Judy Kirkland, Echo Point Marketing Partners

As co-founder of EchoPoint Marketing Partners, Judy Kirkland creates systems and toolkits that empower businesses to make marketing far simpler and far more successful.  Drawing on an award-winning track record in B2B, B2C and B2G markets, Judy teaches clients how to develop an “echo point”  — their own unique value proposition and brand — to determine what to spend, what to say and what biggest-bang tactics to use in online, print, broadcast and face-to-face marketing.

Before co-founding EchoPoint Marketing Partners, Judy enjoyed more than twenty years of success as a nationally known marketing consultant and copywriter for clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. In addition to her YodelPoint.com blog, she is a regular contributor to newsletters and ezines in the fields of franchise marketing, custom media, search marketing, and how to market small businesses and professional services firms.

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The economy is in trouble. But good marketing can still lure plenty of qualified buyers. It’s just harder to close the deal.

For instance, one CEO friend of mine says his sales force has no trouble finding prospects who don’t have upside-down mortgages, vanishing jobs, huge credit card debts or a looming retirements. “But,” he notes, “they get all ready to sign and then at the last moment, they say something like, ‘I just feel maybe I should really wait before committing,’ and the whole thing goes cold.”

A “shared risk” offer can warm up those cold feet.

In real estate, for example, people hesitate to buy right now because they think there’s a risk that prices might fall even further. They don’t want to miss a better deal and they certainly don’t want to get stuck with property that goes down in value. A Virginia real estate development firm has come up with a “shared risk” offer to get people to go ahead and commit.

Basically, the offer is this: Buy now. If the appraised price of the property goes down over the next two years, we’ll pay you the difference.

Signing the contract just got a whole lot less risky. This offer is much stronger than adding extras (like a kitchen upgrade) or reducing the price. Yet for the seller, the cost exposure of the shared-risk offer is about the same dollar amount as an upgrade or discount. Plus, if the value of the property doesn’t go down, the offer winds up costing the seller absolutely nothing.  

Take a look at your own business. Is fear of real or perceived risk keeping your customers from committing? If so, spend some time brainstorming about shared-risk offers that could turn your sale from cold … to gold.