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The Death of a Salesman ' Online

By Stanley P. Jaskiewicz

The situation is no better in today's competitive international and online economy than in 1949 when Arthur Miller penned his masterpiece 'Death of a Salesman' ' bleak and unforgiving. Whatever he or she might feel about a customer, the sales representative must follow the basic rule of sales: The customer is always right (even when the customer is wrong). With better and more readily accessible knowledge of competing sellers' pricing, customers can comparison shop for the lowest price almost without cost or delay. The lure of a slightly lower price online can make a customer forget the service and support that a good rep can provide. And all the goodwill established by the rep's prior work pales next to a slight price break, from the customer's perspective.

Many bottom-line driven businesses simply will not value the intangible and likely non-quantifiable benefits of a rep who spends time with his or her customer, unless it can find those benefits in a balance-sheet line item. Unfortunately, that attitude ignores the fact that the rep may have devoted many unpaid hours to educate the customer about product offerings, learn the customer's needs and then make recommendations based on that knowledge ' all ignored in favor of a simple price ranking.

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