Risk reversal is one of my all-time favorite profit-boosting strategies. When I coach energy auditors and home performance contractors, I always discuss the importance of risk reversal; however, it's critically important when you are starting your business. When you are starting out, you really don't have a track record about which to boast to your prospects. Chances are also good that you have no testimonials yet. Your prospects have no reason to trust you, and skepticism is high on the list of reasons customers don't say yes to your product or service. Zig Ziglar always emphasized that one of the five main obstacles to a sale is the lack of trust.
Many entrepreneurs and business owners believe that prospects don't buy because of price. High price is rarely the reason a prospect doesn't buy even from a long-standing or well-established business. Customers don't buy from businesses that they don't know, like, and trust, and the best way to build trust is to reverse the risk.
You’ve probably had your own experience with warranties and know that the product will invariably stop working the day, week, or month after the warranty expires. Prospects will hesitate to buy because of that "what if" factor. What if it doesn’t work? What if it doesn’t deliver as promised? What if I’m not satisfied? It's up to you to eliminate that concern. And you can do that by reversing the risk. That is, you, as the business owner, assume all risk associated with the purchase of your product or service. What other add-ons can you offer to help put the risk more on your shoulders? Maybe you need to personally show up to the job to supervise.
As energy auditors, getting more business is about consumer education as much as it is selling the benefits of having an energy audit done. Try adding risk reversals and guarantees to help book more energy audits. Some examples of guarantees energy auditors and home performance contractors can use are...
"If I can't find 10 ways to save you $100 for under $10 your audit is free."
"We guarantee no more than 2 degree temperature change between each room. "
"We guarantee you'll save this much on your energy bills or we will pay your energy bill."
You’ll find more often than not it is the risk reversal that puts you in the top tier of your competition and can build powerful momentum in your energy auditing business.
Many entrepreneurs and business owners believe that prospects don't buy because of price. High price is rarely the reason a prospect doesn't buy even from a long-standing or well-established business. Customers don't buy from businesses that they don't know, like, and trust, and the best way to build trust is to reverse the risk.
You’ve probably had your own experience with warranties and know that the product will invariably stop working the day, week, or month after the warranty expires. Prospects will hesitate to buy because of that "what if" factor. What if it doesn’t work? What if it doesn’t deliver as promised? What if I’m not satisfied? It's up to you to eliminate that concern. And you can do that by reversing the risk. That is, you, as the business owner, assume all risk associated with the purchase of your product or service. What other add-ons can you offer to help put the risk more on your shoulders? Maybe you need to personally show up to the job to supervise.
As energy auditors, getting more business is about consumer education as much as it is selling the benefits of having an energy audit done. Try adding risk reversals and guarantees to help book more energy audits. Some examples of guarantees energy auditors and home performance contractors can use are...
"If I can't find 10 ways to save you $100 for under $10 your audit is free."
"We guarantee no more than 2 degree temperature change between each room. "
"We guarantee you'll save this much on your energy bills or we will pay your energy bill."
You’ll find more often than not it is the risk reversal that puts you in the top tier of your competition and can build powerful momentum in your energy auditing business.