Blogcast: AMC Changes Pricing, FINALLY

Claire Wang helps startup founders and solopreneurs pick a pricing model that ensures their long-term success. In this episode, Claire shares her journey of transitioning into her own consulting practice after her corporate job. She talks on the misconceptions about pricing, how people mistakenly equate pricing with just setting a price point when it's all about understanding customer value. She emphasizes the importance of integrating pricing early on in product development, not as an afterthought. She also highlights the need for pricing professionals to be more visible and vocal about the value they bring, as many people don't understand the full scope of their work.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover the common misconception that pricing is just about setting a number and uncover how it is deeply intertwined with customer value and business strategy. Gain insights on what’s missing in the pricing industry and how professionals can elevate the value of their role. Learn how pricing should be integrated into product design and customer understanding aligning business goals with customer satisfaction.   "Understand your customers, understand their needs. And once you do that, then you'll have a better understanding about their willingness to pay." - Claire Wang   Topics Covered: 01:34 - How she found herself in pricing 02:12 - Pricing as it relates to actuary 03:57 - Explaining the cost-plus pricing in the world of insurance 06:57 - Discussing about price sensitivity and willingness to pay with regard to insurance 08:09 - Reason behind starting her consulting firm 10:02 - The misconception about pricing and what it truly is 14:46 - How success of pricing strategies often depends on how integrated pricing is within a company's overall operations 16:49 - Pricing being more than just setting a number 18:20 - Claire making her point that pricing should not be viewed as a zero-sum game 23:45 - Sharing her thoughts on building visibility for pricing professionals to raise awareness about the pricing profession 25:56 - Gauging perceived value of pricing professionals based on their visibility and content 27:34 - Claire's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Most people have no clue what pricing really is. They equate pricing with setting a price point, which is completely untrue." - Claire Wang "Pricing, fundamentally, is all about value." - Claire Wang "Pricing has got nothing to do with the price point. You really need to go through the whole funnel. And once you've done that, then the price point is just a byproduct." - Claire Wang   People/Resources Mentioned: Allstate Insurance: https://www.allstate.com Telstra: https://www.telstra.com.au   Connect with Claire Wang: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-wang/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

7 Loka 202429min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 1, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/southwest-airlines-new-seating-strategy-a-billion-dollar-decision/ 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/

4 Loka 20242min

With over six years of experience as a leader in marketing operations, Nathan Yeung helps mid-market businesses build, enhance, or support their marketing functions and drive value creation. As the Vice President, CMO Services at Find Your Audience Marketing Partner, he leads teams of marketing managers, graphic designers, media buyers, coordinators, and freelancers to develop and implement marketing strategies for organizations across various industries. In this episode, Nathan shares how empathy is crucial for understanding and communicating value, which directly influences pricing and client trust. He emphasized that many web pages fail because they attempt to appeal to everyone rather than focus on a specific audience and problem. Additionally, he advised against charging too little, suggesting that higher rates can be justified when trust is established, and recommends offering multiple pricing options to highlight the value of the primary choice.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn to understand and address your customers' pain points to significantly impact your pricing strategy and boost trust, leading to higher revenue. Find out why many web pages fail to convert and get actionable advice on how to create focused, empathetic web content that resonates with your target audience. Explore how trust plays a crucial role in client relationships and how it can influence pricing decisions, helping you secure higher-value contracts.   "Never give a single price. Think about creative ways to give at least three and make your obvious choice your bottom line." - Nathan Yeung   Topics Covered: 01:07 - Talking about his disciplined approach to health 02:01 - How he got into pricing and his perspectives on pricing 03:53 - Discussing his approach to helping B2B companies "discover revenue" 06:22 - The reactions and learning opportunities that come when a client quickly accepts a price offer 07:48 - The importance of truly understanding and communicating value when helping businesses discover revenue 11:17 - Value creation in B2B and B2C contexts 14:03 - Expanding on the concept of having marketing take on internal communications 15:08 - Two key issues why web pages fail and bringing in additional point about the "curse of knowledge" 18:22 - Discusses the concept of pricing and positioning in business 22:22 - Trust and how it relates to pricing and business growth 23:04 - Talking about his book, 'The Lazy Consumer', and discussing the concept of trust 24:49 - Elaborating on the importance of empathy in sales and how it can trigger a response from customers 25:53 - Underscoring the crucial link between trust and pricing 27:20 - Nathan's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "When you forget about that [people are human], you get a lot of people locked into this state of logical thinking. And when you're too logical, it's hard to generate a lot of value. Because when they're logical, they're being highly critical." - Nathan Yeung "Understanding your ideal customer profile and really understanding their true pain points and where they are in a business, you can understand value." - Nathan Yeung "Value makes you really be empathetic, and you really have to understand what is valuable to your customer." - Nathan Yeung "Just because there's a quantifiable change that is valuable, that does not necessarily mean that person values that the most." - Nathan Yeung "HR is great for compliance and process and all that kind of lovely stuff, but they're really not great marketers." - Nathan Yeung "This idea of building culture, while it's important for HR to take care of that and be the accountable part of that, the reality is that marketers are likely the more important person to actually bring that message to market, which is the company in itself." - Nathan Yeung   Connect with Nathan Yeung:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yeungnathan/ Website: https://www.findyouraudience.online/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

30 Syys 202428min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 25, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/stop-pre-discounting/ 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/

27 Syys 20243min

Frank Luby is a writing partner and editor for business books, articles, and corporate communication and co-founder and CEO at Present Tense LLC. In this episode, Frank emphasizes the importance of clear and effective writing for pricing professionals, offering techniques like the "10-10" and "Rule of 13" methods to structure writing efficiently. He highlights how good writing can influence decision-making within organizations, often reaching and persuading people beyond initial conversations. Additionally, he underscores the value of listening to customers and understanding their real needs, which can significantly enhance pricing strategies and company success.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover practical writing tips and actionable strategies to help you organize and improve your writing, making it more persuasive and impactful. Learn how writing plays a crucial role in influencing and shifting thinking within organizations amplifying your message beyond one-on-one conversations. Gain insights on structuring effective communication, prioritizing the right information in your writing and focusing on making a single point effectively.    "Truly, honestly, listen to customers." - Frank Luby   Topics Covered: 01:33 - How he got into pricing 03:23 - What's his contribution in Hermann Simon's book on pricing 04:21 - Noting two challenging tasks that makes writing about pricing difficult 05:39 - Acknowledging the complexity of the term "value" in pricing 07:36 - Deciding which narrative perspective to use in writing between blogs and books 09:15 - An effective writing technique to engage readers 10:05 - What his role is at the upcoming PPS (Professional Pricing Society) conference 12:09 - Why a pricing director or manager should care about improving their writing skills, even if they feel confident writing emails 14:10 - How writing can have a greater influence than many people realize 15:46 - Sharing two key writing approaches to help people organize their thoughts effectively 18:50 - Comparing writing to architecture 20:03 - Explaining the "Rule of 13" method as a way to test whether a chapter idea can stand alone 21:21 - The concept of prioritizing writing tasks using the acronym "CSR”. 23:01 - Importance of understanding your audience, especially when trying to shift or replace existing strategies in pricing  25:53 - Introducing the 50/500 rule: Making a single, clear point in writing 27:31 - Frank's best pricing advice. 28:24 - Why businesses often don't listen to their customers, despite it being an obvious necessity   Key Takeaways: "I often make the analogy to writing an architecture. And you wouldn't want somebody building your house just by having a bunch of bricks and cement and two by fours delivered. You'd like to see a plan, you'd like to see what they're going to design. And it's hard to change things later on. So, that planning part, especially for a book, is immensely important." - Frank Luby "That's where this 13-method comes in where you can test some of those things that if you can't have those three supporting pieces, or three examples or three ways to elaborate on a particular point, that's your signal right off the bat that that might not carry a chapter." - Frank Luby "The other hint is prioritizing what you want to write about." - Frank Luby "We love simplification and we love to have simple answers and simple descriptions, and no segment of customers, or no individual customer, is really that simple. So, we pick up on the things that we can make easy groups out of and we tend to ignore the rest. And sometimes, the rest we're ignoring is really the vital part of the equation." - Frank Luby   People/Resources Mentioned: Hermann Simon: https://hermannsimon.com Price Management: Strategy, Analysis, Decision, Implementation: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Management-Strategy-Analysis-Implementation/dp/3319994557 Dow Jones: https://www.dowjones.com/about/ David Brooks: https://www.nytimes.com/column/david-brooks   Connect with Frank Luby: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-luby-318220/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

23 Syys 202430min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 18, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/the-5-ws-of-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/

20 Syys 20243min

Tim Hanni is a trailblazer in the wine industry, renowned for his groundbreaking work in wine education, sensory sciences, and his mission to demystify wine for all. With the prestigious title of Master of Wine, Hanni holds the distinction of being one of the first Americans to earn this credential, marking a significant milestone in his illustrious career. In this episode, Tim shares how perceptions of wine quality are influenced more by psychological and sensory factors than by price, often making expensive wines indistinguishable from cheaper ones in blind tastings. He introduces the concept of "perceptual individualism," explaining how personal differences in taste perception affect wine preferences. Additionally, he highlights the complexities of wine pricing, contrasting the traditional cost-plus approach with the need to consider market perceptions and branding.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain insights into wine perception and psychology. Discover the challenges of traditional wine wisdom to understand the wine industry's myths and realities. Learn a comprehensive view on wine pricing contrasting cost-plus pricing with value-based pricing to help you gain insights into the factors that influence wine prices, including production costs, marketing, and consumer perception.   "There are people who buy out on price alone. If it's more expensive, it must be better. But there's an inverse relationship between price and quality." - Tim Hanni   Topics Covered: 02:01 - Discussing the unique nature of wine pricing and how it affects consumer behavior 04:19 - Talking about the impact of wealthy individuals, particularly those from Silicon Valley, entering the wine industry, which he describes as being over-premiumized 06:22 - Discussing the challenges of market segmentation in the wine industry, comparing it to the evolution of the tech industry 10:22 - Critiquing the wine industry's elitism and rigidity, using examples to illustrate how misleading some widely accepted norms are 12:18 - The background and story of 'Two-Buck Chuck' 13:52 - Addressing the often-debated relationship between wine quality and price 16:30 - Introducing the concept of "perceptual individualism"  20:13 - Elaborating on a wine study conducted by Frédéric Brochet at the University of Bordeaux in 2001 24:32 -  How wine pricing is determined, focusing on what he refers to as the "bottom-up approach." 25:48 - Explaining the complexities of wine pricing and how factors beyond production costs influence the final price of a bottle 28:07 - How the complexity of pricing wine remains somewhat elusive   Key Takeaways: “The label's not going to make necessarily all that much of a difference in the margin, but the label plus the provenance." - Tim Hanni “Unequivocally, sweet wine drinkers have the most taste buds. They have the highest perceptual acuity of any consumers at all. And often you are paying an extreme premium for that sweet wine.” - Tim Hanni   People/Resources Mentioned: Julia Child: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child Trader Joe's: https://www.traderjoes.com/home Fred Franzia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Franzia Charles F. Shaw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Shaw California State Fair Wine Competition: https://calexpostatefair.com/competitions/california-commercial-wine/ Joel Butler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-butler-mw-1697667/ Frederic Brochet: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Frederic-Brochet-2029425754 California Grape Crush Report: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Specialty_and_Other_Releases/Grapes/Crush/Final/2023/2023_Final_Grape_Crush_Report.pdf Robert Parker: https://www.robertparker.com/about/the-rating-system   Connect with Tim Hanni: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timhannimw/ Website: https://winebusinesseducation.com/  Website: https://www.myvinotype.com/en/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

16 Syys 202430min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 11, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/high-prices-and-lost-deals/ 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/

13 Syys 20243min