Should you guarantee your work?
Yes!
That’s right, I’m tempted to answer the question with a flat out ‘Yes!’ and call it a day, but it is probably worth talking about for a few minutes.
We had to wrestle with this – Guarantee or Not Guarantee question in the beginning too, when we first bought and started running a very small cleaning business called Jim’s Cleaning years ago.
You see, when we took over the business, there was no ‘Satisfaction Guarantee’ in place.
Heck, there were barely any rules at all.
So, we had to think about whether we should offer a guarantee, and if so – what kind.
You know, when you’re first starting off and money’s tight, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “Hey, if some customer simply decides, on a whim, that they’re not happy, I don’t want them to get
away with not paying their bill!”
That’s understandable.
But here’s the thing – think about some of these questions:
What kind of company do you want to be?
What message do you want to send to your staff?
What message do you want to send to your customers?
What message do you want to send to your prospects?
You know the answers.
You want to be proud of yourself.
You want your staff to be proud of themselves and the company they work for.
You want your customers, and prospects, to get the clear message that you stand behind your work – guaranteed!
So, if we assume we do want to offer a guarantee, the next question is, that’s right, what kind?
Well, we suggest you offer as strong of a guarantee as possible, something on the order of a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee!”.
Why so strong?
Because anything less can send the wrong message.
What do I mean?
Well, if you start to add conditions, limitations or restrictions to your guarantee, you can quickly weaken it to the point – it may begin to work against you!
That’s right, if you offer a guarantee that is:
– only good for a short time,
– or for particular reasons,
– or under certain conditions
– or only if specific procedures are followed….
Well, then, you may actually be sending the message that:
1. You don’t trust your company to deliver on its promises
2. You don’t trust your customers to not abuse your guarantee.
And then you may have been better off if you hadn’t offered any guarantee at all!
So, we suggest you offer a strong 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
No weasel clauses! No burdensome time limitations! No unnecessary restriction on reasons why! No lengthy procedures that have to be followed!
No, just a simple straightforward guarantee – you stand behind your work 100%!
You Can Do This, You Really Can!
Dan
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