It can feel like there is more risk than reward in raising prices with your most important customers, even when the changes are fair to both parties. No one wants to damage the relationship and lose volume in a process fraught with potentially difficult conversations. And it’s not always easy to effectively convey the value of complex products to your customer, or the long chain of customers between them and the end-user.
By working collaboratively to help sales teams to recognise and rebalance their relationship with customers, we typically help clients to unlock between 7-10% in additional upside as a percentage of revenue. This all flows to EBITDA and recurs annually.
We work collaboratively with the account teams of a nominated list of key customers, to formulate the optimal approach for each at the next negotiation. Through a thorough and balanced analysis of each customer relationship we identify opportunities to take immediate price increase opportunities, defend revenue in strategically important situations, and set the organisation up for long-term success.
The approach also delivers more indirect benefits as well, improving sustainability and repeatability of customer relationships through regular training for relationship owners and negotiators.