Pricing Overview

Pricing Model:
15Five is used as a people management tool where users can access tools to manage performance, review engagement, and continue to grow their employees. The pricing structure is dependent on the number of licenses and what level of service the organization decides to move forward. 15Five offers three paid pricing plans; Engage, Perform, and Total Platform. The most common tier of usage is the Total Platform as this includes access to all features. Pricing comparison below: Engage: Provides Engagement surveys and actionable insights for employees. List price is $4/user/month. Likely to not receive significant discounting due to the lower tier of usage. Perform: Includes Engage features along with performance management that provides feedback for manager effectives. List price is $10/user/month. Likely to not receive significant discounting due to lower tier of usage. Total Platform: Includes Engage + Perform plus the HR Outcomes Dashboard, select Transform courses, etc. List price of $16/user/month. Likely to receive discounting due to highest tier of usage.

General Strategy

1. Leverage Growth and Contract Term

• Emphasize Growth: Highlight any current or projected user growth to negotiate better terms. Be conservative in your growth projections to maintain leverage throughout the negotiation.
• Opt for Multi-Year Contracts: Secure a multi-year agreement to mitigate annual uplift fees and lock in better rates. This approach often leads to more substantial discounts and price stability. Multi-year deals lock in the discounts and avoid any pricing increase that 15Five will apply each year.
• Utilize End of Month or Quarter Timing: Accelerate negotiations to align with 15Five's fiscal deadlines (end of month or quarter) to capitalize on their urgency to close deals, which can lead to better discounts. EOQs are December, March, June, and September.

2. Strategic Use of Contract Features

• Price Caps and Lock-Ins: Negotiate for price caps between 3%-5% within the contract to protect against unexpected price increases, especially when committing to multi-year terms.
• User License Management: Regularly review and adjust the number of licenses based on actual usage to ensure you are not overpaying services not being utilized.

3. Negotiation Tactics and Relationship Management

• Build a Relationship with Your 15Five Rep: Engage with your 15Five representative to explore creative solutions that meet your budgetary needs. A strong relationship can lead to more flexibility during negotiations.
• Customer Escalation and Strategic Partnerships: Use customer escalation strategically to gain last-minute concessions and emphasize the importance of your account to 15Five, especially when discussions are stalling.
• Highlight Historical and Future Commitments: Use past commitments and future potential as leverage, demonstrating the value of your continued partnership to 15Five. Increased volume commitments or upgrading to the next tier will provide the highest amount of discounting.  

4. Prepare for Uplifts and Price Adjustments

• Secure Discounts for Additional Users: If agreeing to add more users, negotiate to remove or reduce the uplift fee, leveraging the increased user base as a commitment to 15Five's growth.

Custom Strategies

Strategy #1: For current customers considering Total Platform  upgrade

• Step One: Understand usage and send notice of non-auto renewal at minimum 30 days ahead of renewal via email.
  • Internally, decide how many licenses are used and how many will be needed in the future.
  • Ask 15Five to share the usage data they have and review the data to ensure it aligns with internal data.
  • Notice of non auto - renew: “We would like to send an official notice of non auto renewal per our contract while we work through options for the upcoming renewal. Please confirm this is sufficient notice to avoid the auto renewal of this agreement.”
• Step Two: Gather Pricing.
  • Ask for renew as-is pricing on the current plan and ask for a comparison with Total Platform pricing as some folks are lobbying for it due to the features included.
  • After receiving the above, ask for Total Platform  pricing with the same quantities.
• Step Three: Request reduced volume proposals
  • After receiving the pricing, ask for the Total Platform with reduced quantities. This will “scare” the reps as they will not want to lose additional business. You may let them know the current pricing is unacceptable and the team needs to re-evaluate their options.
• Step Four: Push on pricing.
  • 15Five is open to reducing the Total Platform license cost when volume and/or term length are leveraged.
    • Multiyear agreement: avoids annual uplift and typically can push for higher discounts with small growth commitments.

Strategy #2: For current customers with plans to increase headcount

• Follow steps one and two from Strategy #1 (inserting your current tier if not Enterprise)
• Step Three: Leverage “Growth” and willingness to commit to higher license count.
  • Let the reps know that the team is considering a user increase, but will only able to get this approved by finance if they meet the allotted budget.  
• Step Four: Add Uncertainty.
  • Underestimate the user requirements in order to gain additional leverage. Be conservative as growth throughout the term will be free usage if you maintain the annual true-up schedule.
  • Ask for a proposal with 70%-80% of total needs. This way, we can get a clear baseline price and then push for more discounting once needs increase again.
• Step Five: Customer Escalation & Timing.
  • Have an executive on the team send a note to the 15Five rep that reiterates the budget asked for and willingness to commit to the increase, if the price is right.
  • This is where the team may leverage timing and offer a target signature date in return for 15Five bringing forth their best and final offer.

Strategy #3: For current customers with plans to reduce headcount

• Follow steps one and two from Strategy #1
• Step Three: Right-size as much as possible.
  • Choose a conservative, yet realistic number of users.
  • Threaten a further reduction or tier downgrade if the pricing isn’t satisfactory after the reduction.
  • Relay that the downsizing is a direct result of budgetary constraints and anchor low on the budget.
• Step: Multi-Year.
  • 15Five removes the annual uplift for 2+ year contracts.
  • See where 15Five moves the needle on pricing for a multi-year and request that pricing to be honored on a 12 month term if you are not comfortable committing long term.

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