4 Keys To A Sales-Promoting Guarantee

Here’s how to structure a believable, sales promoting guarantee that removes the risk from your customer and yet does not put you in a bind.

You all know that you must guarantee every product that you sell in one way or another. That’s because if it’s really that good, then you shouldn’t be afraid of returns.

Now if you sell a bad product or are trying to pull the wool over your customer’s eyes, then perhaps you shouldn’t be reading this article. And I’ll go one step further. You shouldn’t be allowed to be in business.

A guarantee builds credibility.

There are numerous things and ways you can do guarantees. However, keep in mind, if your product isn’t good, a guarantee could wipe you out very quickly. Don’t bother selling, let alone guaranteeing, products you don’t believe in or that are just not good.

Here’s some general thought about guarantees, but I go in much deeper on guarantees in my book.

1. The longer the guarantee period, the better. This adds credibility, plus, believe it or not, may cut down on returns, because buyers perceive they have plenty of time to return the product and then they simply forget about it.

The guarantee on my products is a LIFETIME GUARANTEE.

2. The less strings attached, the more orders you will get. Naturally a no-questions asked guarantee would work best.

3. Try to give a bonus with the purchase that the buyer gets to keep even if they return the product. If you look at the very successful direct marketing gurus, you’ll get a very good example of what I mean. Sometimes I feel that they over-bonus and it becomes an offer the recipient can’t refuse.

4. If you’re a risk-taker, consider a guarantee where you won’t cash the check until 30 days after the purchase.

All of this puts the burdened of proof upon you, the seller. For the buyer, the purchase is risk-free.

But remember, as mentioned above: Make sure your product is worthwhile. It does you no good to sell 200 widgets if 180 of them are returned.

Naturally you can have conditions to your guarantees. For some products they are essential.

For example:

1. You can require the buyer to return the product in good condition, particularly if it's something they could ruin by misuse.

2. You might require that they actually use the product and be able to prove it with cancelled checks, receipts or whatever. This might be appropriate for a book on how to start a business. Again, see if it’s appropriate for your product.

The whole idea is to balance the need for orders with the need to lessen your own risk. Ultimately, you must test your guarantees and find the one that works best for you. More than likely, if your product is really good, you’ll find a no-time limit, 100%, no-questions asked, money-back guarantee will work best.

Read my guarantee on my web site a www.kenvarga.com to get a real good idea of how to model your guarantee.