I led India sales for an AI and IoT company. One of our accounts was an Indian conglomerate with more than 100 factories.
ROI delivered
annual price escalation
Outside India, the same customer paid more for the same product.
The deal procurement offered
A funded competitor was already inside the group, at one-third of our price. Procurement accepted our volume price matrix and refused annual escalation. Their reasons: "As you succeed, you will get more volume." And: "Technology only gets cheaper."
We were raising our Series B funding round. The founder took the discount: "This is the logo."
What we signed, and what we did not
Lower prices as volume grew
The price concession was certain and in writing.
The volume itself
How much volume, which factories, and by when.
We started at 5% of the potential. We did agree the success metrics and who would validate them.
We delivered 3X. The value came back as volume, never as price
The value came back as volume, factories and references. It never came back as price.
Outside India, the same group agreed a higher price and annual escalation. The labour saved was worth more there, and the competitor at one-third of the price was not in the room.
The price concession is certain. The future volume is not
What I do now
Before Conceding Price
Separate committed volume from hoped-for volume
Committed means how much, at which locations and by when, in writing. Hoped-for is an expectation that volume will follow success.
Agree success metrics before implementation
So the result is measured the same way by both sides.
Name an ROI validator
A person on the customer side who confirms the result.
Put expansion milestones in writing
The next sites and quantities, with dates.
When procurement asks you to drop annual escalation, the question to answer before you agree is what you get in return: committed volume, named sites, dates, and a validator for the result.
Related: Stop selling like a vendor. Start pricing like a partner — how to anchor high and make every concession a trade.