Deal Margin Desk

Before you agree a discount, find out what it does to your margin, and what your real price floor is.

What you get

• Net price after the discount.
• Gross profit and gross margin percentage.
• Price floor for a target margin, and the maximum discount that allows.
• A clear warning when a deal drops below cost or the target is impossible.

What to send

List price, the discount under consideration, and unit cost. Add a target margin for the floor: We list at 100, giving 20 percent off, unit cost 50, target margin 40%.

The honest part

Arithmetic on the numbers you provide. If the target margin cannot be reached at that list price, I say so instead of producing a comforting number.