The Power Of The Guarantee

What if you were guaranteed that (for a price) you could turn your business into a money-making phenomenon overnight? Better yet, what if you were guaranteed that you would make this phenomenal leap in 24 hours or less, or you would get every dime you paid for this “money-making phenomenon” returned to you, no questions asked and no hard feelings. If you were guaranteed you had nothing to lose and everything to gain in profits, how much would you be willing to pay for such a strong guarantee? There’s no question that would really mean something to you and every pest control company owner. You’d probably be whipping out your wallet faster than a mouse on the run.

Now, what if the “guarantee” stated above was dropped? What if there was a claim that you could be a money-making phenomenon overnight (for a price), but there was no guarantee? Does this promise lose its power? Of course it does. Who would be willing to throw away their hard-earned money on empty promises? No one. The point here is this: your clients and prospects aren’t willing to throw away their money on empty promises either.

THE TRUTH ABOUT “SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.” Regardless, you’re reading this article right now and probably saying, “I guarantee all my work,” or “I stand behind all my work.” That’s a decent start. However, consumers hear this type of claim all the time. Think about it — all of your competitors use it. For example, claims such as “Satisfaction Guaranteed,” or “We Guarantee We’re the Best.” Everyone’s heard them. Perhaps you’ve even looked at a few other claims and picked out a few to use for your business. Have you done it?

There’s a problem in doing this. You make yourself look like most everyone else. This fools the consumer into believing it doesn’t matter which company they hire, because they’re all the same. Let’s take you a step ahead.

If you want to leverage yourself, you have to have a stronger guarantee. With all things being equal, the PCO who gives the strongest guarantee wins. You need to tell people something that builds immediate trust. You should put your guarantee into print and plaster it on every ad, business card, and flyer that finds itself in the hands of your existing and potential clients. You should be standing on the rooftops screaming your guarantee for all the world to hear.

“Oh, I put satisfaction guaranteed on all my stuff,” the savvy PCO says. Besides being like the regular everyday pest control company by using the same “satisfaction guarantee” every PCO uses, you’re resorting to a feeble claim that doesn’t mean a darned thing.

What does “satisfaction guaranteed” mean, anyway? Are you telling your clients and prospects that you just do so-so work and they won’t be ecstatic but they will be merely “satisfied?” Do you want to be perceived this way? Maybe they want to be thrilled with their pest management experience. Maybe they want their socks knocked off and their heads spinning when you are through with your thorough pest management treatment. Nevertheless, you tell your client your claim is “satisfaction guaranteed” and what if they’re not satisfied? What next?

Are you going to retreat the entire home at no charge, are you going to give the client a refund, or are you just going to tell them “that’s tough, pay up anyway?” If you are going to leverage yourself with a strong guarantee, then you need to tell your client what you will do for them if they aren’t thrilled.

THE GUARANTEE THAT BRINGS BIG PROFITS. First, you have to build some strong benefits into your guarantee. Rule No. 1: Never guarantee your client will be “satisfied.” Leave that up to your competition. You want to guarantee your client will be so thrilled they will swear there was never a pest problem in their home and never will be again, or it’s free! You need to offer an iron-clad unconditional money-back guarantee. Do you see the power in that kind of promise?

Rule No. 2: Live up to your guarantee. Your client is going to be willing to invest in you for top-quality pest management as long as they know they’re not going to be betrayed. You have to do an excellent job or you will be going back to treat their home again for free (and time is money). Or even worse, you’ll be returning all of their money and walk away with nothing. So, the guarantee has a two-fold purpose. It attracts those clients and prospects that are willing to pay for top-quality work (with a money-back guarantee), and it forces you to live up to the standards set by your guarantee. Isn’t this a beautiful system?

Perhaps you’re quivering from head to toe over providing a guarantee this strong. You might be thinking, “I can’t make that strong of a claim. I’ll go out of business if I do that.” Only if you guarantee they will never see a crawling pest of any kind ever in their home after your visit will this happen, and that’s virtually impossible. Or, you might lose a little money with people who want a one-shot deal. But, there is a key to your guarantee. Cherry-pick your prospects and tell them you’ll take care of them. Communicate to your prospects and clients before you accept the job and assess what you’re getting into beforehand.

This means going over all of the areas of their concern, telling them what they can expect from your pest control treatment, and stating your guarantee. Your guarantee could be as simple as stating, “If the ant problem comes back, so do we.” That’s all the client expects. Even with your money-back guarantee, the client is not expecting that you will kill every ant, roach and rodent in the entire neighborhood. They just need to be guaranteed that you will do the best job you possibly can. This means you giving them incredible customer service, or they don’t have to pay you. They just want to be able to trust you.

Plus, you will find most people are not going to take you up on your guarantee. If they do, good news anyway. You will know where you need to improve. If they just do it to be a pain in the neck, good news still. You will discover these type of clients are the ones that would complain if you had your guarantee or not. Those aren’t cherry-picked clients. You don’t want them as your clients anyway and should gladly hand them their money and send them quietly along.

THE COMPETITION. Are you still reluctant? Are you still afraid you’ll be out of business if you give your clients this kind of power? Then remember this: you’ll probably be out of business if you don’t start doing it. You see, many of your competitors will catch on and start offering consumers the kind of guarantee they yearn for. Pretty soon all of your clients will gravitate to the companies who DO guarantee their work (beyond the standard “satisfaction guarantee”). And, ironically, the very thing you think you can’t afford to do will become the very thing you can’t afford not to do.

So, your unconditional guarantee stating you clients should be doing back-flips because they’re so thrilled by the way you do business will take you from mediocrity to greatness. Maybe you already live by these philosophies but just don’t feel comfortable putting a strong guarantee in print. This is normal in the beginning. But, as you begin to write those guarantees and put them into print and see the major benefits to this strategy first-hand, you’ll soon feel very comfortable with it.

Here’s a hint: Put your guarantee down on paper and then show it to all of your clients, old, new and potential. Let them choose the one that will make them pick up the phone to call you. Soon you too can become one of the “greats” in this industry and help raise the level of work and service offered to clients tired of getting “burned” by the PCO who sprays the baseboard and runs out the door. So put it in print and your business will step up to new heights — guaranteed!

R.D. Skinner and her partner Joe Polish are with Piranha Marketing, Inc. R.D. Skinner is also in the pest control business. To pick up a free copy of their report, “What 99% of All PCOs Don’t Know and Will Never Find Out About…Marketing Secrets of a $100,000 to $1,000,000-plus Yearly Income,” call their free, 24-hour recorded message at 800/927-9126.