Several years ago we
heard a respected business advisor say, "Figure out something
that customers want, but which everybody in your industry says is
impossible to provide -- figure out a way to provide it -- and
then guarantee to provide it!"
We knew that our
clients wanted "results". When they retained us, they
committed to spending a certain amount of money -- not just for us to
investigate -- for their money they wanted
"results". The big question came in defining
"results". Were "results" in this context,
synonymous with "success"?
Most of our
investigations accomplished their objectives, but some did not -- most
often because is was impossible to achieve the goal. For example, if
we are retained to locate $1 million in assets and the debtor has
only half of that, there is no way we can achieve the
goal. What if we found the debtor's $500 thousand? What if we found
only $50 thousand? What if we found only $5,000? At what point could
we and the client agree that the investigation had been a
"success"? Clearly, if we could not agree as to whether or
not an investigation had succeeded, there was no way to guarantee
results!
We needed to focus our
intent to guarantee results, on other types of investigations --
matters with clear and absolute goals -- matters wherein the
success or failure was an easily defined, black or white issue. One
category of case that would fill the bill was what we call
"locates". That is, finding people that the client needs to
find or wants to find. Here we could easily define success or failure.
It did not matter if the SUBJECT of our investigation had dropped out
of sight 5 days before or 50 years before. We either found the
individual, or we did not. Now, we could guarantee results!
From that evolved
our contingency locate contract. You pay us a flat, fixed fee in
advance -- usually $500. We will either find the person for whom you
are looking, within an agreed upon period of time, or we refund every
penny of your advance fee! If we fail, it costs you nothing! If we
succeed, you pay exactly what you committed to pay for success! It is
important to note that we are not trying to
"buy in"
with a low, unrealistic fee, and then,
"nickel and dime you
to death" with additional charges. If someone claims to
provide this same service for a lower price, insist on a written
money-back guarantee
