An entire special section in the Wall Street Journal focused on businesses cutting costs.

A USA Today article discussed how more people are opting for credit cards that just don’t give airline or other travel points, both those that can cut mortgage payments, or reduce their monthly interest expenses.

And as you likely have experienced, buyers everywhere have been instructed to squeeze their suppliers for the best deal.

Yes, a hot issue today is cutting costs.

And, any biz school student can tell you that to increase profits, you can increase revenues, or, you guessed it, cut costs.

Is that something you can affect?

How do you help companies or individuals control or cut costs? (Which, in turn, increases profits.)

How are you doing it?

Of course, before you go crazy with the idea, it’s important to understand whether your market is interested in cutting costs. If so, capitalize on it.

Here are some specific ways to do so.

During Conversations With People Other Than Your Decision Maker
As I always preach, get information from anyone and everyone before speaking with your decision maker. So, ask questions of admin assistants, others in your buyer’s department, or anyone for that matter:

"What are the initiatives in your division/ group/department? Cutting costs? Increasing productivity?"

"Has there been an emphasis on cutting spending lately?"

• Then, if you learn, or know, that cost cutting and expense control is important, you can work that into your call strategy. Here are ways to do so.

  In Your Opening Statements
  Based on what you know about your prospects and customers, you could use words and phrases like these. Think of how you could customize these to to fit in what you sell and what you could do for them.

  For example, you could say,
  
  "Ms. Prospect we help companies to …"

  …cuts the costs of…

  …reduce expenses on…

  …trim the fat from…

  …lower the payments on…

  …lessen the…

  …control the costs of…

  …reduce interest rates on …

  …eliminate the waste of…

  …minimize the number of …

  …prevent increases in …

  …pay less for…

  …get discounts on…

  …increase the amount of ____ they get, for the same price they’re paying now.

  …reduce spending on…

  …delay increases in…

  …consolidate the bills for…

  …take advantage of credits for…

  …reduce their debt…

Of course, there are many other ways to communicate how you can help control costs. Saving time is another major area. Think of ways you can include that as well.

Questioning
In your questioning, it’s important to help understand where they’re bleeding.

Then, open the wound wider.

"What’s that costing you?"

"What other costs are you incurring?"

"How is that affecting overall profits?"

The language of cost is universal. It touches a nerve. If you can affect it, and it’s something that is important to them, that’s a recipe for your sales success.