What is Your Guarantee?

I’m a sucker for a guarantee. Back in the days when my pizza was promised to me in 30 minutes or less, I used to set the timer on my microwave the second I hung up the phone. Nowadays, when I download software that promises to meet all my expectations or I get my money back, I like to raise my expectations to a ridiculously high level to see if they can really make all my dreams come true.

However, it’s pretty rare that I ever take anyone up on their offer. If my pizza was a few minutes late, I smirked to myself and let it go. If I’m not happy with a purchase, I silently scold myself for falling prey to their clever marketing and try to learn from my mistake. Perhaps I’ve spent too many years on the other side of the service counter; I know that most of the time, guarantees are meant to encourage people in the door, not to get them to whine and complain about service.

So it is with mixed feelings that I approach the subject of having a guarantee for a freelance business. On the one hand, I know that potential clients like to see that there is some sort of guarantee in place. It makes them feel more secure in hiring you. It gives them an “out” if you drop the ball. Clients like that. Clients like to hire companies and freelancers who offer that.

On the other hand, few guarantees are meant to be taken at their word. Yes, I intend to honor the guarantee Lorna and I have established for our company. No, I don’t expect that anyone will up and demand that I do.

Therein lies the dilemma. Although most guarantees are made in good faith, no one making one really ever expects them to be necessary. Most of us intend to do a good job from the get-go.

Our company has a quality guarantee. Verbatim from our site, it says: “All of the Berry-Brewer Freelance Agency’s work is satisfaction guaranteed. If, for any reason, you are not completely happy with the outcome of your project, we will work with you to reach a positive outcome. Reasonable requests will always be completed free of charge.”

When Allena Tapia guest posted on Freelance Parent, she shared her own guarantee: “No Exceptions – No Excuses!” She promises to get the work in on time, no matter what.

As far as I’m concerned, these are a fantastic couple of promises. However, I assume that they are pretty standard fare for freelancers - most professionals I know always meet their deadlines and are willing to make changes free of charge up to a certain point. That’s just good, basic business sense.

So why the need for a guarantee at all?

I think it does two things: a) makes clients happy, and b) keeps personal ethics high.

It’s the second one of these that means the most to me. The one time our guarantee was really called into question was with the client who made me cry. She was obviously not happy with the outcome of my work. When this much became clear, Lorna and I actually discussed our guarantee and how it related to her demands. I was willing to redo the project, and would have done it without charging her more money. However, we were pretty sure that no matter how hard we worked, nothing with this woman would be “reasonable,” and she would never be happy with the outcome. So we let her go at a fraction of the cost. We felt that in the end, this remained true to our guarantee – which was the most important thing.

So, in a literal sense, we didn’t honor our guarantee. In reality, we did our best to remain respectful and keep our promise in mind. I wonder if that means guarantees are pretty much nothing but words left up to a complex matter of interpretation.

In the end, we kept our guarantee in place and intend to keep it there for awhile.

What about you? How has your guarantee helped or hurt your business?