Why I Teach Pricing: My Journey and Mission

Whether you've been with us since the beginning or you just discovered Impact Pricing last week, this episode is for you. If you're one of our longtime listeners, you know Mark's voice, you've heard his insights, and maybe you've even implemented some of his strategies in your own business. But have you ever wondered what drives him to keep showing up week after week, year after year?

If you're new here, welcome. You're about to meet the person behind the podcast—not just as a pricing expert, but as someone who genuinely loves teaching and believes that understanding value can transform your business and your career.

Mark Stiving is the host of Impact Pricing and founder of Impact Pricing LLC. But before he was a pricing expert, he was a teacher—of scuba diving, kayaking, and marketing. That passion for helping people learn never left him. Even after retiring in 2019, Mark couldn't stop sharing what he knows about pricing and value.

In this heartfelt solo episode, Mark pulls back the curtain on his journey. He shares why he chose to dedicate his post-retirement life to pricing education, what keeps him energized after blogging every week since 2010, and the two critical topics that consume his attention right now. This isn't just another pricing lesson—it's an invitation to understand the "why" behind everything we do here at Impact Pricing.

For our loyal listeners: Thank you for being part of this community. This episode is Mark's way of reconnecting with you and reaffirming his commitment to your success.

For our new listeners: This is the perfect place to start. You'll understand not just what we teach, but why it matters so deeply to the person teaching it.

Why you have to check out today's podcast:

• Discover why teaching and sharing pricing knowledge became Mark's post-retirement mission and driving passion.
• Learn about the two critical topics dominating modern pricing strategy: AI pricing and context-driven pricing.
• Understand how value impacts decisions across sales, marketing, product development, and packaging—not just pricing.

"Probably my single most favorite thing is when I share something with someone and it has an impact on their life. I absolutely love that."

- Mark Stiving

Topics Covered:

00:30 - Mark's Retirement and Continued Mission. Why Mark retired in 2019 but couldn't stop sharing pricing knowledge, and how his blogging streak since 2010 kept him connected to his passion.

01:15 - The Joy of Teaching. Mark's history as an instructor across multiple disciplines—from scuba diving and kayaking to university-level marketing—and why teaching is his core passion.

02:00 - The Pricing Knowledge Gap. Why pricing and value are critical business topics that remain poorly understood, and Mark's mission to change that.

02:45 - Working with Different Organizations. How Mark's work differs between large enterprises (focusing on sales teams) versus small and mid-sized businesses (focusing on executive teams).

03:30 - Two Current Focus Areas. Deep dive into Mark's concentration on AI pricing and context-driven pricing, including the concept of value architecture.

04:45 - Context-Driven Pricing Framework. How buying contexts differ for every purchase and how companies can structure their product portfolios to deliver and capture more value.

Key Takeaways:

"Pricing and value are such important topics in all of business and so few people understand it. And that's almost my mission now is just to see how many people I can get to have a better understanding." - Mark Stiving

"All buying is contextual. Every purchase that's made is made in a different way than any other purchase has ever been made." - Mark Stiving

"When we start thinking through context-driven pricing, that drives me to something I call a value architecture, which is how do you structure the way you think, the way you built your product portfolio, the way you have packaged your greatest features?" - Mark Stiving

Resources Mentioned:

• Impact Pricing Blog (since 2010): https://impactpricing.com/blog/
• Mark's Substack newsletter
• Impact Pricing monthly newsletter

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: mark@impactpricing.com
• Website: https://impactpricing.com