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.

As I always preach, get information from anyone and everyone before speaking with your decision maker.

So, do your Social Engineering and ask questions of admins, others in your buyer’s department, or anyone you reach 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.

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 in…

…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.

…find the best prices for…

…reduce spending on…

…delay increases in…

…consolidate the bills for…

…take advantage of credits for…

…reduce 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.

NOTE: Most salespeople say “save you time and money.” That boring, and so overused it’s virtually worthless as well.  Find something more creative.

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.