High octane 10 Remove the risk and theyll buy
All buyers have a half-dozen reasons or more to not buy: don't need it, costs too much, not sure if it's a good deal, unsure about quality, and so on.
The savvy business person knows that for every one of these reasons they knock down, they remove a roadblock to a potential sale. If you want to get people buying, you have to make it easy for them to buy by removing doubt, risk and reasons not to buy.
One of the best ways to do that is with a rock-solid money-back guarantee. It's incredible how many business people are unwilling to offer a money-back guarantee. They immediately think of the negative: "I'll have to refund money that's in my hand now!" But this is short-sighted thinking.
If you offer a money-back guarantee, what you are telling the prospect is: "I am so convinced you'll like my product, I'm willing to stand behind it with a money-back guarantee." And the prospects thinks: "Hey! I risk nothing. If I buy and don't like the product, I get my money back. So why not buy now?"
And really, why shouldn't you stand behind your product? If you're not willing to stand behind your product, why should the customer assume all the risk by buying from you? You owe it to your customers, and to yourself, to back up your products and service. Those not willing to guarantee their work may be wittingly or unwittingly operating under the 'a sucker is born every minute' philosophy. They think there will always be a new customer somewhere out there who hasn't heard anything negative about them.
And there'll always be more after that. But this is a stupid way to do business. Experienced marketers know that the REAL MONEY is made on repeat sales, repeat business, and 80 to 90% of new business comes from endorsements or referrals from satisfied customers'. Also, constantly having to find new customers is expensive. As you read in High Octane 1: Each new customer costs you money to find and sell, but each repeat sale to a captured customer is free.
When you use risk reversal, it's common to see a doubling, tripling or even greater boost to sales - without spending an additional penny for more marketing'. Yes, there will be some returns, but the volume will almost always be in your favour - if you're delivering a high quality product that does what you promise it will do.
But even if you do get returns and complaints, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's an opportunity to find out what your weaknesses are, and how you can eliminate them. If you can fix the problem, your returns will shrink even further, and you keep more profit. You also build your reputation as a high quality dealer. When that happens, even more sales flow in'. Are you starting to see how this all works together?
The stronger you make your guarantee, the better the result. A full refund for return of the product within 30 days is very good. Even better is allowing the item free for 30 days, with payment due after that period, or no payment necessary when the product is returned. But you can still go even further! For example, offer a guarantee that says the product must pay for itself two, three or five times over, or the customer's money is returned.
In the second scenario - no payment for 30 days - notice that you also remove a second reason not to buy. The customer can get your product even if they are short of cash today. Buy now, pay later is still one of the best sales boosters ever invented, and there's no reason why you shouldn't start trying it today.
Is all this just too much risk for you? I urge you to reconsider. The stronger the risk reversal strategy, the more your sales explode, the more you build your reputation as a high quality company that deals fairly with each and every customer. The more reasons you remove for a prospect to buy, the more they will buy. In the long run, and even in the short run, you make more sales and more money.
High octane 11
Continue reading here: Never underestimate the intelligence of the buyer
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