Your point about creating more deals is spot on. Having more deals in the pipeline, having more customers who buy at your price, and get value from what you sell will offset the urge to create artificial scarcity. Artificial scarcity is when you and your team believe they can't lose the deal because there are no other deals. Actual scarcity is when there truly isn't other deals.

Margin is impacted by many things. Market conditions, industry price pressures, competition etc. If no one is getting the margins you are seeking, then that is real scarcity.

The key is to determine what is actual scarcity, based on data, vs. fear based compromise, or artificial scarcity.

I’m talking more about the sales perspective of things rather than the car-buying sorts of things…

If you have a target margin to hit on your deal, is it simply a game of chicken? Basically you are betting the buyer on the other side of the table will cave and take the deal as you have structured it? Or are there ways figuring it out – other than letting a deal slip?

I have often thought that good solution selling helps find common ground and drive a solid value-based negotiation – but lately I have seen even the best of those types of deals get submarined by undercutting in this market… is that artificial or actual?

Or are you saying that the scarcity game should be played at a higher level? Meaning – every deal should be treated as a scarce deal, artificial or not – our job in sales is really to create LOTs of deals. If we have LOTS to work with we win the game through closing a smaller percentage of higher margin deals…

That however brings us full circle – getting beat by lower price, more aggressive product placement, etc. on a frequent basis will eventually jeopardize one’s ability to hold the line and we are back in the game of chicken again. After all – we do have to make our numbers at some point…

So how do you break the cycle – particularly in a hyper competitive market such as we are seeing today?

Your point about creating more deals is spot on. Artificial scarcity is when you and your team believe they can't lose the deal because there are no other deals. Actual scarcity is when there truly isn't other deals.

Margin is impacted by many things. Market conditions, industry price pressures, competition etc. If no one is getting the margins you are seeking, then that is real scarcity.

The key is to determine what is actual scarcity, based on data, vs. fear based compromise, or artificial scarcity.

I’m talking more about the sales perspective of things rather than the car-buying sorts of things…

If you have a target margin to hit on your deal, is it simply a game of chicken? Basically you are betting the buyer on the other side of the table will cave and take the deal as you have structured it? Or are there ways figuring it out – other than letting a deal slip?

I have often thought that good solution selling helps find common ground and drive a solid value-based negotiation – but lately I have seen even the best of those types of deals get submarined by undercutting in this market… is that artificial or actual?

Or are you saying that the scarcity game should be played at a higher level? Meaning – every deal should be treated as a scarce deal, artificial or not – our job in sales is really to create LOTs of deals. If we have LOTS to work with we win the game through closing a smaller percentage of higher margin deals…

That however brings us full circle – getting beat by lower price, more aggressive product placement, etc. on a frequent basis will eventually jeopardize one’s ability to hold the line and we are back in the game of chicken again. After all – we do have to make our numbers at some point…

So how do you break the cycle – particularly in a hyper competitive market such as we are seeing today?