Sunday, February 20, 2005
Should You Offer A Guarantee To Your Hypnosis Clients? (part II)
Q: "My original cert. training said to not do Guarantees for a number of reasons all of which I knew were spineless... but the point of liability for change remains... I know what CAN be done cause I've done it... how do you find yourselves conveying this idea in the form of a Guarantee?"
Businesses Fear Giving Guarantees
A: To be fair, this isn't limited to just those in hypnosis, many businesses are afraid to offer guarantees. They think it will cost them too much money. If this is true for them, then their product or service must be low quality. Why else would people ask for their money back?
Research has shown that offering a guarantee can increase sales dramatically, and that on average only about 2% of clients/customers will actually take advantage of a guarantee.
It is a huge mistake not to offer guarantees, and especially in hypnosis. Many people already have a fear about hypnosis. One way to overcome this is to use "risk reversal" techniques, and one of the best of the risk reversals is a money back guarantee.
Take Away The Risk From Your Client
This takes away the risk of them being out a lot of money if they are not happy with the session or the hypnotist, or comfortable with using hypnosis to get the desired change, or convinced hypnosis will work for them.
In any sales transaction one of the two parties bears most of the risk. Think about the last time you made a high priced purchase. You likely spent a lot of time thinking about it and wondering if you were doing the right thing. Part of the reason is there is a risk you won't have made the right decision and you will be out a lot of money. This is amplified if it is something you that is new to you and you have little to base your decision on.
Make It Easy For Prospects To Make A Decision
If there was a money back guarantee, would that make a difference in your purchasing decision? Most likely yes. It removes the risk of losing your money from the transaction if you are not satisfied.
Offering guarantees helps to lower the barrier of entry. By offering a guarantee you assume the risk in the transaction, taking that burden off of your prospective client. It communicates to the prospective client that you are so confident about what you do, you are willing to put your money where your mouth is.
Adapting Risk Reversal To The Hypnosis Business Model
Now an important consideration when doing change work is that you can't control what goes on in the other person's mind, nor can you control the negative anchors in their environment. So the guarantees you offer should take that in consideration.
That is why Mark's money back guarantee is only for the first session, that if they don't feel they have been hypnotized, he will cheerfully refund their money. He knows that what he does works 100% of the time, but it does require effort on the part of the client, and he can't control that, so beyond the first session the second guarantee comes into effect.
The second guarantee requires that they keep coming back until they get the outcome they wanted. If they do this and put in the effort on their part, they will in fact get the result. If they are not willing to do this, hypnosis will not help them anyway or anything else for that matter, since they are making a choice to stay stuck.
The Importance Of Having A Screening Process
One other thing unique to a change work profession, there are certain individuals who go to professionals with the intention of failing. This is so they can tell people that they have 'tried' everything, even the hypnotist couldn't help me, so there is nothing I can do. This way they can blame everything but them self for their problem(s), and happily stay stuck where they are.
If you offer a money back guarantee for results or the outcome, these are the people that will be the ones who waste your time and then take their money back, since they came to you with the outcome of failing to change. The solution is to have a screening process so that you only accept clients who are in fact ready to put the effort in, and that they do really want to change their life in a positive way.
A Guarantee Communicates You Are Confident In Your Skills
Risk reversal is a powerful strategy to use in any business transaction. If you are truly confident that with your skills as a hypnotist you can do good in the world, that you can help people who are suffering, then you owe it to THEM to make it as easy as possible to take advantage of your services. Create a guarantee that makes the difficult decision of going to a hypnotist much easier. Then make that guarantee a prominent part of your marketing materials so the prospective clients notice it.
You can even make it part of your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). A well known example of this is Dominoes Pizza. If your pizza isn't there in 30 minutes, it's free. If it's delivered cold, it's free. This example of risk reversal not only allowed them to dominate the pizza business, it transformed an industry as they all played catch up to the new leader.
Till next time, all the success possible to you!
Craig Eubanks
President
San Francisco Sleepwalkers
Hypnosis & NLP Practice Group
Businesses Fear Giving Guarantees
A: To be fair, this isn't limited to just those in hypnosis, many businesses are afraid to offer guarantees. They think it will cost them too much money. If this is true for them, then their product or service must be low quality. Why else would people ask for their money back?
Research has shown that offering a guarantee can increase sales dramatically, and that on average only about 2% of clients/customers will actually take advantage of a guarantee.
It is a huge mistake not to offer guarantees, and especially in hypnosis. Many people already have a fear about hypnosis. One way to overcome this is to use "risk reversal" techniques, and one of the best of the risk reversals is a money back guarantee.
Take Away The Risk From Your Client
This takes away the risk of them being out a lot of money if they are not happy with the session or the hypnotist, or comfortable with using hypnosis to get the desired change, or convinced hypnosis will work for them.
In any sales transaction one of the two parties bears most of the risk. Think about the last time you made a high priced purchase. You likely spent a lot of time thinking about it and wondering if you were doing the right thing. Part of the reason is there is a risk you won't have made the right decision and you will be out a lot of money. This is amplified if it is something you that is new to you and you have little to base your decision on.
Make It Easy For Prospects To Make A Decision
If there was a money back guarantee, would that make a difference in your purchasing decision? Most likely yes. It removes the risk of losing your money from the transaction if you are not satisfied.
Offering guarantees helps to lower the barrier of entry. By offering a guarantee you assume the risk in the transaction, taking that burden off of your prospective client. It communicates to the prospective client that you are so confident about what you do, you are willing to put your money where your mouth is.
Adapting Risk Reversal To The Hypnosis Business Model
Now an important consideration when doing change work is that you can't control what goes on in the other person's mind, nor can you control the negative anchors in their environment. So the guarantees you offer should take that in consideration.
That is why Mark's money back guarantee is only for the first session, that if they don't feel they have been hypnotized, he will cheerfully refund their money. He knows that what he does works 100% of the time, but it does require effort on the part of the client, and he can't control that, so beyond the first session the second guarantee comes into effect.
The second guarantee requires that they keep coming back until they get the outcome they wanted. If they do this and put in the effort on their part, they will in fact get the result. If they are not willing to do this, hypnosis will not help them anyway or anything else for that matter, since they are making a choice to stay stuck.
The Importance Of Having A Screening Process
One other thing unique to a change work profession, there are certain individuals who go to professionals with the intention of failing. This is so they can tell people that they have 'tried' everything, even the hypnotist couldn't help me, so there is nothing I can do. This way they can blame everything but them self for their problem(s), and happily stay stuck where they are.
If you offer a money back guarantee for results or the outcome, these are the people that will be the ones who waste your time and then take their money back, since they came to you with the outcome of failing to change. The solution is to have a screening process so that you only accept clients who are in fact ready to put the effort in, and that they do really want to change their life in a positive way.
A Guarantee Communicates You Are Confident In Your Skills
Risk reversal is a powerful strategy to use in any business transaction. If you are truly confident that with your skills as a hypnotist you can do good in the world, that you can help people who are suffering, then you owe it to THEM to make it as easy as possible to take advantage of your services. Create a guarantee that makes the difficult decision of going to a hypnotist much easier. Then make that guarantee a prominent part of your marketing materials so the prospective clients notice it.
You can even make it part of your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). A well known example of this is Dominoes Pizza. If your pizza isn't there in 30 minutes, it's free. If it's delivered cold, it's free. This example of risk reversal not only allowed them to dominate the pizza business, it transformed an industry as they all played catch up to the new leader.
Till next time, all the success possible to you!
Craig Eubanks
President
San Francisco Sleepwalkers
Hypnosis & NLP Practice Group
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