Nobody trained for this conversation.
When the Morbi gas crisis broke in March 2026 and factories began shutting down one by one, most company sales teams were focused on supply continuity — where to source stock, how to manage dispatch queues, which dealers were most at risk of going elsewhere. The communication training, the conversation frameworks, the language for talking to a dealer who has just been told that prices are going up 15 to 40% in under 30 days and that credit terms they’ve operated on for years no longer exist — none of that was ready. It rarely is in a crisis.
So right now, RSMs across the country are walking into dealer visits carrying uncomfortable news. Some are doing it well. Most are winging it. A few are avoiding the visits altogether, which is the worst possible response and the one that will cost the most in the months ahead.
This article is about how to have that visit well. Not how to spin bad news. Not how to pretend the situation is better than it is. How to walk into a difficult conversation with a dealer, say the right things in the right order, and come out the other side with the relationship stronger than when you walked in.
Before You Walk In: Know What You’re Actually Walking Into
The mistake most RSMs make before a difficult dealer visit is that they prepare the wrong things. They prepare the facts — the price increase percentages, the advance payment policy details, the supply timeline. All of that matters. But what they don’t prepare is their emotional read of where the dealer is.
Dealers across the country are sitting with different levels of stress right now. A large dealer in a Tier 1 city with strong cash reserves, a diversified brand portfolio, and fast-moving secondary sales is in a very different position from a smaller dealer in a Tier 2 market who is carrying three months of inventory bought at the old price, has contractors waiting on orders, and is now being asked to pay upfront for fresh stock at 25% higher rates.
Before you walk into the visit, ask yourself three questions. How much stock does this dealer currently hold, and how long will it last them? How has their secondary sales been trending over the last 30 to 45 days? And what is their current relationship with your brand — are they a core partner or someone who treats you as one option among many?
The answers to those three questions will tell you how much urgency they’re feeling, how defensive the conversation is likely to get, and how much goodwill you have to work with. You cannot have a good conversation without knowing who you’re talking to.
The Opening — Don’t Lead With the Price
This is the single biggest mistake in difficult sales visits: leading with the news you’re carrying instead of the person you’re visiting.
The instinct when carrying uncomfortable information is to get it out quickly — to state the facts, get the reaction over with, and move into solution mode. It feels efficient. It is actually damaging, because it signals that the visit is about information delivery rather than relationship management.
Instead, open by acknowledging the environment the dealer is operating in. Not in a formulaic way. In a specific, genuine way. “Bhai, main jaanta hoon last do mahine kaafi mushkil rahe hain — pehle supply nahi mili, phir jo mili uski timing bhi wrong thi. Aaj main kuch important baat karne aaya hoon, lekin pehle mujhe sunna hai aapko.” I know the last two months have been difficult. Supply disruptions, uncertain timelines, now this. Before I share what I’ve come to discuss, I want to hear how things have actually been for you.
That opening does three things. It acknowledges the difficulty. It establishes that the visit is a conversation, not a presentation. And it buys you the goodwill that comes from genuine listening before you ask someone to absorb something difficult.
Framing the Price Hike — Context Before Numbers
Once you’ve listened — actually listened, not performed listening while mentally rehearsing your pitch — you can move into the substance of what you’ve come to discuss.
The framing matters enormously. There is a big difference between saying “prices have gone up 15 to 20% from June 1” and explaining why in a way that creates genuine understanding rather than just information.
Here is the framing that works. Propane prices in Morbi went from around ₹55 per kilogram to over ₹100 per kilogram practically overnight, because of the disruption to global fuel supply through the Strait of Hormuz following the Iran-US-Israel conflict. Factories that kept running were literally manufacturing at a loss. More than 400 factories shut down. For 45 days, those units ran fixed costs — labour, machinery maintenance, bank interest — with zero production income. When factories restarted, they restarted on piped natural gas at elevated rates. The new prices don’t reflect a company’s decision to improve margins. They reflect the actual cost of making the tile in the current energy environment.
Most dealers haven’t heard this explained in this much detail by anyone. They’ve received a price revision circular, perhaps a WhatsApp message, and a vague reference to the “gas problem.” The RSM who sits down and explains the full picture — specifically, factually, without defensiveness — is doing something rare and valuable: giving the dealer the context they need to understand, accept, and explain the price change to their own customers.
That last point matters. A dealer who understands the price hike can sell it. A dealer who received it as an edict cannot.
The Four Questions Every Dealer Will Ask — And How to Answer Them
In every post-crisis price conversation, four questions come up in some form. Prepare for all four before you walk in.
“When will prices come back down?”
The honest answer is: we don’t know. Price normalisation in Morbi is tied to global fuel prices and gas supply stability, neither of which has a confirmed timeline. What you can say is: “The industry is monitoring the situation closely, and if and when energy costs stabilise, that will be reflected in pricing. But I’m not going to give you a timeline I can’t stand behind. What I can tell you is that you’ll hear about any change from me before it becomes a market rumour.”
That answer is not what the dealer wants to hear. But it builds credibility in a way that a false assurance never will. And the commitment to communicate early — to be the first source of reliable information rather than the last — is something dealers genuinely value.
“My competitor’s company is not taking advance payment — why are you?”
This is a real and fair question. Some competitors may still be offering credit. The right response is not to attack those competitors or suggest their business model is unsustainable. The right response is to be direct: “Every manufacturer has a different financial situation. Ours, like most in Morbi, took a serious hit during the shutdown. Advance payment is what makes it possible for us to guarantee your dispatch. A factory that runs out of working capital mid-production delays everyone’s orders — including yours.”
Then turn it into a reliability conversation: “What I can promise you is that your advance payment triggers a guaranteed dispatch commitment. You’re not waiting in a queue. You know exactly when your stock moves.” Advance payment, positioned correctly, is not a disadvantage — it is a certainty mechanism in an uncertain supply environment.
“My contractors and builders are saying they can’t absorb this increase — what do I tell them?”
This is where your visit delivers the most value. Don’t just acknowledge the problem — help the dealer solve it. Walk through the numbers together. For a contractor using 500 square feet of standard vitrified tile, the increase at ₹3 per square foot is ₹1,500. That is a real number but a manageable one on most project budgets. For a larger commercial project, the conversation is about helping the contractor document the price revision — MCMA announcements, media coverage, the broader industry acknowledgement of the crisis — so they can present it to their developer client as a force majeure input cost increase rather than a supplier margin grab.
Give dealers the language. Most dealers know what has happened but cannot articulate it in a way that holds up in a business conversation with a contractor or builder. Your job is to equip them.
“Should I stock up now or wait for prices to stabilise?”
Be honest about this one, because the answer depends on the dealer’s specific situation. For a dealer with strong secondary sales velocity and the cash to commit, stocking at current prices before further escalation is a rational decision. For a dealer who is already over-stocked and cash-constrained, adding inventory at advance payment terms is not the right advice regardless of the price trajectory. Tailor your answer to their reality, not to your dispatch target.
A dealer who receives specific, tailored advice that is genuinely in their interest — even if it doesn’t maximise your immediate billing — will remember it. That is the kind of advice that builds the relationship rather than straining it.
What Not to Say — Ever
A few phrases that should be retired immediately from any post-crisis dealer conversation.
“Don’t worry, things will normalise soon.” You don’t know this. Neither does anyone else. Saying it to avoid a difficult conversation erodes the trust that the rest of the visit is trying to build.
“Everyone is facing the same problem.” True, but useless. A dealer’s problem is specific to their business, their cash position, their contractors, their competitors. Collective suffering is not comfort.
“Our product quality justifies the price.” Technically true, often irrelevant. A dealer who is asking about a 20% price increase is not questioning your product quality. They are asking how they manage their business in the new price environment. Answer the question that was actually asked.
“This is company policy, I can’t do anything.” This is the fastest way to end a relationship while the dealer is still standing in front of you. Even if your hands are tied on the policy itself, there is always something you can do — provide information, facilitate a direct call with a senior manager, escalate a specific concern. Never let the dealer leave feeling like the system is working against them and you are part of the system.
The Closing That Changes Everything
Every post-crisis dealer visit should end with a commitment — a specific, concrete, personal commitment that the dealer can hold you to.
It does not need to be a large commitment. “I will come back on Tuesday and we will go through your slow-moving inventory together and figure out what we can do about it.” “I will send you the MCMA announcement document by tomorrow so you have something to show your contractors.” “I will check with my team on the dispatch timeline for your last order and confirm it to you by end of today.”
Small, specific, kept commitments are the currency of trust in dealer relationships. In a market where dealers are receiving uncertain information from every direction, an RSM who says something will happen and then makes it happen stands out dramatically.
The post-crisis dealer visit is hard. But it is also, if handled well, one of the most powerful relationship-building opportunities a field sales professional gets. Crises create moments of genuine human connection in business relationships — moments where one party says to another: “I see your problem, I’m here to help, and I’m not going anywhere.” Those moments, when they happen, create loyalty that no scheme or price advantage can match.
Walk in ready for the difficult conversation. It is worth having.
References
- Morbi Tile Hub (Gas Crisis Ground Report) — https://morbitilehub.com/blog/morbi-tile-industry-gas-crisis
- Morbi Tile Hub (June 2026 Price Hike Explained) — https://morbitilehub.com/blog/morbi-tile-price-hike-june-2026
- Construction World (Morbi Ceramic Units Restart) — https://www.constructionworld.in/energy-infrastructure/oil-and-gas/morbi-ceramic-units-restart-on-expensive-piped-natural-gas/90360
- SME Futures (Morbi Kilns Crisis Report) — https://smefutures.com/morbi-kilns-went-cold-west-asia-war-hits-indias-tiles-and-ceramics-industry
