SalesHQ

I had a prospect tell me he liked my proposal and asked me for a sales guarantee.  When I probed deeper he believed that if he didn't see a certain percentage increase in their sales in six months I should rebate the investment.  How would you respond to this?

Is this client typically a tough nut to crack? IT may be the client that is not yours.There are no guarantees if it is not used properly.This becomes an objection when a promise is made that they will receive a certain roi within x amount of time.All you can do is show the roi with other clients and a promise to figure out what they are doing wrong

  We sell a different product and give a different service however we have a 5 year warranty parts and labor I call it bumper to bumper warranty.  With our warranty it does not matter how a client uses the product,water condition or factory warranty.

 This informs the client  that we use time tested materal,proper installation and we know our products fit the solution.

 I do not just like warranties I think they are neccessary. Quite often the client really does not care about a warranty until they need to use it.

How can anyone guarrantee any kind of result????   and to rebate if it doesn't hit the mark,  that sounds scarry to me.

Sm:

Response should be emphatic NO...........then of course bring him back to the benefits and perhaps pain of doing nothing. Better processes, better sales techniques, improved methods to forecast outcomes, better salespeople & managers.

Companies often blame lack of sales totally on the sales force. It seems obvious and easy. Sometimes their egos blind them to the many other factors that may stagnate their growth. Changing market conditions, competitors, customer service, product end of life, new technology, pricing ..................... The best sales force in the world probably won't do to well selling 32' analog televisions....

Guarantee that should they implement and follow your "plan and training,  they will be able to eliminate the sales force as the cause.

People have an inherent need to spend money to re-inforce who they think they are

marinate on that for a moment, so we are here just to make them feel good about themselves

Dress it the way you want

IT'S ABOUT TAKING THEIR MONEY OVER AND OVER AGAIN and having them like it......

Gee, I guess that was a bit strong, lol.  But honestly, the guy knows he is being unrealistic, as you cannot control what he may or may not do himself, let alone his reps.  And your sure as heck cannot control their attitudes, unless you are standing over them every single moment with a shot gun (just kidding!)  Even then it may not be the attitude you want that is necessary for sales! 

Seriously though, If you are not selling a tangible product, and I beleive you are not, then a guarantee is unrealistic.  Now it is realistic to do this: 

It's time to stack benefits, continue to build rapport!  And, ask more questions.. What did he like about the proposal?  What was it he saw you could do for him?  How does he think you can help him?  Who does he think needs the most help?  Of course he wants increased sales, who doesn't, but what exactly does he feel the opportuntiy is with his team?  What is he himself doing to motivate his people and what are they all doing for themselves?  What are they all doing to reach their goals?  Are the goals realistic?  Blah, Blah, Blah.  Again, stack benefits.

I had a similar call about a year ago, and the guy ended up going with us, but only after I explained that if he stayed the same, he was heading for the same results in six months, so DO something!  I told him he had nothing to lose because I knew his people would improve.  I knew they were missing some key sales tools and if he just let us show them and work with them, they could not help but do better, improve their closing ratio and increase sales. 

Unless your proposal is unrealistic, or you are missing something in his needs,  explain how although you may not be able to guarantee him increased sales, you do feel confidant that IF he and his people do what you ask and teach, that he will see improvement.  You can promise that. Improvement. 

The old saying insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results could wake him up a bit too, lol.  But you better have built some very good, and I mean very good,  rapport with him before you use that!  

 This just came to me. A skeptic

 He wants to know how much condifdence you have in the products ability to deliver. Actually  he asked a brillant question and has put you on the defensive about your product. He needed and wanted more convincing and information to make an informed decision. There was none and a decsion was made that this product might not be for them at this time.

  A question to ask why do you think this will not meet your demands?

Prepare yourself, a small chapter is coming!

Sorry folks to be the antogonist on this string, but my biggest question is, if you are selling a product or service that is  suppose to help a business owner increase profits or lower expenses and cannot guarantee some sort of result, then how confident are you really in what you are selling?

Regardless of how uncontrollable external outcomes can be that can affect business results, the perception of not being able to not gurantee your product or service with measurable results, shows a disbelief in your own product.

The 100% guarantee has been one of the most powerful selling tools over the past 3 decades. To not have a gurantee when your competitors and your prospects are use to getting guarantees will leave you in the dust.

What percentage of infomercials have you seen that offer a 30 day money back guarantee. Almost 100%. The beauty of Guarantees, is that if the product adds any value at all, the people who take up the guarantee is less than 5%.

So in your scenario SMCCreedyTBG, you may not be able to offer a measurable result type of gurantee, but I would definitely say something like, if you don't see any value with what we are doing after 30 days, we will prorate our fee, or give you 100% of our fee back.

Simply having no guarantee at all just says to the clients, "we don't believe in our product or service enough to back it up with any sort of gurantee so you need to assume all the risk and just pay us."

Maximus

I'm not going to get too into it...but we had programs that would guarantee results.  This is advertising and I was always known to even tell customers...don't believe anyone that will guarantee you advertising results.  But this particular company came out with such products.  What they did was monitor their results by a tracking phone number and online monitoring ..and if the client didn't recieve the attained results in a matter of a month, they would adjust the price accordingly and also extend their contract...kind of like a floating contract to give them the number of results they needed.  That is how they guaranteed it.  Now in my perspective, did this gain more sales easier....NO.  Selling is selling.   It did not make customers want to buy more.  Guaranteed results is just another form of objection in my mind and it's how you over come the objection to gain the sale. 

Max I did a thread on waaranties and I took it farther with service contracts that increase the warranties. This will add those people into the fold who do not care for warranties and believe me there are quite a few people out there that do not care about them.With a service contract the sales person discovers what is important to the client that is included within the service contract.

 Depending on the product what I have found with rhe majority of my clients they really do not care about a warranty until they need to use it. and that is where the othert times a serv ce contract  covers become vital.

 included but not limited to the service contract.

priority service.extended warranty,return trip at no charge,minor free work that we do not want to warranty,automatic 10 percent discount,inspection,you know it works. you know it is safe,you know who to call,keep electronic records,referral service,on the spot technical support and many more items can be included with a service contract.

Infomercials seem to  guarantee everything.  The percentage of people who will actually act on the sending back the product is lower than the odds of them keeping it.  I think SuperSalesMax hit the nail on the head.

I am not sure how a USP is going to help withstand or deliver a guarantee Jim, but I do know that creating and understanding your product or service USP is probably the single personal or business diffferentiator you can create in a competitive selling situation... and what selling situation is not competitive?