By Archie Lawhorne

When you minimize risk in purchasing decisions a lot more

people are willing to say "yes". Once they sample your

product or service, if it performs as you say, most

customers will keep that product and continue buying again

and again.

Here's a little story to illustrate my point.

A farmer wanted to buy a hunting dog for his son. There

were two for sale in a nearby town. The first seller told

the farmer he was asking $300 for his bloodhound,

non-negotiable.

The second seller told the farmer about his bloodhound, long

before he mentioned a price or asked for a commitment. He

said the puppy was from a long line of champion

bloodhounds, well-known in the area for their tracking

skills. And he brought out the puppy's mother and father and

explained that they were like members of the family - very

loyal and constant companions for the last six years.

The man went on to tell the farmer that he wanted the

farmer's son to try out the puppy for a month before he had

to make any decision. He offered to provide an extra kennel

and a month's worth of food for the puppy. Finally, he said,

at the end of 30 days, he would drive out to the farmer's

house and either take back the puppy, or ask then to be

paid.

Which puppy do you suppose the farmer decided to purchase

for his son? Obviously there was no question. And there

will be no question for you if you apply strong risk

reversal into every sales offer you make. What exactly do I

mean by a strong risk reversal? I'm referring to an

iron-clad guarantee that eliminates all, or most of all of

the customer risk in the transaction.

The clearer, stronger and more detailed the guarantee, the

more credibility and impact it will have on a buyer.

Consider how much more powerful it is if instead of saying,

"your satisfaction is guaranteed," you say, "we

unconditionally guarantee performance for a full 30 days."

That's better, wouldn't you agree? But, what if you went a

step further and said, "No questions asked, 100% money-back

guarantee anytime within 60 days if my product doesn't

perform exactly as promised." That's even better. But you

could go still further by saying, "No questions asked, 100%

money-back guarantee. If you don't experience noticeable

and measurable improvements in your speaking abilities, a

wider vocabulary, and bolder voice delivery, if you don't

get the results we promised within 90 days of using our

system, we'll gladly give you a complete and immediate

refund of your full purchase price, no questions

asked...that's our guarantee to you."

Notice the difference a strong and specific risk-reversed

performance guarantee can make? When you apply risk

reversal this way, your sales almost always skyrockets, and

stays that way. You make more sales, sell larger purchase

units and sell more frequently when people don't worry

about making the wrong or bad buying decision.

When you incorporate risk reversal, you essentially

eliminate your prospect's fear that they will make a bad,

incorrect or damaging purchasing decision. That's an

extremely powerful, persuasive point to make. It moves

anyone who's indecisive or mildly interested and turns them

into highly favorable prospects. If people are trying to

decide between you and one or more of your competitors, it

tips the level of the playing field significantly to your

advantage.

Just adding risk reversal and a purchase strong guarantee to

your sales offer makes a powerful difference.

There are a variety of approaches to the risk reversal

strategy:

* A software vendor guarantees its product will reduce

manufacturing costs by at least 10 percent.

* A copywriter offers his services for free if his direct

mail package pulls less than a 5 percent response.

* A commercial water filter distributor offers to buy back

any filtering units not sold in the first 3 months.

* An interior decorator agrees (in writing) not to be paid

until her customers are completely satisfied with the work

she's done.

If you don't employ some form of risk reversal, start doing

it right away. If your current guarantee is short and

vague, enhance your copy with more specifics and more

attractive terms.

If your product or service is high quality and meets

performance expectations, the longer the guarantee and the

more specific the performance promise you make, the more

people will buy. It's that simple.

Typically a 60-day guarantee will out pull 30 days by 20 to

100%. Test it yourself and see what results you get. The

more specific you get in describing what "satisfaction"

means, the more compelled they become to act in order to

experience that benefit for themselves.

If you're concerned that employing a strong risk reversal

will cost you in product returns and lower profits, don't

be. Typically, unless your product or service is flawed or

just plain inferior in terms of meeting customer

expectations, the number of people exercising a refund

guarantee is negligible. But the increase in people taking

you up on the initial sales offer is anything but

negligible.

Print-friendly version