Selling the Price Increase

33Coaching Price Increases

After realizing the mistake you made as a leader by setting it and forgetting it, you gather the climbers and the rocks back at the bottom of the mountain and start over.

This time you get the map out and explain the process for moving the rocks up the mountain in detail. You show them where to place the rocks, and teach them how to arrange the rocks to build the foundation once the rocks are at the top of the mountain.

The training goes well and the team seems much more confident and prepared. They grab the rocks and head back up to construct the foundation. This time though, you stick around and observe the process.

You're thrilled to observe that your top performers follow the plan you gave them flawlessly. They march right up the mountain, place their rocks on the foundation, and without hesitation, head back down to get more rocks. The training has paid off.

Curiously though, there are still climbers who are getting confused. When they encounter a cross trail they sometimes take a wrong turn. Others make it to the top of the mountain but then fail to place their rock on the foundation the way they were trained. Still others are immobilized by their fear that a wild animal might jump out of the woods at any time and gobble them up.

It's frustrating. “I trained them all and gave them a process map,” you think to yourself. “They were all there together and each of them acknowledged that they were clear on what to do. Why aren't they all performing ...