A few letters occupy prominent positions in the lexicon of history; lingering long after the day they were opened. Some are remembered for their articulate and near-perfect use of the English language. Others tarry in our minds based on the diabolical message they transmitted. A new letter has found its way into this noted and well-studied class. Before we get to the latest addition, join me as we review a few famous or possibly infamous letters, The Bixby letter is famous for its perfect use of the English language. Along with the Gettysburg Address, the letter is one of Abraham Lincoln’s most studied remembrances. Ironically, it was published in the Boston Transcript on the same day the post was delivered to a Mrs. Bixby on November 25th, 1864. Here’s what it said: “Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.” I ...

"Locking in" business without knowing more about your customer looks more like this. Let’s think about quantity discounts.  For many folks the idea of “locking in” business by offering up a special discount seems to make sense when future potential is involved.  Here’s how it works.  Acme Manufacturing has yet to purchase your new product but based on your knowledge of the Acme’s size and an intuition that Acme could buy lots of your product, you provide a discount.  Our analysis of many first time sales situations, indicates a couple of key points:   First, the discounts are provided unilaterally, with no probing of the customer’s current purchase price.  What’s worse, we see this tactic used with new, emerging technologies and products never before introduced to the customer.  Sometimes, the seller offhandedly informs the customer, “The normal price for this product is $1,000, but I am going to knock off a hundred dollars so your...

Do you have salespeople who seem to create their own pricing rules?  Are you missing out on margin by those who are afraid to miss out on the deal?  Strategic Pricing Associates is hosting webcast coming up on December 8th at 2:00pm Eastern to address such issues.  How to Stop Undisciplined Discounting and Track Sales Force  Accountability  features Sid Hendry of Gulf Controls and Dave Lienert of SPA .  It's only 60 minutes out of your day and will be well worth it!  Click HERE for more details and registration.

A quick review of the Profit Reports generated by several knowledge-based distributor associations reveals a few undeniable facts: • Distributors sell thousands of SKUs • Distributors sell to thousands of customers • This equates to millions of customer/product combinations Another point dwells just below the surface. While it is harder to spot without lining up the reports over long period of time, our research indicates the typical distributor discounts more when times are good than when they are bad. You would think that margins would go down in tough times and up in good times, but the preliminary results indicate just the opposite. Perhaps times of economic growth cause us to loosen up our grip on pricing mechanisms. Maybe we get just a little sloppy. Or, perhaps our customers rev-up their negotiating strategies. Still, we find ourselves discounting. As we say here in Iowa, " let’s put some lipstick on this pig ."  Our customers don’t think poorly of us b...