The global business environment remains turbulent, and many sales leaders are discovering that an important part of their role has become unavoidable: executing price increases and defending margins in front of customers.
One of the enduring ironies of today’s selling environment is that the same forces pushing suppliers to raise—or defend—prices are the very forces driving customers to push back harder than ever. Rising input costs, supply chain disruption, and pressure to improve earnings are met with customers under equal pressure to reduce spend.
As a result, passing along price increases is no longer an occasional event.
It is a core sales execution challenge.
The Sales Team Challenge: Securing Profitable Prices
Securing profitable pricing is not simply a finance or pricing strategy issue. Pricing decisions may be made at headquarters, but they are executed—or undone—in live sales conversations.
And pricing execution matters. Research has long shown that even small changes in realized price have a disproportionate impact on operating profit. A modest improvement in price realization often delivers greater bottom-line impact than comparable gains in volume or cost reduction.
With so much at stake, it is not surprising that organizations are focused on implementing price increases or defending current price levels. It is equally unsurprising that buyers are pushing back with renewed intensity.
The outcome of that tension is determined almost entirely by how well the sales team is prepared to manage pricing conversations.
The Decline in Pricing Power: A Familiar “Perfect Storm”
Across industries, sales organizations continue to experience erosion in pricing power. The forces driving this pressure are not new but they are more intense, more visible, and more persistent than ever.
Four factors continue to converge:
1. Economic Uncertainty
Volatility in labor, logistics, and raw material costs forces organizations to adjust pricing more frequently and often with less advance notice. Sales teams are expected to explain and defend increases, while customers experience similar cost pressure.
2. Global Competition
Low-cost competitors, global sourcing, and digital channels have intensified price competition. In many markets, products and services that once commanded a premium are now treated as interchangeable, increasing pressure on sellers to justify price differences.
3. Buyer Sophistication
Customers are investing heavily in procurement and sourcing capabilities. Many sales teams now face buyers who are trained negotiators, armed with benchmarks, cost models, and formal sourcing processes designed to extract concessions.
Being labeled a “strategic partner” often carries the expectation of lower prices, shared savings, or ongoing concessions.
4. Performance Pressure
Internal pressure to hit revenue targets can unintentionally undermine pricing discipline. When deals stall, salespeople are often tempted to concede on price simply to close business, even when those concessions are unnecessary or avoidable.
Together, these forces create an environment where passing along price increases is harder than ever—and where sales execution makes the difference between margin protection and margin erosion.
Is the Sales Team Ready to Defend Your Pricing?
Despite the importance of price execution, many sales leaders openly acknowledge that their teams are not adequately prepared to defend current pricing or successfully implement increases.
Pricing is typically set by marketing and announced by executives. But it is executed in front of customers—often inconsistently and sometimes ineffectively.
Too often, salespeople allow buyers to control the conversation. They react instead of leading. They allow discussions to center on price (what it costs) rather than value (what it delivers in return). When this happens, opportunities to reinforce differentiation disappear, and the offering quickly becomes a commodity.
High-performing salespeople handle these moments differently.
High Performers Handle Price Negotiations More Effectively Than Others
Across industries, RED BEAR sees the same pattern: the strongest salespeople consistently realize better pricing—even when pricing authority is centralized.
Why? Because what happens at the salesperson–customer interface matters.
High performers understand customers deeply. They know how to frame value, manage tension, and avoid unnecessary concessions. As a result, their customers push for discounts less aggressively and escalate fewer pricing exceptions.
In contrast, average performers unintentionally invite price pressure by how they position, respond, and negotiate.
The difference is not confidence or charisma.
It is a behavioral discipline.
What Works: Winning Strategies for Securing Price
Pricing may be set centrally, but it is secured in hundreds of daily customer interactions. When confronted by tough buyers requesting concessions, high performers respond differently from their peers.
They manage the sales conversation intentionally—keeping the focus on value and avoiding premature price negotiations.
Much like a skilled golfer navigating a difficult course, effective sales professionals adjust their approach based on where they are in the “game.”
From the Tee: Start the Conversation the Right Way
High performers preempt pricing challenges by:
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Framing the discussion around value and outcomes
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Anchoring their solution against credible, higher-cost alternatives
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Building negotiating room by including tradable elements in early proposals
From the Fairway: Advance the Sale Without Reducing Price
They:
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Emphasize both business value and personal value for the buyer
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Introduce a new value that the customer has not fully considered
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Use clear, compelling positioning themes to justify price
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Expand buying criteria to prevent narrow price comparisons
From the Sand Trap: Handle Early or Unexpected Price Pressure
When buyers raise prices too early, high performers:
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Acknowledge price concerns without conceding
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Ask questions to uncover the real drivers behind the pressure
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Stay in the tension rather than rushing to discount
On the Green: Finish Without Giving Value Away
At the close, they:
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Avoid unbundling the price from other deal elements
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Trade value instead of giving it away to reach an agreement
Winning the Pricing Battle Requires Sales Leadership Discipline
Successfully passing along price increases requires salespeople to resist intuitive but damaging behaviors. Most are wired to reduce tension and keep deals moving—even when doing so undermines margin.
This creates clear implications for sales leadership:
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Coaching makes the difference. Leaders must coach salespeople to negotiate price, not simply respond to pressure.
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Telling is not enough. Because these behaviors are counterintuitive, experience and practice matter more than information.
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Reinforcement is essential. Without ongoing coaching and reinforcement, sales teams quickly revert to old habits.
In the end, the old adage still applies: anyone can win business by giving things away.
The real selling happens when sales teams secure agreements that reflect the full value they deliver.
The Bottom Line
Passing along price increases is no longer an occasional challenge—it is a defining test of sales effectiveness.
Sales teams that succeed:
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Stay focused on value
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Negotiate rather than concede
In today’s environment, protecting price is not about being tough; it’s about being skilled.
TURNING PRICE STRATEGY INTO SALES EXECUTION
Passing along price increases does not fail because the strategy is wrong.
It fails because execution breaks down in live customer negotiations.
That execution gap is exactly what Situational Negotiation Skills™ (SNS) was designed to close.
Situational Negotiation Skills™ equips sales teams with a repeatable, behavior-based negotiation capability that enables them to:
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Defend price without damaging customer relationships
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Manage sophisticated buyer pushback with confidence
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Avoid unnecessary discounting and margin leakage
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Trade value deliberately instead of conceding under pressure
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Execute pricing decisions consistently across accounts, regions, and roles
Situational Negotiation Skills™ is not a pricing theory or a one-time event. It is a practical negotiation discipline that builds the skills salespeople need to manage tension, frame value, and secure profitable agreements—especially when price pressure is highest.
For organizations facing frequent price increases, margin erosion, or increasingly professional buyers, Situational Negotiation Skills™ provides the foundation required to make pricing strategy real in the field.
Ready to strengthen your team’s ability to defend price and negotiate value under pressure?
Learn how Situational Negotiation Skills™ helps sales organizations execute pricing strategy where it matters most—inside customer negotiations.
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