Simple SMB Tariff Playbook

With tariffs in the headlines in a major way, small and medium-sized businesses need to move beyond the political noise and take practical steps to protect margins, supply chains, and pricing strategies. Whether you import directly, or are several steps removed from affected goods, you will feel the ripple effects.

Here's how to stay ahead with a tool, chatGPT prompt, and tip you can use at every step for easy actionining.

Step 1: Identify Your Exposure

• Who: CFO, Procurement Lead, or Operations Manager

• What: Audit your products, platforms, and suppliers for tariff-sensitive materials or components—especially those linked to China, Mexico, and high-risk categories like electronics, metals, and machinery.

• Why: Tariffs may increase your costs or delay inputs—even if you don't import directly. Many “safe” vendors rely on global supply chains. A visibility map gives you time to adjust.

✅ Take Action

Tool: ImportYeti — Search suppliers' shipping records to see where they source from.

ChatGPT Prompt: “My business is a [insert B2B or B2C] that [insert a short description of what your business does in [insert industry]. Given the Trump administration's new tariffs, how might we be effected, what would be the timeline for visible changes to demand, and what type of our suppliers might be effected?

Action Item: Email your top 5 vendors or suppliers:

“We’re proactively monitoring the tariff situation. Could you provide clarity on any cost increases, lead time changes, or sourcing shifts we should be aware of?

Step 2: Run Profitability & Pricing Scenarios

• Who: CFO or Financial Analyst

• What: Model 3 scenarios—no impact, moderate (5–10%) increase, and major (15–20%) increase in input or service costs. Then assess pricing flexibility and margins.

• Why: You need clear thresholds for when to absorb vs. pass along costs. Proactive modeling helps avoid panicked decisions when tariffs hit the bottom line.

✅ Take Action

Tool: Grid — Interactive modeling for business teams (smarter than Excel, built for scenario planning)

Tactic: Don’t overmodel — focus on your top 5 products or services by revenue — the goal is to develop situational awareness and to enable the CEO to decide next steps.

Action: Identify SKUs, service packages, or contracts that are most margin-sensitive and prioritize contingency planning there.

ChatGPT:

Provide:

• Product/service name

• Sale price per unit

• Cost per unit

• Monthly average sales volume

• % of cost tied to imports (if available)

Prompt:“I need to model how tariff-related cost increases of 5%, 10%, and 20% would impact our gross margins. Here’s the data on our top 10 revenue-generating products/services. [List the product name, unit sale price, current unit cost, and monthly volume.] Please calculate the gross margin percentage under each cost increase scenario (5%, 10%, 20%) for each product, and highlight which ones experience the largest margin erosion. Also, flag any product where margin falls below 25% under the 20% scenario.”

Step 3: Talk to Customers and Clients Early

• Who: CEO, Head of Sales, Client Success Lead

• What: Communicate your monitoring efforts and explain your stability strategy. For service firms, check in on how your clients are being affected.

• Why: Building trust before things change avoids surprises. Clients want to know you’re proactive. This is also an opportunity to frontload sales, or upsell any counter-cyclical services.

✅ Take Action

Tactic: Keep it personal. Messages from real people (not brands) build trust faster in uncertain times.

Tool: Lavender.ai — AI email assistant that writes customer-facing messaging with a human touch

ChatGPT:

Provide:

• Company type

• Customer segments (B2B/B2C/service)

• Impact on pricing/delivery (yes/no/unknown)

• Company tone (conservative, premium, friendly, etc.)

Prompt: Write a concise and reassuring message in my voice to clients explaining that we are monitoring tariff changes, assessing any potential impacts on pricing or delivery, and are available to support them in managing disruption. Invite them to share their concerns and explore how we can help them stay ahead. The tone should be professional, proactive, and relationship-oriented.”

Step 4: Adjust Sourcing, Offers, or Delivery Models (non-services)

• Who: Procurement Lead, Product Team, Service Design Lead

• What: Investigate nearshoring, alternative vendors, and opportunities to repackage your offerings. For services, look at trimming or re-bundling high-cost elements.

• Why: Agile businesses that adapt quickly can protect profitability and even gain market share while competitors react slowly or raise prices too much.

✅ Take Action

Tool: MakerSights — Helps test product offers and vendor changes fast with demand signal analysis

Action: Create a list of 3 alternatives for high-risk vendors or tools. Test alternate SKUs, pricing tiers, or time-limited bundles with a single high-risk SKU or contract type before expanding

Tip: Don’t assume big suppliers will adjust. Smaller vendors may be hungrier to work with you

ChatGPT:

Provide:

• Product/service name

• Current vendor country

• Supply chain dependencies

• Feasibility of switching (e.g., time, contract terms)

Prompt: “These 3 products/services are exposed to tariffs. Suggest nearshoring or local sourcing options and identify trade-offs in quality, cost, or time. Recommend which one to pilot first.”

Step 5: Communicate Internally and Externally

• Who: CEO, Head of Communications, Frontline Managers

• What: Draft and share a clear message to both employees and customers about how you’re navigating the situation. Prepare talking points for anyone customer-facing.

• Why: Confusion creates anxiety. Your team and customers will trust you more if they know you’re tracking the issue and taking steps to control outcomes.

✅ Take Action

Tactic: Designate one internal source-of-truth doc that gets updated weekly.

ChatGPT:

Provide:

• What you’re tracking (regions, goods)

• Known or expected tariff impact (e.g. delays, price changes, none yet)

• Your response plan (e.g., sourcing changes, messaging updates)

• Team responsibilities

• What’s client-facing vs. internal

Prompt: “Write a 1-paragraph internal memo explaining our plan to monitor tariffs. Include what teams should know, any impact we foresee, and what to say if clients ask. The tone should be calm, focused, and action-oriented."

Step 6: Monitor, But Don’t Panic

• Who: Designate one team member (Ops, Exec Assistant, or Strategy Lead)

• What: Assign responsibility for checking updates from USTR, WSJ, Bloomberg, and key industry associations weekly.

• Why: You can’t manage what you don’t monitor. Delegating this prevents last-minute surprises and keeps the leadership team focused on action, not noise.

✅ Take Action

Tip: Add a 5-minute “Trade Watch” slot to your Monday exec huddle.

Tool: Google Alerts + Feedly with keywords like “USTR tariffs”, “China trade”, “HTS code changes”.

ChatGPT:

Provide:

• The date/week of the update

• Industries or products you care most about (e.g., construction materials, SaaS, hardware, food imports)

• Optional: Links or summaries of relevant news

Prompt: “Summarize this week’s major U.S. tariff, trade, or supply chain developments that may affect small and mid-sized businesses. Focus on anything impacting import costs, China relations, or shipping disruption. Keep it practical, not political. Keep it under 150 words.”

Bonus: Use Tariffs as a Strategic Pivot Point

• Who: CEO, Head of Marketing, BizDev

• What: Look for ways to turn chaos into opportunity: new “Made in USA” product lines, client advisory services, or partnerships with resilient vendors.

• Why: Tariffs create chaos—but chaos is market opportunity. Fast movers with clear positioning can win trust and share while others stall.

Play: “We’ve launched a new US-sourced option for enterprise clients concerned about global risk.”“Ask us how we’re helping businesses prepare for tariff-linked disruptions.”

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Quick Tariff Action Checklist

Step	Owner	Action
Identify Exposure	Ops / Finance	Audit suppliers & vendors
Model Scenarios	Finance	Run 3-tiered impact forecast
Talk to Clients	CEO / Sales	Proactive outreach & education
Adjust Offers	Product / Services	Simplify, repackage, nearshore
Communicate	CEO / Comms	Train team, prep messaging
Monitor	Designated Owner	Weekly briefing, alert updates