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In music, counterpoint is when two or more musical lines complement each other but act independently. Sometimes I see sales and marketing the same way – connected yet marching to their own rhythm. The key is to figure out how you can bring them together to produce a great result!
Give this great example of counterpoint by Franz Ferdinand a listen with me as we see what the experts are saying this week…
Aligning Sales & Marketing – Price Increases
With costs increasing over the past couple years, a lot of us are in a position where we need to consider raising prices. (To all my clients, don’t worry – this is NOT notice of an increase!)
I’ve been reading a great book lately by Jeb Blount, Selling the Price Increase. According to Jeb, effective price increase campaigns are far more successful at boosting top-line revenue and generating profits than acquiring new customers.
Have you gone through this process before? Or maybe you need to but are dreading it. HubSpot outlines their experience and advice in announcing price increases to customers:
- Contact them directly.
- Let customers know well in advance.
- Remind them that higher prices mean higher quality.
- Explain the reasoning behind the price increase.
- Ensure the entire organization is aware of the price increase before announcing it to customers.
- Allow customers to reach out with further questions or concerns.
Seems simple, right? Not always common sense to everyone. HubSpot also provides template emails/letters for communicating the price increase – take advantage, and maybe your customers won’t be leaving next time your prices have to go up.
What’s Behind the Ticket Price Increases
Just like the price of gas and the chaos at airports, the cost of concert tickets is a global issue. But what’s behind the spike in the price of an average concert ticket? Billboard describes the factors:
- Rising expenses for the artist – roadies, gas, trucks, and other materials. Inflation hits them just like everything else.
- Profits are being split differently – artists are now asking for more and taking more of the profit.
- Promoters have had to find money elsewhere, including higher service, order processing, and facility fees.
Don’t you know? Demand is also higher in this post-COVID world, resulting in parking and concession prices increasing. And if all that weren’t enough, many artists get paid in USD – so as the dollar surges, many other currencies have less purchasing power.
But having said all that – will it limit the number of concerts YOU attend?
In the B2B world, we have to be strategic in how we inform our customers of price increases. But in the live music world, ticket price increases can be dropped like a bombshell and we’ll still pay up. Perhaps the lesson this time is to NOT follow suit.
New Dynamics in Marketing & Sales – Podcast
Glenn Schmelze’s podcast – Funnel Reboot – has a ton of useful B2B information. Apparently, even the episode I was on! We talked about how marketing can (and needs to) understand how new sales dynamics are affecting us – come on, give it a listen!
As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello.
Looking forward,
Rick
Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat