Interest Rates Become Sales Tool : Competition: Financing charges are more important than price as a marketing strategy at many firms.

Low interest rates have replaced price competition as the strategy around which many organizations are building sales.

The new approach to selling can be seen in almost any automobile showroom or real estate office, but it is also spreading to others parts of the marketplace that deal with big-ticket items.

Ford Motor added new emphasis to the trend last week when it announced plans to cut interest rates on the purchase of some 1992 and 1993 models to 5.9% from 7.9%--and to continue a 0.5% rate on Ford Taurus leases.

In doing so, Ford in effect seemed to say that low interest rates might be as important as price--or even more important--in enticing hesitant customers into making a decision to buy.

The interest-rate approach is hardly a replacement for price competition. However, it does suggest that pricing may have lost a little credibility as a marketing vehicle.

Many people, for example, have little idea of the relative prices of new cars, especially after equipment and other charges are totaled. But they do know interest rates; in fact, seldom have rates been better understood.

Emphasis on price also conflicts with consumer conservatism, which is marked by a desire to avoid large commitments. By emphasizing interest rates, sellers are better able to express cost in terms of monthly charges.

Having experienced times in the past two decades when interest charges were more than double what they are now, buyers are aware that such bargains are temporary, and that if they don’t act now they may miss out altogether.

The desire to “lock in” low rates is especially acute in real estate markets, where many budget-conscious buyers are as concerned about monthly payments--heavily influenced by interest rates--as they are about price.

Responding to this concern, real estate agents today are as well-versed in local lending rates and lender practices as they are about the peculiarities of individual houses or the merits of colonial versus ranch houses.

Securities brokers also have benefited from low interest rates by accommodating investors who are fleeing from them. Billions of dollars have moved from debt securities into stocks over the past year.

Competition by interest rate has also penetrated the credit-card market, once almost invulnerable to rate changes. Rates that were close to 20% a year or so ago, and seemingly stuck there, may now be nearly a third lower.

Recognizing the marketing power of interest rates, some of the nation’s largest companies, including American Telephone & Telegraph, General Electric and General Motors, now seek to move their products by issuing low-rate credit cards.

Having failed to nudge stubborn buyers into the marketplace by means of the old-fashioned approach--product uniqueness, quality, service, price--they have finally found something they feel will work.

That is, low interest rates.