I've regularly written about
importance risk-reversal plays in dissolving buyer scepticism. As a way of allaying buyer fears, some of my clients have adopted money back guarantees and their sales have increased dramatically just as a result of implementing that guarantee.One area where buyer scepticism is particularly rampant is when it comes to enlisting consultants. A company knows they need to enlist services of a consultant to increase their bottom line, yet in most cases, they've been burnt before, paying too much money to consultants that don't come up with goods.
And, when I speak with consultants many tell me that their services are so much better than their competitors, yet when asked if they are willing to offer a guarantee, 99% say "NO".
The reason for "NO" answer? I often get told, "Advice is only as good as implementation" and unless they can control implementation, they can't guarantee an outcome.
As a consultant myself, I see their point. It's very, very true, however I'd like to tell you a story about a global, franchised consulting group that has been offering a bold "no win, no fee" guarantee for years, with great success too, I might add. As a result, they have no problems getting their feet in doors of even biggest multi-national firms.
The company is Expense Reduction Analysts and they offer a cost reduction service whereby they reduce a company's business operating costs in areas like printing, stationery, freight, telecommunications, travel and so on. Instead of charging a fee for this service, they charge 50% of savings realised in first year. If no savings are found, no fee is paid.
In reality, every company they work with does achieve savings with most shaving 23% or more off their costs. With size of companies ERA works with, this represents a saving of anywhere between $100,000 to $1,000,000. One multinational client has just saved $2million thanks to ERA's efforts. (Incidentally, ERA consultants involved with project pocket a healthy proportion of those savings as their fee.).
