How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors

Praise for How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitor

"This is the complete book for both new and experienced salespeople and business owners to learn and re-learn the essentials for success. How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors emphasizes the pricing strategies and tactics to increase the market share and profits of any organization. This is a book that is as important to presidents as it is to salespeople."
--Bill Scales, CEO, Scales Industrial Technologies, Inc.

"As the largest service provider in our industry, we have a significant market advantage. However, we constantly walk the pricing tightrope because, as this book so clearly states, 'business is a game of margins . . . not a game of volume!'"
--John K. Harris, CEO, JK Harris & Company, LLC

"If you live and die on price, this book could be your only lifeline."
--Tom Reilly, CSP, author of Value-Added Selling and Crush Price Objections

"How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors successfully illustrates profitable sales truths to assist us in selling for maximum return. This book's well-researched, logical, and affirming words validate the simple fact that as a premium company we deserve premium margins. So, while our competitors reduce or match prices out of fear and scarcity, our managers, thanks to this powerful sales tool, can continue quoting and closing with profitable confidence."
--Joe Bracket, President, Power Equipment Company

"I learned a long time ago that it is pretty difficult to control what my competitors will do, but we must control what we do--like maintaining margins. This book is a 'wow!' that will help my salesmen crack bad habits. Sales organizations should design their entire training programs around the content in this book."
--George C. Giessing, President, Brusco-Rich, Inc.

"This energizing book is the 'right stuff' for every sales force. It should be a required study for every executive and sales professional who seeks to be successful."
--David R. Little, Chairman and CEO, DXP Enterprises, Inc.Unternehmen in allen Branchen haben mit Billig-Konkurrenten zu kämpfen. Um jedoch eine wirtschaftlich verträgliche Gewinnspanne zu erhalten, können Unternehmen ihre Preise nicht endlos senken, sondern müssen einen Weg finden, ihr Produkt trotz des höheren Preises zu verkaufen. Dieses Buch ist ein praktischer Ratgeber, der Ihnen mit vielen cleveren Verkaufstaktiken zeigt, wie Sie Ihre Billig-Konkurrenten umsatzmäßig schlagen können. Er erklärt u.a., warum der Preis nicht das allein entscheidende Kriterium für einen Kunden ist, ein bestimmtes Produkt zu kaufen; wie man ein gutes Customer Service Programm aufbaut; wie man die Argumente von Kunden entkräftet, die sich für Billig-Produkte entscheiden und wie man einen angemessenen Preis für das jeweilige Produkt festsetzt. Mit einer Vielzahl von Beispielen und Situationen aus der Praxis, die Verkäufern anschaulich zeigen, wie sie jedes Produkt - unabhängig vom Preis - erfolgreich verkaufen können. Chapter 1
Employers Can Fail or Go Broke—And Yours Can, Too 1

Chapter 2
But Competition Keeps Cutting My Price 12

Chapter 3
Determining Your Competitive Advantage 21

Chapter 4
Service as Your Competitive Advantage 30

Chapter 5
Why You Really Shouldn’t Mess with Price-Buyers 35

Chapter 6
What Buyers and Customers Really Need—Hint: It Isn’t Low Price 46

Chapter 7
Things Buyers Would Like Besides a Low Price 56

Chapter 8
Your Competitors’ Delivery Problems Will Get You Profitable Sales 63

Chapter 9
Yeah, But I’ll Make More Money If I Cut My Price— And I Don’t Care If My Employer Does Go Broke 73

Chapter 10
How to Face a Competitor’s Price Cuts 83

Chapter 11
The Two Cardinal Sins of Selling 91

Chapter 12
Buyers Make Good Liars . . . If You Let Them 105

Chapter 13
How to “Hang in There” under Intense Pressure to Cut Your Price 121

Chapter 14
Indicators That You Are Underpricing 136

Chapter 15
Indicators That You Are Overpricing 157

Chapter 16
How Prospects Will Attempt to Get You to Cut Your Price 167

Chapter 17
How to Finalize a Transaction When You’re Faced with Price Resistance 197

Chapter 18
General Guidelines on How to Price 211

Chapter 19
Final Thoughts on Selling at Prices Higher Than Your Competitors 225

Appendix

The Premium Price Seller’s Ready Reference Guide 233

Notes 241

About the Authors 243

Index 245

LAWRENCE L. STEINMETZ, PHD, is President of High Yield Management, Inc., and the author of twelve books. An expert on high-priced selling, he has consulted with many Fortune 500 companies and trained more than 200,000 salespeople in public and private seminars and keynote addresses.

WILLIAM T. BROOKS is a leading authority on sales and sales management. A Certified Management Consultant, he has delivered thousands of presentations, training sessions, and keynote addresses. He is also the author of The New Science of Selling and Persuasion, also from Wiley.

The toughest challenge that salespeople and business leaders face today is the battle against lower-priced competitors. How you deal with that will probably determine whether your business thrives or dies.

For decades, businesspeople have tried to solve the problem by cutting prices and making up the loss through higher volume. It’s one of those old business myths that just won’t die—but it’s really just a recipe for disaster! Even if the strategy works, another competitor will probably come along and do the same thing to you! It’s a vicious cycle that never ends, unless you find a way to break out of it.

In How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors, sales gurus Lawrence Steinmetz, PhD, and William Brooks show you how to stop racing your competitors to bankruptcy court and start selling at prices that actually earn you a profit. They explain that business is a game of margins, not volume, and that competing on price might be a surefire way to increase your sales—but it will run your business into the ground.

Steinmetz and Brooks explain that the problem isn’t your competition; it’s the mistaken belief among businesspeople that customers only choose products or services based on price, rate, or fee. The truth is that people buy what they buy for lots of reasons, only one of which is price. If you’re competing with someone willing to lose money to gain market share, the cure is to give customers a reason to buy what you sell other than price.

This one-of-a-kind sales guide shows you how to find the competitive advantage that lets you sell at higher prices. Plus, it presents proven strategies for selling based on value rather than price, how to price products or services correctly in the first place, how to withstand pressure to cut prices, and how to put it all together into a sales strategy that keeps you profitable.