Margin Pressure

When something happens to make a company's costs rise or revenues fall, margins become compressed, and net earnings are reduced. Today, you'd be hard-pressed to fint an industry that isn't embattled by margin pressure. Salespeople naturally face the brunt of the pressure, as increased sales are the only way to counteract rising costs. Margin pressure in the marketplace can came from a number of fronts, including:

• Rising oil costs that increasing the price of almost everything, raising the cost of doing business
• Increased competition, wider selection and lower prices
• The sub-prime mortgage crisis, squeezing the availability and increasing the cost of money

So what can salespeople do to counteract these whelming external forces? The answer lies in creating more value for your customers and creating that value in how you sell rather than what you sell.

We've done a great deal of research into companies purchasing goods and services and faced with an array of purchase choices that appeared equal in every way but price, they did not select the lowest cost offering.

It doesn't cost more to have excellent sales technique, but excellent technique can command a higher price for your goods and services.