Pricing Table Topics: 10 of Clubs – What Value Conversation Demonstrates

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on February 1, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/to-discount-or-not-to-discount/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

22 Maalis 20242min

This one is the 8 of Diamonds from the Impact Pricing card deck.  Customer perceptions always matter. And what's fascinating is every time we touch a customer, we touch a buyer, they form perceptions of our company. They could be positive perceptions. They could be negative perceptions.  And when I say every time, it's not only salespeople making sales calls. It's when they read our marketing messages. It's when they receive our invoices. It's when they call our customer support or customer service line.  Every single touch point we have with a customer either creates value in their mind, or it destroys value in their mind. The question becomes, which are we going to do?  My recommendation is obviously to create more value with every customer touch point. But how do we do that?  We do that by creating a culture of value Inside our company. A customer centric perspective that says, how is it that this decision, how is it that this action, impacts our customers? And can I do it in a way that impacts our customers in a more positive manner instead of just thinking about how do I get them off the phone? Or how do I take care of them quickly so that they go away and stop bothering me while I do my day job?  So value, a culture of value, is all about doing what's best for our customers and making sure every customer touchpoint increases value, not decreases it. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

20 Maalis 20242min

Robert Ribciuc is the Managing Partner at EBITDA Catalyst. He helped establish, grew, and managed a successful advisory/consulting firm focusing on pricing strategy and analytics, go-to-market optimization, and revenue management for middle-market corporate and private equity portfolio (PE) clients in diverse industry verticals. In this episode, Robert shares the key to succeeding as a pricing practitioner: nurturing curiosity. By continually seeking new experiences and knowledge, you'll not only advance in your current role but also pave the way for future promotions, ultimately leading to a successful career as a consultant.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Explore effective strategies for boosting personal and professional development as a pricing professional Discover the endless possibilities that come with nurturing your curiosity in the field of pricing Find out significant insights about specialization at the same time taking a broad approach in the pricing profession   "Without curiosity, you wouldn't have tried and you wouldn't know how much room for improvement to have." - Robert Ribciuc   Topics Covered: 01:51 - The breadth of the pricing field extending beyond one's job 03:57 - Specializing in a particular industry versus embracing a multifaceted approach to pricing 08:37 - The importance of constantly learning and adapting in pricing 12:02 - How pricing professionals can be better at what they do 14:40 - How curiosity gets your job done easily and gets you promoted  20:46 - The challenge of teaching for students in university versus teaching for companies 26:08 - Summarizing what the whole topic is about 28:18 - Robert's motivational message   Key Takeaways: "Go read a book about a different industry, something that's not pricing. Also, get out of your chair and go walk to our product people, go walk to our marketing people and make some friends. Get them to tell you what their job is like and what they're thinking about." - Robert Ribciuc "Curiosity is kind of the opposite of, ‘I can do it easy.’" - Robert Ribciuc "In many companies the curiosity gets subdued by, ‘Oh, I find that if I just do this repeated cycle my boss is happy enough,’ right? And that can be an illusion." - Robert Ribciuc   People/ Resources Mentioned: Ronald Baker: https://impactpricing.com/podcast/497-classic-trash-the-timesheet-exploring-opportunities-in-subscription-businesses-with-ronald-j-baker/ Susan David: https://www.susandavid.com Vendavo: https://www.vendavo.com Pros: https://pros.com Zoom: https://zoom.us Honeywell: https://www.honeywell.com/us/en   Connect with Robert Ribciuc: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ribciuc/ Email: robert@ebitdacatalyst.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

18 Maalis 202429min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on January 25, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/who-should-own-pricing/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

15 Maalis 20243min

This one is the 8 of Hearts from the Impact Pricing card deck. Business acumen is a skill that salespeople really need, and product people really should have, to say, "Why is it that a customer would want to buy our product?" In B2B, value is measured in incremental profit. Your customer isn't going to buy anything from you, assuming it's a business customer, unless you are making them more money. Here's the question, how are you making them more money? Somehow, when you can communicate that, when your sales team can communicate that, you have a much better chance at winning the business. And by the way, when you understand it, you have a much better chance at delivering great marketing messages, and building the right products. We really need the skill of business acumen so we can say what is the business of our customers and how is it that we make them more money, because that is where the value is. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

13 Maalis 20241min

Steven Forth is Ibbaka’s Co-Founder, CEO, and Partner. Ibbaka is a strategic pricing advisory firm. He was CEO of LeveragePoint Innovations Inc., a SaaS business. In this episode Steven shares the shifting landscape for pricing professionals, emphasizing the rising importance of pricing strategists over analysts in leveraging AI for value-centric decision-making. Additionally, he highlights the possibilities beyond automation to include real-time recalibration of value models, enabling companies to better adapt to changing customer needs and market dynamics.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover the importance of custom packaging solutions designed to meet the unique needs of diverse users, adding significant value to their experience and allowing for optimized pricing strategies Find out how AI is impacting pricing strategies Understand the evolving role of pricing people: pricing analysts and pricing strategists   "What pricing people should be doing today is learning how to have productive conversations with AI agents." - Steven Forth   Topics Covered: 02:44 - Discussing about platform pricing and solution pricing in the context of AI 05:40 - The challenge that pricing platforms presents when it comes to quantifying value for all users 07:06 - Generative AI versus computational knowledge AI in the case of Wolfram Alpha 10:20 - Highlighting the value of packaging solutions tailored to specific needs which can be more valuable to users 12:06 - What goes in the pricing world with AI around 18:38 - Pricing strategists becoming increasingly important, need for better systems to facilitate meaningful conversations and decision-making 20:11 - Would it be possible for AI to make people inside the company understand what value is to customers 24:08 - Six types of value drivers according to Ed Arnold 27:03 - The challenge of building large amount of value models 30:20 - Steven's best advice to pricing people 31:12 - Building a value model through client interviews   Key Takeaways: "Why don't people focus more on value? I think part of this is because many of us find it easier to look inside our own company than outside to our customers." - Steven Forth "In an uncertain world, having options and being able to generate options gives you a much more adaptive and resilient business." - Steven Forth "They [pricing people] need to be learning how to ask the AI questions. They need to be learning how to train the AI so that it can better answer those questions." - Steven Forth "They [pricing people] need to be understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the answers they're going to get. Because like it or not, you are going to be using an AI, you are using an AI, in your work today, even if you're not aware of it." - Steven Forth   People/ Resources Mentioned: Wolfram Alpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com Stephen Wolfram: https://www.stephenwolfram.com Mathematica: https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/ Pros: https://pros.com Zilliant: https://zilliant.com Ed Arnold: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-quantify-value-service-ed-arnold/ McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com Microsoft Co-Pilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com   Connect with Steven Forth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenforth/ Email: steven@ibbaka.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

11 Maalis 202432min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on January 18, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/listen-to-your-market-then-think/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

8 Maalis 20244min

This one is the 8 of Spades from the Impact Pricing card deck.  You've probably heard me use the words 'will I' and 'which one' in the past. 'Will I' are situations where our buyers are choosing to buy our product or not, but they're not choosing whether they buy our product or a competitor's product. When we can find ourselves in a 'will I' situation, we know that our customers are not price sensitive. So, the key here is to know the difference. Are they comparing us to competitors or not? My recommendation is assume they're not. Because if we assume they are, we start talking about who our competitors are and they say, "Oh, you have competitors, let me go look at them." Instead, we talk to them about the value of solving the problem and why our product is going to help them solve that problem and get a huge return. And we never even mentioned that a competitive alternative exists. When the customer says to us, "Oh, we're looking at X, Y, Z company." Then we know that we can shift to talking about how we're better than our competition. What are those features or capabilities that we do that our competition can't match? But up to that point, let's make the assumption there is no competition. In fact, my favorite way to find out the answer, is there competition, is to ask the following question, "If you don't buy this, what will you do?" Notice that that question implies there is no competition. It doesn't say that go look at the competition. So my recommendation, always assume there is no competition. Talk about the value of solving the problems, and then you can shift your sales technique after you realize competition is in the deal. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

6 Maalis 20242min