The first question people normally ask me is what can I do next to market my business?

Before we start with something new, you need to unearth the goldmine’s that are in your business right now that will generate you money and build loyalty with your customer base.

The last 18 months have been hard on the economy and businesses.  Companies are holding on to their purse strings tightly.  I have seen a lot of businesses who have reduced their prices in order to stay in business.  But this is a very dangerous strategy, which will ultimately harm the business and is often unnecessary.

FACT: Very few people actually buy on price, even in a Recession.  If you have sold something on price that customer didn’t fully understand the benefit or value of what they have bought.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few products and services which are very much price led.  But for the majority of businesses, right now there is a goldmine of opportunity by offering the customer real value.  Convince them of the value and they will paradoxically be prepared to pay you MORE in the Recession than before.

RULE:  Don’t cut your prices look first at how you can increase value.

TIP: One of the quickest and easiest ways to increase value is to offer a Guarantee that is really powerful.

Simply really, when you stop and think.  Guarantees reduce risk and fear.

When a customer makes a purchase, they are initially taking all the risk. By eliminating the risk you remove the barriers that stop them from making a decision to buy from you.

The truth is the customer can’t lose. 

When I tell my clients that I offer “Money Back” Guarantee, the first thing that they say to me is that they couldn’t afford to do that.  They would be out of business within a week.  Their customers would take advantage.   Really!

Over the last couple of years I have worked with a number of companies.  I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee – No Questions.  When I tell clients this, they think I am mad.  But the truth is, this simply guarantee has brought me more word of mouth work then I could actually do.  Yes, on a number of occasions I have given the money back.  On reflection, at the time, there were two problems at play:

i)             The client didn’t under the value of my work, no matter how hard I tried to communicate it to them.

ii)            Long term, these customers would have ended up costing me more money than I was invoicing them for.

Can you relate to this kind of business?

So what do I mean by “give a great Guarantee?”

Where possible, offer a full unconditional 100% money-back Guarantee. If a customer is anything but completely and utterly delighted with your products or service, you give them their money back.  No questions, no arguments, no delays!

And yes, I really do mean a 100% unconditional Guarantee.

It is a quirk of human nature that the longer you offer the Guarantee, the less you’ll have to honour it. i.e. if you offer a 30-day guarantee, by the time day 21 arrives, if they’re not sure… they’ll come back for their money.  If the same Guarantee is for 12 months, the customer relaxes and the risk to your business is reduced. .

I can still hear you staying I am mad and questioning why you should even consider giving a Guarantee like this?

When companies I work with really push on this point, I get them to look at their business and potential problems which could cause a client to ask for their money back.  But that is a totally different post to this, which I will follow up with shortly.

I won’t lie to you…. I know sound like Nessa from Gavin & Stacey…. Yes, you will have to honour your Guarantee.  At the end of the day, business is a numbers game.  You work out the maths – if someone asks for their money back on X sale, but you make an extra XYZ sales, who is the winner?

Goldmine No.1, Guarantees are one of the best ways to strengthen your business in the Recession and set you apart from your competition.

Please test a strong Guarantee and let us know how it goes.

Plus watch out for next week’s Goldmine.