The Zero-Risk Blog – or – The Incredible, Undeniable Benefits of a 100% Money-Back Guarantee
Why stand behind all your sales with a zero-risk promise or money-back guarantee? There are a few answers to that question, but the most important one is this: Zero-risk promises and money-back guarantees build trust. Trust is the single most important element required for building a long-term relationship with a customer or client. Trust is also one of the hardest qualities to build. People are used to being scammed. We read about it in the news every day. And if you are doing business on the Internet, this is doubly true. Hucksters, fraudsters, and hackers are coming out of the virtual woodwork. Let me also interject here that everyone I talk to about this testifies that 100-percent money back guarantees have been crucial to their success. You should see a zero-risk promise as a huge wrecking ball smashing through the wall that separates you and your prospects. Beating your competitors Offering satisfaction guarantees also helps you set your brand above your competitors. See what kind of guarantee your competitors offer, if any, and see how they communicate it. Once you know this, offer a better guarantee and do a better job promoting it in your business. You’ll probably find that you have no more unsatisfied customers when you go “zero risk.” In fact, you’ll probably find that, as a percentage, you have fewer. You see, these kinds of guarantees act as a vaccine against dissatisfaction. You’ve put the cure in place before the disease has had time to take root! It’s possible that you’ll even save money. If much of your business is conducted via charge cards, you know that a customer can challenge a charge and easily get the credit card company to issue a charge back. These cost merchants an extra fee. This fee can be eliminated when you smoothly handle the transaction because you are communicating directly with the consumer. For most merchants and products, parameters need to be set up and clearly communicated, such as a time limit. It’s good to be a little lenient when enforcing this, but setting a one or two week time limit is usually a good idea. Discover dissatisfaction causes I heard about one small business owner who added another simple requirement to his money-back guarantee: customers had to tell him why they were dissatisfied to receive their refund. This is a great idea because not only does it help keep buyers honest, it gives the small business owner the kind of feedback that’s required to improve the product or service; this is invaluable information! Finally, make sure you thoroughly communicate your no-risk guarantee. If you do business in a brick-and-mortar location, post it around your shop and be sure that your sales associates always tell customers about it. If you do business on the Internet, post it on all of your pages. Use an easily identifiable “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” icon that helps imprint the message into your shopper’s consciousness. Be sure it’s on every page that shoppers have to navigate through in order to make a purchase. Is your guarantee working? Finally, if you’re worried about customers taking advantage of your generosity, here’s how you need to analyze the situation: Find out what your conversion rate is now. Find out what your customer acquisition cost is now. Find out...
read moreThis Week in Small Business: The psychology of viral Tweets, marketing to empty nesters, when to fire…
The experts were busy churning out some great marketing advice last week. If you want to do a better job Tweeting or using direct mail to reach empty nesters, we have something for you. Marketing and sales Why do Tweets go viral? To answer that, you need to understand the psychology behind the Tweets. New Balance shoes are iconic. It turns out the company’s content marketing is equally as brilliant. We talk a lot about the importance of video marketing. If you need a basic small business guide to get you started, you’ll find it here. In this sponsored post I wrote for MasterCard Biz, I outline seven retail sales strategies and I bet there are more than one that you’re not using. For many small businesses, Instagram can be the killer social media marketing platform. Here’s how to use it to grow your business. Peter Daisyme, cofounder of Hostt, gives his five steps for creating a killer marketing strategy. Did you know that Cisco is hiring more than 200 content marketers? Find out why. 75 percent of smartphone users abandon sites that aren’t mobile optimized. That’s just one piece of information in this article that will help you improve your online sales. TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden delivers his thoughts on influencer marketing and hybrid content marketing strategies. Have you considered traditional direct mail marketing to reach all those empty nesters out there with money to spend? Leadership, management, and productivity If you do a lot of traveling for your small business, you’ll appreciate the findings in this Holiday Inn Small Business Traveler study. Sadly, there comes a time when you need to let an employee go. But how do you know when that time has come? If you need help (and maybe a little kick in the pants) to connect with a mentor, this sponsored article will help you leverage technology to make it easier for you. Apple Pay is not standing still in the mobile payments market. Learn what the company is doing now. Politics, government, and the economy Mastercard Biz asked me to sum up the testimony I presented to the House Small Business committee. See if your thoughts and mine line up! Some say that half of the working U.S. population will be employed in the “gig economy” within five years. That’s just one of the surprising statistics in this article. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Be sure you validate your startup idea – it can make or break...
read more14 habits and hints for finding great startup ideas
Some people look at the glass and say it’s half full. Others see the same glass and say it’s half empty. Entrepreneurs look at the glass and wonder, “What can I make and sell to that guy to top off his drink?” As silly as that introduction may seem, I think it really captures the different way entrepreneurs see the world: They look for opportunities everywhere! And if you don’t get anything else from what I’m about to say, I want you to get this point: If you want to be a successful business creator, you need to look at the world differently than 98 percent of the world’s population. You need to discover the opportunities around you. Most will have no commercial merit, but a handful will be valuable and worth pursuing. With all the tools available to us on the Internet today, there has never been a better time to take your ideas on a test drive. Try things. Experiment. Since you can create an online presence for tens of dollars a month, you can throw a variety of ideas against the wall and see what sticks. And here’s a habit you need to develop: Keep a notepad (either digital or real paper) handy at all times so you can capture all your ideas – even the ones that seem far fetched. To get help you develop this new way of looking at the world, here are 14 practical habits and hints. Listen to your neighbors, relatives, and yourself. Every time they talk about a problem they’re having, put it in your notebook and consider solutions to it. Study negative reviews. See what problems people are having with an existing product or service. Can you make a better product or supply a better service that will cause greater customer satisfaction? Combine elements in a new way. Pokémon Go combined a mobile game with “enhanced reality.” Find a new application or adaptation for an existing product. What are today’s expensive air beds but an adaption of the air mattresses we all used to use when we wanted to float around the pool? Find a use for something that is currently a waste product. This gives you an identifiable group to market to (the eco-conscious) as well as cheap raw materials. It may also show you how to do something and create less waste and allow you to offer and product or service at a lower price. Take something from the “real” world and create an Internet version. For example, Pinterest is essentially an online scrapbook. Each week look through Google Trends. When you find out what people are looking for – if it’s something other than “Kim Kardashian” and similar searches – you know that there is some kind of demand associated with it – even if it’s just for additional information. Can that demand be monetized? Go direct to consumer. The recent rise of online “clubs” – shaving, wine, jerky, and many others – proves that you don’t have to have cutting edge technology for a successful startup. Do something that complements a rapidly growing market. You don’t have to have the $10-billion idea. Having the $10-million idea is good too! What service or product would enhance a quickly growing industry segment? Crowdsource something. Leverage the...
read moreYour Key To Success: Sales Preparation
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It’s an often heard adage that applies to virtually any situation, but with sales it’s especially important because failure isn’t a mere inconvenience – it can be the difference between financial success and financial ruin…or at least financial mediocrity. I once saw the results of a study that said 57 percent of a purchase decision is made before the buyer has any contact with a supplier. Let me put this in graphic terms so you can really get a feel for how important it is. Imagine you’re about to start a race. You look up from the starting blocks and find that the person you’re running against is already 57 percent of the way down the track. You have some serious catching up to do! This underscores the importance of doing extensive preparation before you make any sales call – whether it’s to an existing customer or you’re prospecting via cold calls. You see, if you are able to intelligently engage your prospects or customers (who are 57 percent ahead of you) you can get them to pause long enough for you to catch up to them. If you fail at that, they’ll keep running and cross the finish line without you. Sales preparation steps Your preparation falls into two general categories: Understanding your prospect’s needs, and Understanding how your solution meets those needs. With both of those basic elements understood, then you can begin to craft the best way to engage your prospects to eventually get the sale. Engaging the prospect involves asking the right questions and being attentive to the answers. Let’s first look at how to understand the needs of your prospects. You’ll first want to get a solid understanding of the company itself and how it stands in relationship to its competitors. What are its strengths and weaknesses? If you’ve been in this industry segment for a long time, you may already have a good feel for this. But even if you’re experienced, talk to others and read industry materials. Know who the leading companies are and if you’re approaching one of the “also-rans,” what would it take to push them into a leadership position? Be able to discuss the trends within the industry and how your product or service supports these trends. Do a little digging so you know the history of the company. Has it had any major successful projects or products? If its president or CEO were to give a talk and brag about the company’s achievements, what would they be? Using social media for sales preparation Social media is a huge benefit for us today. If you follow the social media accounts of your prospects, you’ll quickly discover what they assume to be their strengths. Then, by noting what they don’t tout, you’ll have some clues as to their weaknesses. Next, you’ll need to get a good feel for the person or people you’ll be meeting directly with. Again, social media can be a huge benefit. Look for shared LinkedIn connections and if any of these shared connections are people you are close to, make some calls to get additional details about your prospect. Look for shared interests and if your prospect seems to be actively engaged in social media, become a “follower” of his...
read moreWhat Jerry Maguire teaches us about business partners
They say that opposites attract, but the truth is deeper and more important than that simple observation. See if you remember this Tom Cruise line from the movie Jerry Maguire: “You complete me.” He was talking to Dorothy Boyd (played by Renée Zellwiger) and before he delivers the line he talks about how rough and cynical the world of sports representation is. Dorothy Boyd has a simple, straightforward, authenticity that Jerry Maguire yearns for. Together, in love, they complete each other. (By the way, just after that famous line, Zellwiger says, “You had me at hello.” How often do two quotable lines come from the same scene in a single movie?) When a small business partnership is needed Often it takes a partnership to make a small business “complete” and ultimately successful. Sometimes your spouse might be the ideal partner in your small business. For the right couple, this can be a very rewarding relationship. There are, however, risks that stretch beyond the risks unrelated business partners typically face. The first step in deciding if you need a partner, is to have a good understanding of: Your business knowledge and skills, and Your personality. If you don’t have the knowledge and skills to drive the success of your small business, you need to go out and get them. An advisory board can help in some areas and hiring can help in others. But sometimes, you may feel you need someone else “with skin in the game” to really provide the dedicated horsepower necessary to grow your small business to the heights you envision it. However, if you decide to go this route, you need to choose wisely. If you don’t, you can end up in a situation worse than where you began. We know that delegation is critical for the successful growth of a small business, but if you don’t partner up with someone who can handle his or her own “turf,” you aren’t doing yourself any favors by creating a partnership. The best small business partner Ideally, your partner should “complete you” – at least in terms of the knowledge, skills, and personality required to manage and grow your small business. There are two critical parts of “completing you.” The first is all about the business skills you each bring to the table, while the second involves the nature or disposition of you and your partner. What are the strengths you bring to your small business? Are you a sales and marketing rock star? Do you know how to make systems run efficiently for maximum ROI? Are you a technical guru who can do all the coding you need for a killer web presence? Sit down and honestly assess your strengths. I have a short skills assessment form you can use if you want some help. After you do this, you need to consider the areas where you are weakest; those will help point you to the right partner. If you hire someone with essentially the same skill set as yours, you’ll always be butting heads over both the big issues and the minutia of growing a small business. In terms of skills, they usually divide between general sales skills and the general technical and operational skills required to run a business. Consider the original partnership between Steve...
read moreCreating young entrepreneurs: Let’s get as serious as Google
As I’m writing this we’re squarely in the middle of summer. For much of the nation, the heat won’t really let up for at least a month and a half. From a marketing perspective, it’s the best time for the neighborhood kids to set up their lemonade stands. I wonder how many entrepreneurs can trace their first business experience back to a lemonade stand set up in their front yard. It’s a great experience and a tradition that continues to this day. However, I didn’t hear a person recently comment that the lemonade stands in his neighborhood were all set up to raise funds for charity. He thought that could be a mistake. Why not let the kids keep the money so they could experience the fruits of their labor directly? There is certainly nothing wrong with fundraising for your favorite cause, but it’s also important to recognize and reward successful commercial efforts. Frankly, if it weren’t for profitable businesses, charities wouldn’t have any sources of income. As great as a local kid-run lemonade stand is, Google has a program that gives it even more juice – if you’ll pardon my wordplay! Google has a division called Google for Entrepreneurs and one of the things they do is organize Lemonade Day programs across the country. It gives the experience of creating a lemonade stand more structure and pushes the kids in ways that the average Saturday afternoon lemonade stand wouldn’t. Participants are required to set a goal, work with a mentor, make a plan, keep a notebook, participate in a workshop, and more. In other words, they need to do the kinds of activities that would be required if they were founding a business they expected to last for years and years – not just through a summer heat spell. To see if there’s an official Google-sponsored Lemonade Day program in your city, check out this map and don’t forget to keep up with Lemonade Day current events via their official Twitter account! I applaud the folks at Google for seeing the need to instill the entrepreneurial spirit in our youth as well as teach them some of the basics of starting and managing a business. And if you’re a parent, I think you should do your part too. Introduce your children to important principles that are necessary for business success. Unfortunately, we’ve seen something of a drop in entrepreneurial activity in recent decades, with business closures now outnumbering business creation. Perhaps the best and maybe only way to reverse this is to redouble our efforts at introducing young people what is possible through entrepreneurism. Support your local lemonade...
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