Let me give you the best way to add value
to your services at practically no cost to you.
Adding value to your service or product
gives yours a greater worth than that of your competitors. This
in turn allows you to charge more for your services.
The best way to add value to what you sell
is with a guarantee.
You can’t begin until you at least
try to offer one. Many cleaners are afraid to try this. They
say, “Oh, I can’t do that. Every customer will want
their money back, and I’ll go broke.” Or “Too
many of my
customers will take advantage of me. I
won’t make any money.”
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These kinds of objections are only used to
mask their true concerns. Namely, that their work is below par.
And people will, indeed, ask for their money back.
Here’s what you need to know. There
is a small group of people who attempt to take advantage of
anyone they do business with. Of course the laws of nature and
giving and receiving catch up with them in the end. The only
free cheese is in the mousetrap.
The point here is, you can’t design
your business to protect yourself from a few ignorant people.
That’s known as, “Throwing the baby out with the
bath water.” Build your business around customers you
want to attract. And one of the best ways to attract good new
customers is to take away their risk.
Dave Thomas personally guaranteed that you
would like whatever new product Wendy’s came up with.
Victor Kiam made a personal guarantee of his Remington electric
shavers, after telling us that he “liked it so much, I
bought the company.”
And almost ever day, George Zimmer does
his own commercials for his “Men’s Wearhouse”
to tell us that we’ll be completely satisfied; “I
guarantee it!”
Sid Tuchman built a multi-million dollar
drycleaning business empire based on the guarantee,
“It’s ready, it’s right, or it’s
FREE.”
There were no other stipulations. Just
plain and simple, so all of his customers knew that bringing
their clothes to Tuchman’s Cleaners were at his risk, not
theirs. Did he go broke? No. Did his business grow by leaps and
bounds? Yes.
Follow Sid’s lead. Make your
guarantee as simple and straightforward as possible.
Don’t muddy the water with exceptions like: Guaranteed
for 30 days; Guaranteed for seven days; Guaranteed until you
leave the store!
The more open-ended the guarantee, the
lower the rate of returns. When people have a time limit on the
guarantee, they are thinking each day about the clock running.
They’re mentally mapping out the return strategy. (Keep
the receipt, save the packaging) They are mentally predisposed
to returning the item. Any restriction only works against you
by negating the beneficial effects of your guarantee. If there
are no restrictions, people are more willing to give you a
chance.
If you guarantee your work, great.
You’ll increase your sales. But what about going farther?
Suppose you make it a 100-percent
satisfaction guarantee — one where the customer can
return the garment if he’s not satisfied for any reason?
Now you are making the offer more compelling, and sales will go
up even more. In the prospect’s mind, he is saying,
“Well if they are making that kind of guarantee, they
must really provide quality service. They wouldn’t do
that if it weren’t good. And I have nothing to lose,
since it’s guaranteed anyway.”
Decide how generous a guarantee you want
to offer, then spread the word in all of your marketing
materials and with signs inside and outside of your stores.
Dennis McCrory works with The Golomb Group
which provides direct mail and marketing services for
drycleaners. They also produce the following book and video
packages:
• “The Caplan Method of Stain
Removal”
• “The Caplan Method of Shirt
Laundering and Finishing,”
• Also available is McCrory’s
“Pre-employment Screening Kit.”
To order any of these, call The Golomb
Group, (800) 679-5856.
