BIG DAVE'S GUARANTEE
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!
Big Dave's
Ultimate Pizza Guarantee
I feel a strong
commitment to quality.
I believe that no one needs to
settle for an inferior pizza. Therefore, if
you ever purchase an unsatisfactory
pizza from any pizzeria in our
area, call me at once on my
personal line, 739-7033, and I will
immediately exchange the uneaten
portion of their pizza with a Big
Dave's Pizza, of the same size and
Toppings...FREE!
Satisfaction
Guaranteed!
I feel a strong
commitment. I analyze other industries all of the time. Not so long ago one of
my favorite motel chains guaranteed guest satisfaction. If you aren't completely
satisfied with your night's stay you don't have to pay. I believe that customers
want to make purchases risk free. This holds true for mail order catalogs and
tool manufactures. I'm sure several names have popped into your head as you
mentally run through companies you do business with. Not so long ago corporate
America looked at refunding money and product as a last resort to deal with
unhappy customers. If the customer complained long and loud you gave him his
money back to pacify him.
The auto-makers
stonewalled it for so long that "Lemon Laws" were legislated by
government to protect purchasers' rights. Times have changed, and I must say for
the good. Now if we can only get the airlines to get on board. They still make
their passengers feel hopeless and angry when Murphy's Law rears its ugly head.
They are long on excuses and short on results. Some day they will
unconditionally guarantee your satisfaction or you will get a complete refund of
the ticket.
To err is human. We
all make mistakes. I know that we mess up 2% of every order we fill. Most of it
is not paying attention to detail. Repeating the order to the customer. Filling
the entire order, not forgetting the soda. The list is endless. Customers expect
no demand, to be taken very seriously when the order is not perfect. Every time
you accomplish satisfying them you gain a little mental Brownie point. Every
time you fail you lose at least ten. Society demands near perfection at every
transaction.
I not only
guarantee my product; I guarantee my competitors pizzas. Why not? Far-fetched
you say? Let's look at the big picture. My goal is to sell pizza to every pizza
eater in my market. You gain new customers one at a time and lose them one
at a time. The only exception to the rule is bad press or a food borne illness
incident. My competition is human and also has an error factor similar to mine.
I hope that when they do make a mistake, my market remembers my Guarantee. It
goes like this.
The first year I
promoted the Ultimate Pizza Guarantee I enjoyed over 300 conversions. The
disclaimer of limiting one guarantee per address is a safeguard that assures you
won't be taken advantage of by people who try to cash in more than once. Next to
the private phone was a Rolodex. Only management and senior employees were
allowed to answer it. Before we make the replacement pizza for the caller we got
some basic information. We asked their name, address, phone number, size and
type of pizza ordered and where they purchased it from. We put this data on a
new Rolodex card. If they already had one in the file we remind them that they
had already taken advantage once before. Since we only honor the guarantee once
we suggest to them that they try us at our daily special price. Only a very
small percentage tried to double dip us.
Currently we give
away pizza to two new customers per week. I figure every new customer is worth,
at a minimum, $500 in sales a year. They in turn have a life cycle of seven
years and will tell all their friends. If they recommend us to only five
friends, the annualized sales are amazing--$10,500 to be exact. And your
investment is only three to four dollars maximum. Oh by the way, I personally
deliver the pizza to the new convert whenever possible, and bring back the
competitors pizza for my crew to analyze and reconfirm that they are working at
the best place in town. Three days after we give them their free pizza an
amazing thing happens to them--they get a hand written thank you card in the
mail, along with refrigerator magnet and three Big Dave Pizza Bucks. Guess where
they will be ordering their next pizza from.