With the start of the professional Major League Baseball season, you begin to hear the predictions from ESPN and their sportscasters, sports writers and of course the team owners and the players. When it is the end of the season only the winners and their predictions and guarantees are heard from. Those that did not perform to the expectations or the other side gets any press.
This is completely different out in the real world of selling, providing goods, materials and services. If everyone wins and everything goes well, often we hear nothing. We may obtain a testimonial or a great review on Yelp! Or another online reviewer and possibly a referral or two (which is really the best thank you of all!). Not much else.
However, if we do not hit a home run; if for some reason our product is faulty; if the customer is not satisfied with our service, we hear about it! We want to hear about it. Now we must quickly handle the situation.
Here is the question: what is your guarantee and how do you fulfill your guarantee?
A few areas to consider as you may find you are in one of these categories:
Selling a Physical Product
You sell a physical product. The product is either defective or is broken quickly after the customer purchases the product. What is your guarantee?
Selling an Edible Item
You sell a food, drink, snack or other edible product. The item either does not taste up to expectations, arrives open at the store or is for some reason not right in the customer’s hands after purchase. What is your guarantee?
Selling a Professional Service
You sell a Professional Service such as legal, accounting or business coaching. The client feels unsatisfied after working with you for a period of time. What is your guarantee?
Take a moment and comment for your area of expertise and discuss – What is your guarantee?
From my point of view in the first situation the majority of the time you would offer to refund or replace the item within a defined period of time with the full packaging and the store receipt. In the second case it is a bit trickier as to replace the item might not be a good solution. If the package was opened then yes replacement of the item is called for.
In the third case many professional service providers have a defined process where a review or discussion takes place and the issues are determined. Often it is a matter of conducting more effective communication with each other. Many professional service providers will add in either extra bonus hours or meetings or other deliverables to maintain a good relationship with their client.
How about you? What is your guarantee?
Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.
I’ve seen folks in my industry offer money back guarantees for things like workshops and live events. I do think that takes the sting out of such purchases and gives some comfort that there is a recourse if the quality isn’t up to snuff.
Mitch,
Great topic. My guarantee is usually a promise and deliver of exactly what was promised (for services, consulting etc). The guarantee varies from physical and digital products.
Write on!~
Lisa
Good topic and definitely something to think about. When you work in a coaching industry it can be hard to offer a guarantee because part of what you do depends on your client. But I’m going to look at what I do and how I can offer that.
I’ve been on the fence about offering the “full money back guarantee” for my digital products. I like the method that some coaches put in place, that you get your full money back only if you turn in the completed assignments. In other words, if you didn’t choose to do the program you don’t get your money back, but if you did follow through with it and were not happy with your results, you can get your money back. Would love to hear your thoughts on that Mitch.
For me, it varies depending on the program or product, but I always put my guarantee in writing so we all know what to expect going forward.