I have a service business where 99% of my potential leads are
contacted by email. I provide all the usual contact info - my name,
address, phone, logo, etc. in the email.

There is no need for a website.

However, to generate more customer confidence, I need some type of
guarantee to put in my email to first time customers so they will
trust me and purchase my service, which service needs to be paid for
upfront by the customer.

Is there anything along the lines of Squaretrade or Verisign I could
sign up for that would provide some type of symbol (like BBB) just for
email use?
 
Thanks for your help.

Privacy group Trust-e once introduced the "Trusted Sender" program.
Here's the story dating back to 2002, when the program was launched:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020131S0021

This document goes into the problem explaining how the system works:
http://www.privacyassociation.org/docs/keonigppt.pdf

There is also an interesting article on the topic on the Trust-e's site:
http://truste.org/about/authentication.phpv

TRUSTe's Legitimate Email Programs:
http://truste.org/sealholders/email_services.php


I would also suggest Cisco's solution: http://www.identifiedmail.com/

Good luck with your search and business.

Sincerely yours,
Boris Khodorkovsky
http://mactep.name/

Thanks for your help. Your suggestions are close but I do not do quite
the amount of email that would make these programs feasible for me.