Archives posted in: Selling
Assigning a list price is an arduous task—we want to make sure we get it just right to ensure good margins and profitability. But are we underestimating the importance of one key question? Who is(are) my end user(s) and how are they using my product? If you can think of various answers you may have various customer segments.
More There are two basic approaches businesses take to managing commercial policy. For most, the default approach is tactical decision making. For some, they take the leap and add strategic decision-making.
More Price bundling typically involves combining two or more discrete products with heterogeneous demand, with the demand for the bundle resulting in higher profits despite it effectively being a discount on each individual product.
More Neil Rackham, Reed Holden, Andy Zoltners, Prabha Sinha, and many others have all repeatedly found that good salespeople are methodical. They use an approach towards sales that drive prospects through a process. The process starts with discovery, goes through a learning phase and needs understanding stage, then a proposal that solidifies the tradeoffs, and finally closing.
More I have seen three or four multinationals, and four to six local suppliers sell the same core product in the same country, at roughly the same price. Because there is so much competition in these markets, customers ask for discounts and drive suppliers to bid against each other to win their business. It is hard to make a stable supplier business in these situations. How can one win? And, what does value-based pricing have to contribute to these markets?
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What better way to attract customers than with a discount? I’ll tell you what is a better way: Redefine your business into something customers actually want to engage as a first resort, not as a cheap resort.
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“Strategy consultant” is a job title that is can mean everything and nothing. It’s no surprise that people have trouble understanding what skills are necessary for a strategy consultant, let alone what the role even normally entails.
More Prof. Haskett defines the “wheel of retailing” as the concept where retailers enter the market through low-price strategies to build market share. With the high market share, the retailer would shift its strategy from attracting new customers to increasing profit margins through higher pricing. In implementing the higher pricing strategy, the retailer opens spaced for a new lower price retailer to come into the market as the wheel turns.
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Our own research—that of Homburg, Jensen, and Hahn—as well as research by Hinterhuber and still other works by Liozu, repeatedly indicated firms that engage sales, marketing finance, and pricing leaders in pricing decisions outperform those that don’t. At this point, we may even call this settled managerial science.
More Let me get this right: Grainger’s “pricing action” was to lower prices. The result was higher volumes and lower gross profits. The aim was a clear market share take. And CEO Donald Macpherson is happy with the result?
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