As companies head into the final years of this century, they are going to need all the help they can get to remain profitable and retain market share. Enabled in part by a growing sophistication in the use of information technology, customers are becoming increasingly savvy about marketing, manufacturing, distribution, and logistics. Consolidation has shrunk most markets, and the buyers who are left are increasingly likely to band together to purchase in bulk and negotiate lower prices. Empowered by knowledge and increased bargaining clout, customers are demanding greater value from their suppliers. For most buyers, however, it means quality, selection, and availability-all at the best price.
Customers are also less likely to equate value with a brand name.
Even as customers make fewer distinctions among brands, they have set their hearts on getting the exact features they need and are more likely to refuse to pay for the features they don't need. The result of all of these changes is that pressure to partner with customers has never been greater. Instead, they will have to back up their sales pitch with solid facts, concentrating their efforts on the 20 percent of customers who bring in 80 percent of business, and treat the prospect as a partner whose profitability is as important as their own. These companies will prepare their sales forces to deliver compelling presentations of products and services, using graphics, text, even multimedia. Their reps will be armed with information from experts from all corners of the organization, information that will be at the reps' command at the moment that they need it to respond to customer questions and objections.