5 Signals Your Vendor is Preparing a Price Increase
How you can spot the playbook before it hits your inbox
In SaaS, revenue growth is everything. It drives board-level targets, sales incentives, and the behaviour you experience at renewal time. And when a vendor needs to boost their numbers, price increases are one of the easiest levers to pull.
The good news? Vendors signal these moves months before the renewal conversation starts.
If you know what to look for, you can spot these increases coming long before they land, and prepare accordingly.
Here are the five most common signals we’ve seen at Dealforge from managing hundreds of SaaS renewals.
1. The Sudden EBR / ‘Value Review’ Meeting
If you haven’t heard from your vendor in months and suddenly get an invite titled:
Value Review
Platform Overview
Strategic Business Review
Optimisation Session
…it’s rarely just a friendly catch-up. Behind the scenes, this is a classic set up move. The sales rep is generally trying to:
Re-anchor value.
Surface new use cases.
Justify a higher price.
Position an upcoming increase as “aligned with the value delivered.”
If your renewal is within six months, treat this as Signal #1.
How to respond:
Ask for current usage versus contracted amount.
Ask for forecasted renewal pricing.
Ask whether any pricing model changes are planned this year.
Push the conversation into the open early, time is your leverage at this stage.
2. A New Account Manager Is Assigned Out Of The Blue
When a fresh AM or CSM is introduced right before renewal, two things are usually true:
The account has been flagged internally.
Your vendor wants a ‘clean slate’ to reset the narrative.
New reps often arrive with one of two mandates:
Upsell & expand: if your usage is growing.
Protect revenue: if your usage is flat or dipping.
Both scenarios often coincide with a planned price increase. How to respond?
Be direct, and ask if anything has changed in how your account is being forecasted or managed internally this year.
“Has anything changed in how my account is being forecasted or managed internally this year?”
You’ll be surprised how often a new rep hints at what’s happening and what’s to come.
3. Silence Until The Auto-Renew Window
This is one of the biggest and most predictable signs. If your vendor is quiet until 30, 60 or 90 days before your renewal (exactly when the auto-renewal is triggered), it’s usually not an accident.
To the vendor silence is leverage. Once the auto-renew kicks in, you’re contractually locked in. Your ability to renegotiation drops close to zero.
This is when vendors bring up:
5-10% annual increases.
“Market rate adjustments” or “inflation adjusted pricing.”
Or in the worst cases, 50-100% price hikes on specific SKUs.
How to manage this?
You must be the one to initiate the renewal conversations, and this needs to be done 3-6 months earlier. If you don’t, they control the timing, and ultimately the pricing.
4. The Pricing or Finance Team “Needs More Time”
This one usually shows up mid-negotiation or when you try to negotiate a renewal early. You ask for renewal pricing 3-6 months in advance.
They typically respond with:
“It’s too early to discuss the renewal, let’s circle back in 2-3 months before your renewal.”
“We’re waiting on the pricing team.”
“Finance needs to review and approve this.”
“We’re reviewing packaging updates.”
This almost always means one of two things:
They’re stalling until you enter the auto-renew window (and lose all leverage).
They’re preparing a new price point or SKU change they’re not ready to reveal yet.
Delays = leverage transfer.
How should you respond? Be firm and put a time stamp on it. Deadlines prevent slow-rolling tactics.
“To stay aligned internally, I need renewal pricing by [date]. If it isn’t available, we’ll explore alternatives.”
5. New SKUs, New Bundles, or “Repackaging”
When vendors suddenly introduce new bundles, new packages, new usage tiers, or retire legacy SKUs it’s rarely about simplicity. Generally, it’s about creating room for pricing uplifts.
Repackaging let’s vendors say:
“Your old discount no longer applies.”
“That legacy SKU is no longer supported.”
“We need to move you to the new tier.”
This is one of the easiest ways for vendors to increase per-unit pricing while framing it as a product update or change.
How can you respond? Ask early if any package changes are expected that would impact your renewal pricing.
“Are there any upcoming packaging changes that would impact renewal pricing?”
You want to surface this before you’re forced into the new model, and to give yourself time to negotiate if necessary.
What Are The Key Take Aways
Price increases are not random, they are strategically orchestrated. And vendors almost always send signals in advance.
If you recognise these signs early, you can:
Pre-empt or minimize the increase.
Anchor pricing before changes are announced.
Maintain negotiating leverage using time.
Avoid being trapped by auto-renewal terms.
Give yourself time to benchmark, rightsize, or evaluate alternatives.
The worst position to be in is a reactive one. The best position is always proactive and early.
Want help spotting pricing tactics before they hit your renewal?
At Dealforge, we manage hundreds of SaaS renewals, which means we see vendor behaviour and pricing shifts long before they become visible to individual buyers. That intelligence, combined with early detection of the signals above, gives our clients an unfair advantage. We help them prepare months in advance, avoid auto-renewal traps, and use timing and market insight as real negotiating leverage.
If you want that same level of visibility and support on your upcoming renewals, reach out at dealforge.co , we’re always happy to help!