What’s your guarantee…and how can I exploit it?

 In 1996, I was into my first full year as a freshly minted entrepreneur, and was asked what my guarantee was. 

       “Huh, hmm, well!”, was my response. 

       I had no clue!  

       Then I thought about it! 

       The more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I offered such a guarantee, my customers would find a way to pick through the loop holes and exploit me. No way, not me! 

         Remember when Domino’s pizza offered, “Fresh, hot pizza, delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’s FREE”… this was precisely the reason I never wanted a guarantee, I was that jerk that stood by the door with a stop watch in my hand waiting for my free pizza. 

        I’m not falling for that! 

        So, I dismissed the idea! No guarantees for me! Screw ‘em! 

        I mean really, why should I offer my best service to someone and then have them not pay me. Forget it, ain’t gonna happen! 

        And so, for 2 more years I resisted the temptation. 

        Then, I changed my mind!  

        Nope, no light bulb going off! 

        Instead, it was more like, how do I explain it…

         Did you ever watch the TV show NCIS where DiNozo gets smacked upside the back of the head by Gibbs his superior? Yeah, it’s kind of like that! The sudden feeling that you’ve done something wrong and the immediate discomfort you experience with each head smack.            

        There I was, for the very first time, putting into my advertising, a big bold, “exploit me please” guarantee, that even my dad thought I was off my rocker! 

        Here I was, a young cocky entrepreneur, bucking the trend and going full tilt into unknown territory.  

        Yep, I was crazy! 

        And, it worked!

         “The Most Thorough Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning You’ve Ever Seen…or it’s FREE!” 

         Can you guess what business I was in? (Actually, still in! I still own that business, going on 16 years. http://premierecarpetcleaners.com ) 

         In the last 13 years of using a guarantee, do you know how many people tried to blatantly rip me off? If you guessed higher than 10, you are way off! Hold your left hand out, with fingers extended, now fold two fingers inward…how many fingers remain outstretched? Three! Yep 3 in 13 years. 

         Here’s why! 

         By offering a guarantee you are reversing the risk. You are taking the responsbility and the fear of experiencing a sucky service or product away from the customer and taking ownership of it. You are saying, “There is no need to fear, my guarantee is here!” (okay, sorry, that’s a throwback to the old “Underdog” catch phrase,from the late 60′s early 70′s, wow, I’m getting nostalgic, I might have to go watch it…oops sorry, A.D.D kicking in…refocusing!) 

         If you are proud of your service, and know full well that you are delivering only your best, then by all means, guarantee it! 

         Word of caution…if your service is below par in any area or you are dishonest in your approach, offering a guarantee then not standing behind it…well, if you’ve never heard the expression “Karma’s a bitch“…you will fully understand what I mean, the first time a customer puts you through the ringer. 

         After, experimenting with guarantees in my cleaning biz, I finally decided to kick it up a notch and do something that no other cleaner was brave enough to do. Double the guarantee. In 1999, I launched my 200% better than risk free guarantee! 

         ”I’m obsessed with giving YOU…the consumer, the Most Amazing Experience you’ve ever had with any service company. In fact, if you’re not ABSOLUTELY THRILLED with our professional quality service, we’ll return and re-clean any areas of concern, and if I still have not met your expectations, you don’t pay. It’s that easy! Then, I will gladly pay (up to 100% of my original work order) for another IICRC Certified company to clean your carpets. Plus, I will make a $50 donation to any charity of your choosing on your behalf.”        

         This was the whip topping on my insanity cake! 

         The guy who swore he would never, ever use a guarantee goes full force into crazy mode and offers up his soul with every cleaning. 

         I wanted customers to know that they had nothing to worry about. They would be protected and I was willing to go the distance. Lock, stock and barrel – no excuses! 

         Not happy, no problem, here’s your money back and I’ll pay another cleaner out of my pocket to fix my screw up and then donate in your name to the charity of your choice for wasting your precious time.        

        I’ve taken that same philosophy and applied it to all my ventures! If you’re not head-over-heels happy with my product, you don’t pay…it’s that simple! That’s right, I want customers doing cart-wheels in the street, dancing on the ceiling, shouting from the rooftops how I helped them. I want them out there telling their friends how I saved their day, and that I stood behind my service and shielded them from any harm.

         Make your guarantee BIG, make it BOLD! Keep it simple!

        I’ve been told more times than I can count on my fingers and toes that my prices were higher than my competition but because of my guarantee, they felt safer hiring me than them.

         Safer?

         Well, that’s exactly what a guarantee does. It’s removes all fear. It provides a safety net for your customers. So, yes, safer!

          The more benefit you can create for a potential client to you use you, the easier the sale will be and the greater the satisfaction the customer will have.

          Guarantee it!

       Until Next Time,   

    “Live with Passion!”

     Rob Anspach   

 P.S.  In Jay Abraham’s book (which I highly recommend you read, right now), “Getting Everything You Can, From All You’ve Got!“, Jay says, “Make it so your clients come out so far ahead by dealing with you they would be stupid not to. Even if they decide that your product is not for them and they return it – they still come out of the deal with the refund and many bonuses that they never had before dealing with you.”

P.P.S. I’m changing the name ”Be A Better Entrepreneur” Seminar to “Be A Better Entrepreneur” Academy…I feel the word “Academy” has a better sound to it. Everyone seems to use “seminar” to describe what they are doing…Blah, boring! Presenters will be renamed “Instructors” and the whole event will revolve around creating a dynamic, intense learning experience. Yep, The Be A Better Entrepreneur Academy will craft you into a lean, mean, money making machine.  http://BeABetterEntrepreneur.com  

 

 

Paying to be ethical!

I was recently shared an article that got me thinking about ethics and the whole pay to be more ethical debate.

Who pays to be ethical? Lot’s of businesses!

How ethical is that? It’s not!

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “ethical” as : conforming to accepted standards of conduct .

Yet, this article that I speak of was about lawyers and how they are being restricted ethics opinions by not paying for membership through the American Bar Association.

It’s not just lawyers!

In my cleaning business, I was asked to join a service aptly named Ethical Services.

It started out with great intentions…

…those having the greatest amount of customer testimonials were listed first then things shifted a bit and now it’s a membership driven site.

The companies paying a fee get higher placement and bolder listings.

It doesn’t seem ethical!

Yet…

…the biggest “pay to be more ethical” service around is still the Better Business Bureau.

Yep, you pay to tell people you are a better business.

“It starts with trust!” – that’s the BBB slogan

Actually, you could be the most trustworthy company around and liked by thousands of people but until you pay that membership fee, your trust means nothing!

Do you really want to know the secret to being more ethical?

Send me $15!

Just kidding!

The true measure of a company is not how many organizations they belong to…nope, buying memberships doesn’t make your business better or more ethical.

If you want to be more ethical in business, without paying to be more ethical, try guaranteeing your work.

Offer a no-risk service!

That’s right, reverse the risk away from your clients and put your butt on the line.

“You’ll be head-over-heels happy with the service or you don’t pay!”

Make that guarantee part of your marketing.

Show people that they can trust you.

When you are ethical, people will pay you for your service.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

P.S. You might think offering a guarantee will bring unscrupulous customers to your door ready to rip you off…but in reality that rarely happens and the customers you do get by guaranteeing your work will be grateful for the excellent service.

Do you have D and D?

In my interviewing process for new hires as well as new clients I always ask this one question… “Do you have D & D?”

One kid told me he used to play D&D when he was younger. I said wrong D&D, we don’t play Dungeons and Dragons here and I really haven’t thought about that game in over 25 years.

One women got offended that I would even ask such a personal question. Not sure what she meant and frankly I don’t want to know.

What I’m referring to, and what everyone I want working for me should possess…is Determination and Drive!

These 2 words will do more for your profits than any piece of paper from some ivy league school could do.

Yeah, I’m not a big proponent of the educational system…I find intelligence to be overrated! Maybe in some fields the smarter you are, or are perceived to be, the more money they pay you. I don’t work that way.

You see, employees who have determination and drive will always work harder, they will show a willingness to learn and bring in more money than those that don’t.

The same can be said with clients, those that have determination and drive will be more open to new ideas, outrageous marketing and outlandish approaches.

Intelligence can’t guarantee success. Intelligence can’t guarantee a paycheck.

I see so many highly intelligent degreed people working jobs that barely pay enough to make ends meet. No drive! No determination!

Let’s look at Bill Gates (one of the richest people in the world), sure he’s smart, but there are plenty of people smarter than him. In fact Bill dropped out of Harvard University to start Microsoft. It was determination and drive that made him rich, not intelligence.

So if you are wondering why based on your intelligence you are not making more money, being more successful or getting promotions, you just might not be smart enough to recognize that it’s not how smart you are but how much determination and drive you have.

If you know that you don’t have determination and drive in your DNA, then you need to hire those people who do. If you hire people that have the same intelligence as you but no drive, then you’ll have a bunch of smarties that will soon be out of work.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S If you want to infuse some much needed profits into your bottom line try a little D&D first…you might be surprised how well it works.

A Costly Lesson!

I would like to share with you a story.

Sadly, there is no happy ending here.

So, if you only wish to read about happy, feel good, makes you all warm and fuzzy inside stories… well you might wish to stop reading now.

This story revolves around an entrepreneur who needed to prove he was right.

It was matter of principal.

He felt he was taken advantage of by the consumer and he wasn’t going to let it slide.

He had preformed a service and the client wasn’t happy.

Well, he was happy with some of the work, just not all of the work.

To try to make things right the entrepreneur went back several times to try and remedy the situation. The consumer was never satisfied.

The entrepreneur knew he was loosing money at this point and told the client there was nothing he could anymore. The client got upset and demanded his money back.

This is where the entrepreneur should have just acknowledged the customer, apologized for the inconvenience and without question, refunded the money.

But noooo! He made a big deal out of the situation and tried to reverse the problem back on the customer.

The consumer feeling unsatisfied with how the entrepreneur treated him filed a grievance with the Better Business Bureau.

The Better Business Bureau ruled in the favor of the consumer and asked that the business owner refund the money in question.

The entrepreneur grew angrier with every BBB letter and phone call… and just kept refusing to cooperate.

The case got turned over to the Attorney General’s office. Then it got real interesting. These guys don’t play games.

The entrepreneur was asked once more to refund the clients money or have his contractors license revoked.

Can you guess what happened next?

Like I said, this isn’t one of those feel good stories.

What I can tell you is the amount in question was under $250.00

Was it worth losing his business over any amount?

Sometimes it may feel that you as the business owner are being taken advantage of, and maybe you are, but is it worth getting stressed out about, losing time, expending valuable energy and resources to defend your position? No!

Yeah, it may be tough to give a client their money back. It will be tougher if you don’t.

Offer a guarantee and stick to it!

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com
rob@robanspach.com

P.S. With a guarantee in place you are always a hero in the eyes of the consumer!

What makes you different?

When was the last time you surveyed your competition?

Or surveyed other companies not specific to your industry?

I mean really surveyed them! Down to the nitty-gritty.

You don’t need to be covert about it. No CIA spy stuff!

Nah! Just some simple phone and leg work here. Oh, and some notepaper and a writing instrument.

Make a list of your local competitors. If you’re trolling the phone book, jot down on your notepaper anything that might make them different or stand out from your service.

Next, call them. (I suggest you not call from your office, if they have Caller ID, you might be detected and your jig is up.) While on the phone, ask general questions. If you are too specific, it might give you away.

Say, you’re a service business (maybe a plumber) and you want to find out a little bit about the competition that moved into your neighborhood.

You might ask about pricing. What their guarantees are? What training do they have? You might even ask about licensing and if they are members of a trade organization. You could even ask for references. If they offer free estimates, you might even ask to schedule a free in home inspection.

Although pricing may seem like a concern… it really isn’t. So don’t start worrying if your competitors prices are much lower than yours. They may have no clue what their true cost of doing business is and just made their prices cheaper to attract customers.

Make notes on how they answer the phone. Are they courteous? Do they show knowledge of their industry? What is their specific guarantee? What forms of payment do they accept?

If you were able to schedule a no-obligation free estimate…this is another avenue of insightful information so pay attention. How does your competition dress? Are they wearing any insignia that would tell you right off the bat they are from XYZ Co.? Are they clean cut and nice in appearance? Do they smell good? (Although this question might baffle some men, women don’t appreciate foul smells.) Does the price include everything you want, or only for specific items.

Heck, I think you get the picture.

I’m sure you can come up with dozens of questions that you can use to scope out your competitors.

The question I always like to ask on the phone and then again when they come for the estimate is, “What makes you different? What’s so unique about your company?” If they are can answer this question, and do so in a comfortable manner, take notice… for this answer maybe the one that makes the difference in how you are perceived by your customers.

Until next time,

Live with passion

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com
rob@robanspach.com

P.S. When you take the time to understand how your competition works, you will gain insight into how to improve your business.

Back to Basics

Was I surprised? Um…nope!

Within about 2 minutes into our hour long consultation, it dawned on me that this person had no clue how to run a business, how to effectively market, or even what the basics were. UGH!

Definitely a “Blind Squirrel”! (an article I wrote about how entrepreneurs run their business on luck…like the phrase says, “even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes”.)

So, today I would like to share with you some basics. Maybe you do these now! Or I would hope some of them. If you don’t, then please pay attention.

Thank you cards…very essential…use them! After each sale, as long as you have captured their contact information, send them a personal hand-written thank you card.

A follow-up call…do it! Call the client and make sure they are happy with the product or service. Any objections can be handled right away and you have the opportunity to show the customer you truly care about them.

Reminder cards…do them too! You determine the frequency, but I would suggest at least 3 times a year. They don’t have to be a sales pitch…but they should remind the client you are available to help them.

Email marketing… yep, do this too! It’s essential that you keep open the lines of communication with your clients. An email is quick, easy and affordable. You can use a service to schedule the times and dates your emails are sent.

Social media…if you’re not on them…make it a priority! Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, LinkedIn, Plaxo, MySpace and the host of other sites make it so easy to promote your business, I find it unbelievable some companies haven’t taken advantage of them yet.

Newsletters…use one! Staying in constant contact with clients is key to growing your business. A newsletter if done right can build trust and make you the “go-to” expert in your field.

Referrals…ask for them! Getting referrals is essential to growing your business. The easiest way to get referrals…is, simply ask for them. If you deliver a great service, people are more than willing to share a few names with you.

Testimonials…get them! Mail, email or hand deliver a survey to your customers where they can tell you how they felt about your service. Use the testimonials in your ads, website and other marketing to build credibility and show potential customers who’s using your service.

Brag book…create one! A brag book is way to show off your work. You can include your testimonials and pictures of your products, services and customers.

A money back guarantee…have one! A guarantee tells the client that you are willing to back up your product or service and put your own butt on the line. Having a guarantee gives the client peace of mind.

Well, there ya go!

If you aren’t doing these things…start! If you’re only do some of them…well, why aren’t you doing them all.

Until next time,

Live with passion

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com
rob@robanspach.com

P.S. When you institute a “back to the basics” approach you’ll discover that your clients will be happier with your service, you’ll receive more referrals, and your sales will increase.