Guarantees are great!

My local Council proudly announced in a bulletin I’ve just received that we can expect even better service from them following the introduction of a Customer Service Guarantee. “When we fail to meet a target,” they say, “We will let the community know what action we will take to fix our performance.”

What a weak guarantee that is!

You see, I just love guarantees and believe that every business should offer them on their products, services and delivery wherever possible.

But the most important part of the guarantee is what the guarantor will do if they fail to meet the terms of the guarantee. If all they are going to do is apologise, nothing has changed, since that is what most people would normally do when they don’t meet the promised criteria.

It’s important that, wherever you give a guarantee, you should suffer if you don’t deliver on your promise. That means you should present yourself to the aggrieved customer, client or patient, sit cross-legged on the floor and disembowel yourself with a hari kari sword. Well, not that exactly, but you’ve got to suffer pain!

So what it does mean is that, when you provide a guarantee, you’ve got to show people at the outset what will happen if you don’t deliver on that guarantee.

As an example, if you’ve heard me speaking, you’ve probably heard me wax lyrical about the subject of guarantees and the story of the plumber who quite simply said “If we don’t turn up at the time we promise we will do your plumbing for free!”

Knowing that lateness is a chronic characteristic of tradespeople, this promise certainly differentiated our plumber from the rest and, even though he charged more than most other plumbers, people always chose to do business with him. It meant that he generated lots of profitable business and, as a result, could employ the staff to ensure that he could deliver on the promise.

So, why don’t you emulate my local council and devise a guarantee (maybe just a variation of the plumber’s advert) and then work hard to deliver on it. But put the sting in the tail and ensure that you tell people what will happen to you if you fail to deliver. You will be amazed at what it does your business.

Guarantees are great! Try one today!