We give of our best day in and day out and the thought of someone returning our product or service and taking our hard earned money back fills us with loathsome thoughts! "You can't please everybody" you cry. "Someone will take advantage of us!" you shriek. And of course the answers to both these statements are "Yes". So why on earth give a solid guarantee if you may be taken advantage of? I think that Bernie Marcus, the founder of Home Depot in the U.S. says it best in this snippet taken from his biography:
"We have a return policy that says you can bring a product back for any reason. No gimmick, no tricks....
Lina Khano, all of 18, was working our return desk when a woman brought in a product that she claimed was defective. Somehow, Khano decided that the customer was lying through her teeth.
When she turned away from the woman to get approval for the return from a manager, an indignant Khano found me standing behind her.
"I can't believe this woman is doing this!" she said under her breath.
"If it were me," I said, "I would give her her money back."
Khano did just that, smiled and gave her the money. But as the woman walked away, Khano was fuming. I put an arm around her shoulders.
"I am going to teach you a lesson that you will remember for the rest of your life," I said. "Sometimes, in this business, you have to accept things that you believe are totally wrong."
"Excuse me?" Khano said.
"Sometimes, in this business, you have to do distasteful things," I repeated.
"Uh, okay."
"Just think about it, Lina," I continued. "This woman, she brought this thing back even though it is not defective. Don't worry about it. Even if we have to eat the cost of it or throw it away, it is no big deal, because from now on, she will have the confidence to come and buy here, and even if she goes home and tells everybody that we are stupid, that's okay, too, because now everybody is going to come shop here and take advantage of us."
The key to our no-holds-barred return policy is that people talk about it. It gets them hooked; they know that they can never make a bad purchase at The Home Depot, because we don't ever want to give them a reason not to come back. There are probably some dishonest people that will take advantage of us. But they are a tiny minority. We are not going to punish the honest folks who need to trust us."
Marcus and Blank: Built from Scratch
Not even 2 Hours ago we refunded a client under our 90 Day Guarantee - We paid him back all the money he's paid to us for the hosting service we've given him over the last few months. His reason? He cancelled "due to a change in direction in my personal life". Was he happy that he had some extra money in his back pocket to help fund his new direction? You bet he will! Will he tell people about Webcraft refunding his money? You bet he will! Will he come back if he ever wants to host another website? You bet he will!
Questions to answer and things to do: Just one thing to do: Make sure that you have a Guarantee that you offer your customers - Nothing instills trust more! And don't forget to list it clearly in writing on your website!
If you have any questions or comments please call me on 0720390184 or e-mail me on webmaster@webcraft.ws.
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