Selling the Price Increase

Preface: A Tactical Field Guide and System for Selling Price Increases

B2B organizations have counted on their sales teams to sell price increases to customers since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution more than 125 years ago. However, in the twenty-first century, as disruptive economic cycles have become more frequent and shareholder pressure for growth and profitability has become more acute, executives are exerting greater pressure than ever on their sales organizations to extract price increases from customers.

Inflation, demand surges, supply shortages, increased costs, shareholder demands, growth initiatives, mergers, and capital-intensive investments can all lead to the need to approach customers with price increases – as can the regular costs of doing business. Likewise, in our hyper-competitive marketplace it is common to acquire new customers at low (sometimes unprofitable) price points with the intent to raise those prices down the road once the relationship, trust, and value exchange are anchored.

In all cases, it is critical to the financial health of B2B organizations that sales professionals hone the skills to successfully approach price increase conversations with customers.

Over the past 10 years, my team at Sales Gravy has helped hundreds of organizations teach their sales professionals how to successfully sell price increases without losing customers. We've developed a repeatable system that reduces anxiety, builds confidence, and is easy to learn, ...