive word-of-mouth advertising or the customer relationship that will keep them coming back to do business with you. 

5.) Exceed their expectations - Giving an unhappy customer a simple refund is not enough to delight them or to create valuable word-of-mouth advertising. A refund does not cover their time, aggravation, and travel costs. Giving them a discount on their next purchase, or free home delivery of their replacement product will demonstrate your sincerity in trying to create satisfied customers.

6.) Lose the Fine Print - Make your guarantee short, easy to understand, and don’t fill it with loopholes that would allow you to avoid honoring it. Dominos Pizza’s “20 minutes or it’s FREE” guarantee came with no strings attached. The only reason it was abandoned is because some delivery guys were using it as an excuse to speed.

7.) Find the Story and Tell It - Keep your eyes open for a real-life story. When your staff goes beyond the call of duty to deliver on your guarantee, be sure to talk about it in your advertising!

SoundADvice is a co-production of this station and ENS Media USA to help local businesses increase their sales and their return on investment in advertising. Your SoundADvice marketing tips are emailed to you on our behalf from ENS Media USA.

ENS Media USA's address is: 6523 S. Killarney Ct., Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57108

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