Any war stories on your top clients losing their shit on a company wide price increase? Aaaaannnd how you kept them regardless? ๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿค‘

thanks in advanceย 
๐Ÿ“ˆ Closing
๐Ÿ‘ฅ Social Selling
๐Ÿฐ War Stories
10
LordOfWar
Tycoon
3
Blow it up
Yes, we lost a major client years ago (before I joined) and just this year earned them back.

We almost lost another major client due to price increases last year, but I used the price bump to push a 3-year agreement I had proposed several months earlier. The agreement pegged our pricing to certain labor and raw material indexes so they know we're being honest. It was also in the best interest of the buyer as they were so overworked it took one file off their plate for a while.

I think now is a great time to offer longer agreements. Simple calculations can provide examples of how much it could cost them to keep going on short contract cycles.
CatMom
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Yes! Weirdly (or maybe not), Iโ€™ve had a ton of success pitching multi-term deals less last couple of months to avoid price increases in the future. I was just very surprised. I think this is the first time in my career where people are eager to sign multi-year contracts!
LordOfWar
Tycoon
1
Blow it up
Its nice to be able to wrap that recurring revenue up and focus on new opportunities. Congrats on the success and keep it going!
Mobi85
Politicker
2
Regional Sales Manager
Every damn day lately, the fluctuation of steel, aluminum and soft goods costs change almost daily.

Have dealt with the continued conversations with customers and the costs for goods they are getting last week may be higher next week. Have had 7 price increases from one manufacturer in the last 6 monthsโ€ฆso basically FML all the time.
jefe
Arsonist
2
๐Ÿ
Only stories involved a 40% increase in price with a new version launch that wasn't complete. Didn't lose customers as they were grandfathered, but it made it basically impossible to sell as the software wasn't meeting the legal requirements for most of my territory.

I couldn't stick it out and just left.ย 
FormerStartupJobHopper
Tycoon
1
AE
Feel like we need more detail. In general though? Prices go up, for everything, every single year. SaaS prices are no different; they need to at least keep up with inflation if not slightly outpace it.

Is it a massive hike? If so, slightly different talk track, but same principal. You are not entitled to a price a second longer than your contract specifies. But you need to be able to point to a reason why ie increased value and/or increased technology or labor costs on your end, etc etc.
AnchorPoint
Politicker
1
Business Coach
Best way to minimize it is by staying out in front of it.ย  Let client's know what is going on and coming in the near future.ย  Honesty and transparency will go a long way to keeping clients.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
๐ŸฆŠ
Everyone is hurting right now. We have to keep our lights on too. ๐Ÿ˜Ž
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
The only option I see potentially working is to be humane towards them hear them out on it and go the route of forced empathy of asking if they were in your shoes what would they do?