This common scenario is why so many companies fail to maximize price increases, sales professionals and their leaders feel frustrated, and unhappy customers are lost along the way.
Sales professionals are ill prepared to talk with customers about price increases because they don't get trained and there are almost no resources to help them develop the skills to do so. If you scour the internet for information on how to sell price increases, you'll be hard pressed to find any system, process, or framework for these crucial conversations.
That is why this new book from my friend Jeb Blount is so important. As far as I can tell, no one in history has ever written an entire book on how to approach B2B customers with price increases. But that's Jeb – grab a piece of the sales puzzle, blow it out, and show you exactly how to do it. This is why I wasn't surprised when I learned that he was writing Selling the Price Increase because, quite frankly, it is a book that only Jeb could write.
If you've ever had to deliver price increase news to a customer, then you know it isn't easy. Yet when sold effectively, customers accept price increases, remain loyal, and often buy even more. In Selling the Price Increase, Jeb gives you exactly what you need to successfully sell and defend price increases without losing your customers.
Jeb knows sales. He is one of the most gifted sales strategists of our generation. Pick a subject, sales discipline, or situation and Jeb has studied it, done it, and understands it. This is why when Jeb talks, salespeople pay attention, and you should too.
—Victor Antonio,
Author of Mastering the Upsell
Acknowledgments
Writing a book is incredibly disruptive. It turns life upside down. “The book” takes precedence over everything. People, family, business, life, and fun are put on hold. Everything is sacrificed for the book.
I owe deep gratitude to my wife, Carrie, who endured this process with grace (for the 14th time) while I spent hours hunkered down “in the zone” writing.
Mary Lester, you deserve a special place in heaven for dealing with my rotten mood swings when business got in the way of writing. Thank you very much for the herculean job you did managing my crazy schedule to give me time to focus on this book.
Shannon Vargo, once again you answered my call. When I told you that the trends were in our favor and we needed to get this book to market fast, you didn't hesitate. Thank you very much for trusting me.
Christina Verigan, thank you for being with me every step of the way on this book. You have been my rock throughout this challenging writing process. You are an awesome partner!
Deborah Schindlar and Sally Baker, thank you as always for your tremendous support.
Abby Lester and Sarah Kitchen, thank you so much for proofreading and editing. We are so blessed to have you on our team.
Finally, thank you to the entire Sales Gravy team for all that you do to bring my books to life in the classroom and the positive and lasting impact you make on the sales profession.
1 Sales Professionals Hate Price Increases
I clearly remember the very first time in my career that I was asked to go out and get price increases from my customers. My boss called a meeting with all of the account managers in our region. At the meeting, he handed each of us a list of our accounts and the monthly revenue volume of each account.
I sunk in my seat as he dropped the bomb. We each needed to get a net 6 percent increase from our account base. He asked us to go through the list and choose the accounts to approach for price increases. He gave us until the end of the week.
Back at my office, as I started pouring over my accounts, I became sick to my stomach. I'd worked hard to establish those relationships. Many customers had become friends. Raising their prices felt like a form of betrayal.
As I evaluated each customer, I found good reasons why I shouldn't approach them with a price increase. I went through the list again and again but could only identify a few accounts to go after. I came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to net a 6 percent increase on my customer base.
When I met with my boss at the end of the week, I unloaded all of my excuses. But to no avail. He told me flatly and firmly that our leadership wanted a 6 percent increase and there would be no excuses. I had no choice.
I left that meeting feeling deflated and consumed with fear for how my customers would respond. I almost quit my job over it. Prior to being told I had to sell price increases to my customers, I loved my job. Now, I was questioning everything. I'd rather have done a thousand cold calls from inside a shark tank than approach a single customer with a price increase.
Mostly though, I was afraid. I procrastinated and avoided those conversations until I was forced to get the job done because I was out of time. I made lots of mistakes and fear got the best of me. It was one of the worst periods of my sales career. I made it through that awful ordeal but the lessons I learned about confronting fear stuck with me.
Salespeople Hate Price Increases
Over the years I developed thicker skin and a more effective approach to price increase conversations. But I still don't like to do it. It's one of things I share in common with most sales professionals and account managers – nobody likes price increases.
The truth is that salespeople love close sales, love to give discounts, love to make our customers happy, love to solve problems. But, as a rule, we have a psychological aversion to and loathe selling price increases.
Approaching customers with price increases sits at the tip top of the pantheon of things sales professionals hate. It sits higher than collecting receivables, cold calling, and entering data into the CRM.
Given the choice between selling price increases and doing anything else – and I mean anything – salespeople will always choose anything else. There are many reasons why, including:
Conflict avoidance
Fear of rejection
Desire to be liked by their customers
Awkwardness of communicating price increases
Sympathy for customers
Fear