Success in today’s dynamic global economy requires the continuous positioning and repositioning of products. Product positioning involves those decisions and activities intended to create and maintain a certain concept of the firm’s product in the customer’s mind. Salespeople can make an important contribution to the process of product positioning.

Today’s better-educated customers are often seeking a cluster of satisfactions. They seek satisfactions that arise from today’s new three-dimensional (3-D) Product Solutions Selling Model that includes (1) the product itself, (2) the company that makes or distributes the product, and (3) the salesperson who sells and services the product.

We described the major product-positioning strategies available to salespeople: positioning new and emerging products versus mature and well-established products; positioning with a price strategy; and positioning with a value-added strategy.

Pricing decisions must be made at each stage of the product life cycle. Some companies use transactional selling tactics that emphasize low price. Salespeople are often given permission to alter (lower) the base price through the use of discounts and allowances. Consequences of using low-price tactics are discussed in this chapter.

To understand fully the importance of the value-added concept in selling, it helps to visualize every product as being four dimensional. This range of possibilities includes the generic product, the expected product, the value-added product, and the potential product.