Eben Pagan teaches how to dramatically increase sales by offering guarantees and risk reversals. He explains the psychology behind fear of loss and demonstrates how money-back guarantees can increase sales by 10-50%, while better-than-risk-free guarantees can double sales.
How To Increase Your Sales By Offering Guarantees
Eben explains that humans are twice as motivated to avoid loss as pursue gain, making fear of loss a major barrier in sales. When you ask someone to buy, you're asking them to risk losing their money, which requires overcoming this deep psychological resistance through guarantees.
Money-back guarantees can increase sales 10-50%, while better-than-risk-free guarantees that let customers keep products or provide extra compensation can double sales. Try-before-you-buy offers using the 'puppy dog close' can triple results by letting customers take mental ownership first.
Prospects need explicit step-by-step directions for every part of the buying process. Eben emphasizes telling them exactly what to do, what to expect, and helping them visualize taking action and achieving results before asking for the purchase.
Eben shares examples from real estate agents offering 30-day sale guarantees and his own seminar guarantee of full refund plus $100 cash. He demonstrates how to honor guarantees immediately while explaining why the increased sales offset any additional refunds.
“If you offer a risk free money back guarantee, you'll often increase your sales by ten, twenty, 30, sometimes 50% or more. If you offer a better than risk free guarantee where they get to keep the product even if they ask for a refund or maybe they get to keep the product plus something extra, you can often double your sales.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 6:06
Money-back guarantees can increase sales by 10-50%, while better-than-risk-free guarantees can often double your sales. Try-before-you-buy offers can double, triple, or even more your results depending on the offer.
“The puppy dog close is, if you sell puppy dogs, let someone take the dog home and let them keep it for a few days before they decide if they want to buy it. And if they do, what they'll do is they'll fall in love with the dog and then of course they'll come back and they'll give you the money.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 6:39
The puppy dog close means letting customers try your product before they buy it. Like letting someone take a puppy home for a few days before deciding - they fall in love and come back to pay, whereas fewer people buy when forced to decide on the spot.
“They don't know what to do. You have to tell them what to do. And you need to give them specific instructions.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 8:38
Tell prospects exactly what to do step-by-step, including every detail like 'click the button below that says order now, fill out the simple one page order form, enter your credit card information, click finish my order, and you'll be taken to the videos where you can start immediately.'
“We're about twice as motivated to avoid loss as we are to pursue gain. Fear of loss is a huge motivator.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 1:02
Humans are wired to be about twice as motivated to avoid loss as they are to pursue gain. This makes fear of loss a huge motivator, which is why asking someone to spend money creates anxiety about potentially losing that money.
“Invest in this program. Come attend the whole program. And if by the end of the program, you're not convinced that this program is worth 10 times the investment, just walk up to me at the end and say, Evan, I don't think it was worth it. I'll give you a full refund, plus I'll give you a $100 in cash just for wasting your time.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 3:44
A better-than-risk-free guarantee gives customers their money back plus something extra, like keeping the product or receiving additional compensation. Eben offers full refunds plus $100 cash at seminars, which he honors immediately when requested.
“A person will only take an action that they have first seen themselves taking inside of their own mind. What you wanna do is see if you can get your prospect to imagine taking the action.”
— Eben Pagan▶ 10:30
Get prospects to imagine purchasing your product, using it, and receiving the benefits. You can directly say 'imagine what your life is going to be like when you've achieved the outcome and how differently you're going to feel.'
Step-by-step process for implementing guarantees that increase sales while managing risk
Start with money-back guarantee
Offer a 100% money-back guarantee to remove basic purchase risk and increase sales by 10-50%
Consider better-than-risk-free
Add extra value like letting customers keep the product or providing additional compensation to potentially double sales
Include reasonable conditions
Set fair conditions like following your advice or meeting certain requirements to protect yourself while maintaining the guarantee's power
Write clear call-to-action
Provide step-by-step instructions telling prospects exactly what to do, what to expect, and when they'll receive their product
Help them visualize success
Get prospects to imagine purchasing, using your product, and achieving the desired outcome before asking them to take action
Humans are twice as motivated to avoid loss as they are to pursue gain, making fear of loss a huge motivator in buying decisions
Eben explains this is why asking someone to spend money requires them to risk losing that money, creating a psychological barrier that guarantees help overcome
Money-back guarantees can increase sales by 10-50%, while better-than-risk-free guarantees can often double your sales
Eben provides specific percentage increases he's observed, noting that better guarantees where customers keep the product or get extra compensation show dramatic results
The 'puppy dog close' works because when people mentally and emotionally take ownership of something, they become much more willing to pay for it
Eben explains this with the literal example of letting someone take a puppy home before buying - they fall in love and return to pay, whereas fewer people buy when forced to decide on the spot
You must provide step-by-step directions telling prospects exactly what to do to order and what to expect at every stage
Eben gives detailed examples like 'click the download button, print the PDF, fill out all pages, send to this address, receive product in 7-10 business days' showing the level of detail required
A person will only take an action that they have first seen themselves taking inside of their own mind
Eben attributes this insight to Roy Williams, author of the Wizard of Ads books, and explains how to get prospects to imagine purchasing, using the product, and getting benefits
Real estate agents who offered '30-day sale guarantees or I'll buy it for cash' created very powerful offers by taking on all the risk
Eben worked in real estate and taught agents to make offers like 'I'll sell your home in 90 days guaranteed' or even 'I'll sell your home in 30 days or I'll buy it for cash' with reasonable conditions like taking pricing advice and making repairs
Better-than-risk-free guarantees include offering full refund plus $100 cash for wasted time, which Eben has used at live seminars
Eben shares his actual guarantee: 'if you're not convinced this program is worth 10 times the investment, I'll give you a full refund plus $100 cash' and keeps $100 bills on him to honor it immediately when someone requests it
When offering extreme guarantees, you'll get some scammers but the massive increase in sales makes it profitable overall
Eben acknowledges that people will take advantage of generous guarantees just to get free products, but the 50-100% increase in sales more than compensates for the additional refunds
Humans are twice as motivated to avoid loss as they are to pursue gain, making fear of loss a huge motivator in buying decisions
▶ 1:02Money-back guarantees can increase sales by 10-50%, while better-than-risk-free guarantees can often double your sales
▶ 6:06The 'puppy dog close' works because when people mentally and emotionally take ownership of something, they become much more willing to pay for it
▶ 6:39You must provide step-by-step directions telling prospects exactly what to do to order and what to expect at every stage
▶ 8:38A person will only take an action that they have first seen themselves taking inside of their own mind
▶ 10:30Real estate agents who offered '30-day sale guarantees or I'll buy it for cash' created very powerful offers by taking on all the risk
▶ 2:25Better-than-risk-free guarantees include offering full refund plus $100 cash for wasted time, which Eben has used at live seminars
▶ 3:44When offering extreme guarantees, you'll get some scammers but the massive increase in sales makes it profitable overall
▶ 5:11Claim: “Strong guarantees are risky because people will take advantage of them”
Reframe: Generous guarantees dramatically increase sales enough to offset any additional refunds from scammers
Claim: “People know what action to take after being convinced by your sales message”
Reframe: Prospects need explicit step-by-step instructions for every part of the buying process
“We're about twice as motivated to avoid loss as we are to pursue gain. Fear of loss is a huge motivator.”
“They don't know what to do. You have to tell them what to do. And you need to give them specific instructions.”
“A person will only take an action that they have first seen themselves taking inside of their own mind.”
Persuade Masses
The follow-up strategy that turned Eben's business from a single ebook into a multi-million dollar empire—and how it can 10x your results too.
How To Design Follow Up Newsletters
Learn Eben Pagan's proven formula for follow-up newsletters that turn skeptical prospects into paying customers through strategic relationship building.
Creating Elevator Pitch
Learn the exact 5-part formula that transforms boring 'what do you do' answers into powerful client-attracting elevator pitches.
Coaching Strategies
Business Frameworks
Most prospects don't buy on first contact, so systematic follow-up using email newsletters, podcasts, or video series is essential for building relationships over time with prospects at different stages of the buying process.
Eben explains that some house buyers are a year out from purchasing while others need to buy within a week, demonstrating the varying timelines prospects operate on.
Adding an email newsletter follow-up series can increase business results by 10x compared to having no follow-up system in place.
Eben states his business would be 'one tenth the size that it is right now' without his email newsletter series, and millions of people have been on his dating tips newsletter receiving dozens to hundreds of follow-ups.
Most sales happen after the first website visit - on the second, third, fourth, fifth, or even twentieth contact, making follow-up essential for maximizing revenue
Eben states 'many, many sales are made after the first time someone visits your website. Many sales are made on the second contact, the third contact, the fourth, the fifth, the tenth, the twentieth contact'
Follow-up content must be relevant to the prospect's specific interests, fears, frustrations, anxieties, and desires to build meaningful relationships
Eben explains relevancy as 'a good match for what the person is interested in' and connects it to 'what the prospect is afraid of, what their frustrations are, what their anxieties are about, or what their desires are'
