When I suggested the idea that as a firm of solicitors we should offer a Money Back Guarantee to each and every new client, I was told by those who love me to stick to practising law.

I was assured that this was a bad idea. We would be bankrupt within a year, we will end up having constant arguments with clients, and people looking for free advice will take us for a ride.

This was two years ago. Since then, we have given advice on a Money Back Guarantee basis to hundreds of new clients – we advise at least one new client a day – and the number of clients who have asked for their money back is still ZERO.

It’s not as if we discourage them from asking for their money back either. On the contrary, we always need to be satisfied that our clients are 100% happy with the advice we give them otherwise we offer them their money back ourselves.

This Money Back Guarantee offer has done us a power of good. We go out of our way to make sure that every single client we see is 100% happy, otherwise we don’t get paid. It’s that simple. This is a classic form of ‘self inflicting’ discipline that actually works.

I cannot tell you how many clients have chosen us over our competition because of the Money Back Guarantee offer.  I am also quite certain that the offer of a Money Back Guarantee has influenced each and every one of them in their decision to choose us over every other firm of solicitors available to them.

Before you say ‘this does not apply to my business. We simply cannot give money back guarantees to our customers, it’s just doesn’t work like this’, consider this astounding fact –

There are currently around 60,000 lawyers practicing in England and Wales but not one of them thought that Money Back Guarantee offers could apply to their business.  I know of only a few law firms that  offer Money Back Guarantee to every single new client.

Let me prove to you that you can offer Money Back Guarantees in any type of business. Let’s look at a few examples and do a deal at the same time!

IF YOU CANNOT SEE A WAY HOW YOUR BUSINESS CAN OFFER A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE AS PART OF YOUR MARKETING CAMPAIGN, SEND ME AN EMAIL AND WE WILL WORK IT OUT TOGETHER.

PRINTER: You can guarantee that the customer will be satisfied with the print job you have done or you give them their money back. 99% of your customers are satisfied with the quality of your printing (otherwise they would have gone elsewhere by now), so as you have virtually nothing to lose, why not use this in your various marketing material and gain an immediate advantage over your competitors?

DESIGNER: You can guarantee your customer’s satisfaction with the final design. You are doing this anyway so why not use this concept in your marketing so that your customers can have a ‘formal’ peace of mind?

ACCOUNTANT: How many people have complained that they were not happy with the way their tax return was compiled? The answer is probably none.

They might have complained about the amount of tax they had to pay but this is outside of your control and they will understand this. You can attract more clients by offering a unique Money Back Guarantee that the tax return will be compiled on time, and to their satisfaction. I know of an accountant called Malcolm who did just that and he has not reported to me any losses in business. In fact his business is now flourishing because his competition gives away nothing.

IT SUPPORT: You can certainly guarantee to your customers that you will respond to calls within a specified time period and that you give constant progress reports on what the issues are and what you’re doing to resolve them.

More importantly, you will free up a certain number of business hours by taking control of their IT system, giving them one less thing to worry about. This is worth a fortune to small businesses and is a great marketing tool.

NLP PRACTITIONER: You know that NLP works, so why not offer Money Back Guarantee on the first session?  I’ll be willing to bet that you will never be asked for money back, but by offering a Money Back Guarantee you will reassure hesitant clients.

INSURANCE BROKER: This can be a tricky one, but why not guarantee that the policy you are selling is the most suitable for your client’s needs? After all, your competition will only attempt to guarantee the cheapest premium but very few insurance brokers would make a guarantee that they deliver to you the right product in terms of it’s quality. Promise that you will read the policy with them and work out together its suitability to their business or personal circumstances.

I don’t know of many people who actually bother to read their insurance policies, and if there was an insurance broker they could trust to help them read and understand the policy, they will be most grateful.

CHILDMINDER: You can easily guarantee that the children will be happy and fulfilled under your care. Most, if not all parents will be willing to pay a premium for this guarantee.

This list can go on ad infinitum. But the most important thing to be aware of is that even if a few customers ask you for their money back, the benefits of making such offer are much greater than any loss it might cause you.

In any event, there is no harm in testing this concept for a limited time to see what results it can produce.

Give it a go…

By: Yair Cohen

PS: Please don’t forget to email me if you can’t find a single way in which you can offer a Money Back Guarantee that is suitable to your particular business.