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I came across this Harvard Business Review article looking at software companies’ practices in giving pricing discounts. A Case For Discount Discipline reveals that most companies tend to discount on a case by case basis, and without the sort of overall consistency you might expect to find. Or not expect to find, depending on how many sales people you know and how closely they resemble the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross.

Discounting practices vary so much by industry it’s a little hard to generalize. If you’re in the luxury car business, you probably don’t discount at all. If you’re in the mattress business, fuggedaboutit, discounts go with the territory.

From a business management perspective, there really should be consistency (or at least firm logic) used in determining who gets a discount, in order that customers are treated with consistency.

Check out the article, it’s interesting and just 4 pages.