“Be as generous with your offer as you possibly can.” – Graeme McCorkell
Graeme was my mentor in my third job in advertising.
Years later, I wrote copy for him when we started our agency back in 1978.Another fount of good sense I like to quote is Bob Bly, who was talking about, of all people, Minnesota Fats, the American billiards player.
A film called The Hustler was made about him.
Allegedly he always planned his shots so that if one went well, he had the next shot lined up.
Everybody good advises you to be generous with your offers, though idiots don’t realise what a difference it makes.
They worry that people might take advantage of their generosity, but they should only do so if they’re selling rubbish.
Maybe this explains why so many of the get rich quick offers we see nowadays don’t come with a money back guarantee.
I may in the past have quoted my old colleague Brian Thomas, a wonderful man who once advised a mattress client to offer a lifetime guarantee.
This won’t stop me repeating myself like a cracked record.
When the client expostulated Brian said, “After 20 years, you’ve had that money in your bank. You’ve made a profit whether you have to give back the money or not. In any case, most people will have forgotten.”
So there you are – be lavish with your guarantees.
We’re exceedingly generous but paradoxically careful with ours.
If you want us to work for you, first of all we have to believe in what you offer and we think we can do a good job.
If so we offer a no-fuss, no-quibble money back guarantee.
In God knows how many years running this business and its predecessor, I’ve only had to do that once so we must be pretty good.
Why don’t you drop me a line and find out how good.
Best,
Drayton
