Q YOU ARE HURTING YOUR PROFIT 15 answers someplace where you can refer to them regularly. Also, ask some of your loyal customers what benefits they are getting from buying from you. They might mention some things you haven't thought of. The idea is to always have in the front of your mind the reasons customers prefer to do business with you rather than your competitors. If salespeople have no idea why their customers do business with them, it's no wonder so many of them struggle with the issue of maxim- izing price! Forget About Your Competition Too much effort is lost worrying about what a competitor is charging. Forget about your competition. They are not you. It's time for you to be proud of who you are. People who second-guess themselves are never going to excel. Would you choose to follow someone who wasn't sure of himself ? How, then, can we expect customers to pay a premium price for anything if the salespeople they are dealing with are always second-guessing themselves? Even if you sell commodity items, and no matter how price-sensitive the market is in which you compete, there are still reasons, besides price, that sway customers. So, as you develop your list of reasons why your customers buy from you, don't include price as one of them. Take your time to expand your list, and be sure to get input from your custom- ers. When you ask them why they buy from you, you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you hear. More often than not, they will tell you positive news. American Managememt Association · www.amanet.org