As mentioned in a recent blog post, getting your organization ready for raw material inflation includes preparing your sales team for price increase conversations with customers. It’s a skill that needs practice and developing backup strategies in case of pushback is a key component to your sales training plan.

Need help? You can use our Negotiation Tactics Infographic as a starting point.

To prepare your sales team for those difficult price increase conversations, it helps to have a negotiation tactics document that clearly communicates the preferred tactics to use when facing customer objection, and which ones to stay away from. The document should be customized to your business and as specific as possible. We like to break it down in three sections using Green, Yellow, and Red:

  • Green = Recommended Approach. These are the preferred negotiation points to use when dealing with customer objection.
  • Yellow = Proceed with Caution. Before using these tactics, consult with a manager.
  • Red = Not Recommended. These tactics require a manager or higher level approval.

We developed this infographic [PDF] to get you started with your own sales negotiation training plan.

For other tips on how to best prepare, check our other post Communicating Price Increases to Your Customers Without Losing Business.