The 5 R framework will show you how to frame your conversation. Results – Remind your client how your product has helped them in the past year. How has your product helped them either reduce costs, increase revenue, or expand market share? Relationship: Emphasize how well you’ve been working together as a team. Say something like this: “Mr. Customer the adoption rate on your team has been excellent. Your team is working with our support team and is familiar with our processes. We’ve managed to handle any product training support or issues very quickly. And right now, the feedback we’re getting is pretty good”.
You’re reminding them of the sunk cost – you’ve invested so much, you wouldn’t want to start over with a cheaper competitor.
Risk: If your client is debating switching to a less expensive competitor, remind them that it’s not a sure thing. “We’ve invested so much in our working relationship, why disrupt that? A change now will result in lowered productivity and down time as your team adjusts to (X Competitor) and may have hidden costs.”
What you’re trying to highlight is that if you’re shifting over to someone else, there could be hidden risks and costs involved. People are typically risk averse and the more you highlight that you’re the ‘known’ entity and they are unknown risk, the better off you’ll be.
Roadmap: Lay out new products, perks, or features your company has in the horizon. Give them a vision for what they can expect in the future and how it will benefit them while priming them for a price increase. If your customer is thinking about leaving you for a competitor: “Over the next 3-6 months, we’re adding XYZ features to keep pace with/ outperform X competitor. So, why change now when in 3-6 months, we’ll have similar features?” You’re demonstrating authority and influence that you understand what’s happing in the market and confidence that your product is competitive. Reveal: Here is where you’ll tell them the actual price increase. “Because the cost of doing business is going up and new features are being added, we’re looking at a 15% price increase. If you’ve followed all the steps up to this point, ( you highlighted the results and success and how much they’ve invested in relationships, new features that are in the roadmap), the 15% (or whatever the increase is) shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. | 