by Phil Wiley

Back in the old days, about 2 years ago, when my business plan was to make a fortune from selling classified advertising in this ezine ( though at the $6 an issue I charged I'd have had to pack the thing with more classified ads than The New York Times ) I came up with the idea of applying the risk reversal technique.

Here's my old classified Ad guarantee.

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RISK REVERSAL ADVERTISING.

It's a simple guarantee of your ads success.
When you place your ad with us we won't bank your
check, or bill your credit card, until after your ad has
appeared in 3 weekly issues. If you e-mail us,
before the 4th issue comes out, to cancel your
advertising because you're not happy with the response
you will not pay a single cent.

So advertise now. If you don't profit you don't pay

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It worked. I was flooded with advertising, and very few people took advantage of the money-back offer.

Why didn't people take advantage?

Because offering such a great guarantee makes people feel good about you. It helps to build a trust in you and your product or service.

People KNOW that they've got a great deal when they see such a guarantee. If it didn't work out for them it can't be your fault, can it? Not when you're offering such an iron-clad guarantee. Somehow it must be their fault. They decide that their ad copy wasn't good enough, or if the product or service you performed doesn't live up to their expectations it must be their fault. Not yours.

Come up with a "You must be happy or you don't pay" policy and it's almost guaranteed to work for you.

It help build your clients/customers confidence, plus it attracts new business. "These people must be good," your customers think "look at their fantastic guarantee..."

And here's something to think about - the stronger your guarantee the lower your chances of having it acted upon.

A one year, or life-time, guarantee is far less likely to be called upon than a thirty day guarantee.

Why?

Because the thirty day guarantee remains in your customers mind. They think "I'm not really happy about this, I'll give it another chance but I know that if I ask for my money back by the end of next week it's still guaranteed."

But a powerful one year guarantee puts them at ease with the
product/service. Instead of returning it early, or putting in a complaint they tend to give it another try. And before the year is up life has moved on and your guarantee is forgotten. Studies have shown that less than 2% of people will ever ask for their money back.

So the proper kind of guarantee - one that takes all the risk out of buying your offer, can make a massive difference to your sales. If you want more sales simply remove the risk in buying your product. By completely removing a persons risk factor they are much more likely to buy from you rather than your competitor who offers a much lesser guarantee.

The bottom line is that you should never be afraid of giving a great money-back guarantee. Not unless you are offering a lousy service or selling a shonky product.

And that's no way to survive in business anyway, is it?