When you're selling strategic transformation into a Decision Making Unit, the commercial conversation is rarely about capability.

Your buyers know you can do the work. The real question they're wrestling with is: "How do we de-risk this internally?"

The obvious answer is usually to add case studies, refine your methodology, or offer pilot projects. But there's a more powerful tool that almost nobody in strategic consultancy uses well: A Power Guarantee.

When designed properly, a guarantee reduces buyer risk, facilitates internal consensus, shortens the decision cycle, and justifies higher pricing - without exposing you to unreasonable delivery risk.

Let me show you how.

A story: When a guarantee changes the game

A consultant I worked with last year was selling a £180k transformation programme into a FTSE 250 company.

Three executives were aligned, the business case was solid, but the deal stalled for eight weeks.

The issue wasn't confidence in him - it was internal risk. The CFO needed to defend the investment to the board. The COO was worried about execution bandwidth. The transformation director needed political cover if things went sideways.

We restructured his commercial model and embedded a guarantee - not as a sales tactic, but as a risk-sharing framework built into the engagement structure.

The guarantee:

"By the end of Phase 1 (120 days), you'll have executive consensus on the transformation roadmap, three pilot initiatives launched with measurable KPIs, and a board-ready business case for Phase 2. If we don't achieve all three - and your team has attended the agreed governance sessions and provided timely access to data - we'll continue Phase 1 at no additional cost until we do."

Within three weeks, the deal closed.

One of the executives told him: "This gave us the language we needed to get this through. Everyone could see exactly what success looked like and what happened if we didn't get there."

That's the power of a strategically positioned guarantee. It doesn't just reduce risk - it facilitates the internal selling process your buyers need to navigate.

Why guarantees work in strategic sales

Transformative consultancy projects are usually expensive, political, and time-consuming, making them hard to sell. Decision makers worry about looking foolish, wasting budget, internal pushback, and not seeing results.

A guarantee reduces emotional risk - the real barrier in most strategic sales. But more importantly, it gives stakeholders a commercial framework they can use internally.

It signals:

• Confidence - you believe in your process and outcomes.

• Clarity - you know exactly what "success" means.

• Shared accountability - you're willing to structure risk accordingly.

It's not about refunding money. It's about making the future feel reliable and giving your buyers the tools to build internal consensus.

The strategic positioning trap

Here's where consultants get guarantees wrong: they position them as a sales tactic rather than a commercial framework.

When you're selling into a DMU - where multiple stakeholders need to align and political risk is high - a guarantee that feels like a closing technique will backfire.

It signals you're trying to overcome objections (defensive), focused on winning the deal rather than delivering the outcome (transactional), and don't understand the complexity of their decision (naive).

The fix.

Position your guarantee as part of your delivery methodology, not your sales process.

Frame it as: "Here's how we structure accountability and shared risk in strategic engagements."

Not: "Here's why you should feel confident buying from me."

The difference is subtle but critical. One is strategic. The other is tactical. And DMU buyers can smell the difference immediately.

How to design a Power Guarantee

A good guarantee isn't about reckless promises. It's about defined outcomes within your control.

In transactional sales, guarantees overcome buyer hesitation. In strategic sales, they facilitate internal consensus.

Your guarantee needs to give stakeholders language to defend the decision internally, create clear accountability on both sides, and signal you understand the complexity of what they're buying.

1. Define the result - Not the process

Weak: "We'll run workshops, create a plan, and support your team."

Strong: "You'll have a validated strategy, a 90-day action plan, and the first three initiatives implemented."

Clients buy results, not deliverables.

2. Set preconditions that protect you and the client

What must the client commit to? Attendance? Data access? Governance cadence?

"This guarantee applies if your executive team attends the agreed governance sessions and provides timely access to strategic data and key stakeholders."

This ensures the client participates in their own success.

3. Clarify the guarantee terms

Your guarantee isn't a refund. It's a commitment to continue working until the promised result is achieved - or a defined concession.

Examples: Additional implementation support at no extra cost, repeat a phase until outcomes are achieved, a credit toward future work, or a partial fee refund tied to specific unmet outcomes.

4. Add a timeframe

"Within 90 days" or "By the end of phase one."

Time reduces ambiguity and makes the guarantee commercially manageable.

The risks and how to avoid them

Positioning it as a sales technique. Introduce it from the first conversation - as part of how you structure accountability in complex engagements, not as a way to overcome objections.

Guaranteeing revenue or profit. You don't control their execution.

Guaranteeing outcomes tied to unpredictable internal politics. If you're not influencing it, don't guarantee it.

Making the guarantee the centre of your offer. It should be the confidence booster and commercial framework, not the hook.

The takeaway

In strategic sales, certainty isn't about confidence - it's about commercial architecture.

The consultant who structures risk intelligently, understands DMU buying dynamics, and positions guarantees as delivery methodology rather than sales tactics - wins complex, high-value engagements.

A Power Guarantee isn't about making buyers feel good. It's about giving stakeholders the commercial framework they need to say yes internally.

And when you provide that framework - clearly, responsibly, and strategically - you close faster… and you charge more.

Want the step-by-step system? My Ready-To-Buy Playbook shows exactly how to build predictable client acquisition for solo and boutique consultancy owners.

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