Value Merchants

Business-to-business marketswhat the authors call "business markets"account for a huge proportion of the total GNP in the United States and in other industrialized nations. However, many companies competing in business marketstypically commodity markets or those susceptible to commodizationmust continually resist the relentless price pressures of their clients purchasing managers. Incented to reduce their firms procurement costs, purchasing agents argue that their suppliers product or service is a commodity, i.e. an easily replaceable equivalent. In such an environment, business market firms typically struggle to convince customers of the "value" of their offerings rather than simply focusing on the price. This book presents a compelling approach that allows suppliers to demonstrate and document superior value compared to the next best alternative from the customers perspective, thereby elevating the sales force's role to an advisory position. Many of the examples will come from outside the USA. Audience: Senior management teams and senior managers in marketing and sales in the business-to-business world, in such markets as agricultural equipment (e.g., John Deere), automotive parts (e.g., Bosch), chemicals (e.g., Dow Chemicals), and oil and gas (e.g., Shell) as well as personal computers (e.g., Sun, Dell, Microsoft), telecommunications (e.g., Cisco, Lucent, Level 3, BT), and financial services (e.g., Amex, Morgan Stanley).