Dr. Leslie Norins offers--are you ready?--a $10,000 guarantee.

The most unique "guarantee" that I've seen in my 30 years in the newsletter business is that offered in a promotion piece for Dr. Leslie Norins's Coding Institute. Its headline reads, Your $10,000 Coding Guarantee.

The Institute publishes 29 different specialty-specific newsletters each month that are designed to help doctors in coding their reimbursement claims in order to receive payment from commercial carriers and Medicare. The Coding Institute is part of Global Success Corporation in Naples, Florida.

"We guarantee that the content of your issues over the next 12 months will enable you to gain at least $10,000 in additional reimbursement to which you are lawfully and ethically entitled through more accurate and optimized coding.

"If your reimbursement does not increase, or if you are not fully satisfied in every other way, you can receive a prompt, cheerful refund of every penny of your entire subscription fee, no questions asked. Plus, you keep all issues you have received as our 'thank you' for giving the newsletter(s) a try.

"Thus, you are 100% protected at all times, and take no risk whatsoever.... you have nothing to lose."

For years the standard guarantee in the newsletter business was usually a money-back one prorated on the number of issues left in the subscription.

Most promotion pieces that I've seen recently offer the subscriber the opportunity to all of his or her money back provided the subscriber cancels within 60 or 90 days. After that, the refund will be prorated.

A few years ago some publishers began to offer a 100 percent money-back guarantee over the full life of the subscription.

Mike Gerecht of CD Publications in Maryland reported that in the past they had used the 100 percent guarantee at any time during the subscriber's first year. But, he said, CD Publications now offers a 90-day money-back guarantee after which the subscriber is given a prorated refund.

A new twist on the 100 percent guarantee over the life of the subscription is that used by publisher Kenneth Reid of Washington Information Source Inc. in Rockville, Maryland. WIS publishes high-priced monthly publications such as the $599/year Medical Device Approval Letter.

Reid said that he offers a 100 percent money-back guarantee to first-time subscribers over the full life of the subscription, with a new wrinkle.

The subscriber can ask for a 100 percent refund but the cost of the expensive premium which is sent when the subscriber pays is deducted from any refund.

One of the premiums which is given is the large looseleaf publication called the FDA Computer/Software Manual with a price tag of $325. This tends to minimize the impact on the bottom line of any 100 percent refund request that is made.

While some type of a guarantee is considered essential in promoting your publications, a publisher should be aware that the Federal Trade Commission has regulations concerning guarantees. The FTC insists that the "terms of the guarantee must be conspicuously displayed and the terms clearly defined."

Asked if his "$10,000 guarantee" has prompted any refund requests, Norms said, "We've never been asked for a refund, but neither have we had to issue more than a handful of refunds in our 27 years of medical publishing, no matter what guarantee we made."

The Coding Institute, 850 Sixth Ave. North, Naples, FL 34102. 800-508-2582, fax [phone], [e-mail].