What feature of your company or product are you advertising? Is good quality? That is the fastest, the cheapest, that it allows the client to save the most money in the shortest time, that it makes possible for them to get something the fastest way, THE MOST, THE MOST, THE MOST?
 
Do you have the courage to stand up for what you’re saying and provide some proof and not just words? To say that you guarantee everything you claim in your ad: to say “if we don’t deliver, we pay you back in full without any questions”?  
 
Because if you don’t, then the problem is not with your marketing but with your company and your offerings. But is it possible then that you’re offering something in your ads that may not even be true?
 
Many of the managers I know are proud of the quality or that “the most” something they’re providing, and after a little while of thinking they dare to guarantee them. Guaranteeing provides even bigger pride and confidence – just think how much straighter you could be standing up when your competitors are blabbering only empty phrases, while you’re guaranteeing your products or services!
 
 
What can you guarantee?
 
The easiest is to say “buy it, try it and if you’re not satisfied, bring it back and we’ll pay you back”. But DON’T say they can replace it with other products in the amount of its value – that’s for cowards.
 
You can guarantee results:

"If we don’t sell your house, real estate within 3 months then we worked are for free!”
 
Moreover: "Try us! Sell your old house and buy the new one with us and we’ll handle all the administrative works from A to Z”
 
Such guarantees may even work as ads by themselves. That’s their true power really! 

The Domino’s Pizza is the favourite positioning example of all marketing books; it has grown from a cheap tiny place for university students into the USA’s biggest chain using this single phrase:
 
“You get fresh, hot pizza within 30 minutes, or it’s free”
 
It’s all just math, don’t forget that.
 

Guarantee tips
 
How can you make your guarantee more effective, more irresistible?
 
1) It should be striking and simple! No complicating things, no extra conditions (grrr!), NO SMALL LETTERS. If you do it, do it right: dare to talk big and don’t try to dodge responsibility with different kind of clever conditions.
 
2) The longer the term is the less people will take advantage of it. This seems illogical but it is true. Think about it: if you receive a 100% warranty that is valid only for 24 hours, then what will you be thinking about for the next 24 hours? Of course about whether to take back your money or not.  But if the warranty is valid for 1 year or – the worst of the worst – for ever, then the client won’t think about it at all, and they will never exercise it.
 
3) If someone chooses to exercise the warranty, then pay them fast and smiling. Thank them for the trust they’ve invested in you. Just think about it: you have to give back the money anyway, so why not surprise your client by doing it in a classy way because this way you instantly generate a little rumour. When was the last time anything likes this happened to you? 
 
4) Ask for a reference from the client exercising the warranty. Ask them to write down how easy and quickly they’ve exercised the warranty, then include that quote into your ad, to make your warranty even more powerful.

 
The measurement of your marketing
 
The rate of warranty paybacks is the best way to see whether your marketing is aggressive enough or not.
 
Let’s assume that your services are of good quality so there is no problem there. The only reason why some people would exercise the warranty is that the product is not really meant for them, they are not the ideal target audience.
 
The rate of warranty paybacks is usually 1-2 % at those who assume such guarantee.
 
But if it’s only that much, then I immediately knows that your marketing is not aggressive, not powerful enough. How do I know that?
 
If you have a powerful marketing then your message and the advertisement of your warranty will reach more people and companies located on the edge of your target market. They are the ones that would surely not buy from you if you didn’t have the warranty. But your guarantee swings them to the other side of this imaginary borderline. As a result the rate of warranty exercising will be higher among your clients from the edge of your target market simply because they realise that this is not for them.
 
But most of them will STILL NOT exercise the warranty, so at the end of the day, you’ll end up making profit.
 
The only remarkable result will be that the rate of warranty paybacks will get closer and closer to 10%. Once I’ll see that it’s located between 5 – 10 % I’ll tap you on your shoulder. That’s how I’ll know that you are a good marketer and you’re doing your job well!
 
You on the other hand will know because, just like McCormick got rich as a result of guaranteeing, Your Company will start to thrive too!