What kind of results can you guarantee?

In a past post I referred to some podcasts on value, value pricing and software development. Michael had a few questions about the podcast. These are deep questions so I thought it would be fun to answer them in a video format where I can talk through the considerations and my response.

The second question from Michael:

What kind of results can you put in your proposals in a way that lets you put your guarantee under it and be 99% sure you will hit the results?

What if there are factors contributing to the the results that are not under your control? Do you usually measure the results in units like hours saved, new customers aquired etc. or more like “employees are able to do X with an effort no more that Y per week while processing Z number/percent of widgets more than before”.

Here’s my response: