The Secret to Selling Solutions, Not Just Product Features with Johnny Cheng

With 10+ years in strategic data-marketing, digital, AI and management consulting across sectors like automotive, travel, pharma, and BPO, Fabien Cros has been recognized for his knack to develop and deploy impactful, data-driven solutions. His expertise spans data consulting, AI solutions, UX, marketing analytics, and more. In this episode, Fabien shares successful case studies, such as Patagonia and Decathlon, demonstrating how companies can transition to more sustainable business models and achieve higher profitability. Also, learn practical advice and strategies that can be directly applied to a company's business operations, helping make informed decisions and drive impact.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover how to incorporate sustainability into your business models and pricing strategies, gaining valuable insights along the way Gain in-depth knowledge and practical advice on leveraging sustainability as a competitive advantage, backed by real-world examples and data Learn why there is a significant untapped market for sustainability-focused products and services, making it relevant for businesses aiming to capture new customer segments and drive profitability   "Go in depth, over-segment your market because you need to understand this new trend emerging around sustainability. Because it's a major untapped market for a lot of brands and companies." - Fabien Cros    Topics Covered: 01:52 - How he got into pricing 03:43 - Introducing the concept of integrating pricing strategies with sustainability goals 10:25 - Discussing the challenges and benefits of integrating sustainability into pricing strategies 14:23 - Delving deeper into the concept of sustainability in pricing -- that sustainability is more than just a feature; it's a fundamental shift in business practices 18:30 - Acknowledging challenges integrating sustainability in pricing but also highlighting growing consumer awareness and regulatory pressures around sustainability 22:46 - The potential for sustainability as a competitive advantage in pricing strategies 27:21 - Examples of large companies successfully integrating sustainable practices 30:23 - Fabien's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "What we say with Pricing for the Planet is, move to what we call 21st century concept which is value-based pricing. That way you can create additional revenue and additional profits. That way you can invest into sustainability." - Fabien Cros  "The data is showing us that you have a subset of the population. They're so passionate and they're so convinced that it's crucial that you cannot forget this market and this market segment could actually fuel a lot of the money and a lot of the financial need that is required to move to a more sustainable business model." - Fabien Cros “We are trying to convey this message that sustainability could be viewed as a feature for the end users, but it's a new way of doing business.” - Fabien Cros    People/Resources Mentioned: Accenture: https://www.accenture.com/ Stephan Liozu: https://impactpricing.com/podcast/582-segmentation-strategies-uncovered-driving-revenue-through-focus-and-value-with-stephan-liozu/ Schneider Electric: https://www.se.com/ww/en/ Patagonia: https://www.patagonia.com/home/ Doc Martens: https://us.rewair.drmartens.com/ BCG: https://www.bcg.com Michelin: https://www.michelinman.com Decathlon: https://www.decathlon.com   Connect with Fabien Cros: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabien-cros-3b66a332/ Website: https://www.pricingfortheplanet.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

15 Jul 202431min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 23, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/how-value-based-selling-marketing-work-together-to-drive-increased-profitability/ 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/

12 Jul 202412min

Dr. Thomas (Tom) Nagle founded the Strategic Pricing Group (now part of Monitor Deloitte) in 1987 soon after publication of the first edition of The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing. For more than three decades, he has advised companies, primarily in B-to-B markets, on how to manage more profitably the five elements of pricing strategy: Value Creation, Value Communication, Price Structure, Pricing Policy, and Competitive Price Setting. In this episode, Tom shares how value is perceived and measured by customers, emphasizing the distinction between economic value and willingness to pay. He also delves into the complexities of pricing negotiations, highlighting the importance of understanding customer perceptions and effectively communicating the impact of products or services on their business outcomes.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Understand the intricacies of value-based pricing, distinguishing between economic value and willingness to pay, and providing real-life examples illustrating these concepts effectively Delve into these two critical decisions buyers make to help you better understand and influence customer purchasing behaviors Find out practical advice on handling price negotiations, emphasizing the importance of "gives and gets" and strategies to avoid undermining your pricing integrity   "Don't ever believe what the customer is telling you upfront about what their value is. They may believe it, but they don't know the impact." - Tom Nagle   Topics Covered: 01:29 - His early experiences with pricing influenced by his grandmother and how he got into pricing professionally 03:16 - How it is more effective to focus on market response to price changes and gather qualitative insights from clients than just precisely measuring elasticity 08:49 - Important thoughts on why pricing didn't matter much then before its deregulation 11:28 - Explaining the concepts of value and value-based pricing with an example illustrating the point 16:56 - The need to create policies to maintain price integrity and managing negotiations to prevent undermining value capture 23:25 - Discussing the concept of value-based pricing and sharing an insightful example where a service's value was evaluated against the status quo rather than a competitor 26:16 - Tom's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "The goal is not to try to put a line between them that's a weighted average of the high prices and the low prices, and call it a demand curve. The goal is to figure out why we have all this variation and use that variation to create segments that eliminate the trade off between price and volume." - Tom Nagle "The value isn't in the product. You can study the product from now until kingdom come, and you are never going to understand the value by studying the product. You have to study how the products' benefits impact the customer's income statement." - Tom Nagle   People/Resources Mentioned: Financial Analysis for Profit-Driven Pricing: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/financial-analysis-for-profitdriven-pricing/ Walmart: https://www.walmart.com DuPont: https://www.dupont.com Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award: http://asq.org/quality-resources/malcolm-baldrige-national-quality-award   Connect with Tom Nagle: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-tom-nagle Email: thomasnaglephd@gmail.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

8 Jul 202427min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 16, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/roi-calculators-busting-myths-and-building-trust-in-b2b-sales/ 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/

5 Jul 20243min

Jason Covitz, the Vice President of Commercial Finance at Covetrus, possesses a wide range of expertise including CFO, Business Growth, Value-Based Pricing, Sales Effectiveness, and Product Management, among others. In this episode, Jason shares competitive pricing strategies, emphasizing the importance of understanding both inherent and relative value when comparing products to competitors. He shares practical methods for gathering competitive pricing intelligence and highlights the need for combining analytical and creative thinking in pricing.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain valuable insights into how to approach value-based pricing, understand competitor comparisons, and leverage features to maximize your product's value Discover valuable methods for gathering competitive pricing intelligence and innovative techniques to help you make informed pricing decisions Learn to "ruthlessly prioritize" tasks based on their potential value to help you effectively focus your efforts and achieve significant business results   "Keep digging. Get your teams comfortable with learning. Be inquisitive, poke around, turn on the lights, and hopefully you find large piles of money." - Jason Covitz   Topics Covered: 02:11 - What led Jason into pricing 03:17 - Discussing how analytics at Capital One included evaluating factors like the cost of repossessing a car and its post-repossession value 05:01 - Explaining the difference between a private equity (PE) owned company and a public company 07:32 - Advocating for a detailed feature-level competitor comparison 10:45 - Think about ROI conversation 11:45 - The challenge of determining competitor pricing for value-based pricing 16:16 - Discussing strategies for competitive pricing and understanding relative value 20:50 - Important thoughts on the use of conjoint analysis in B2B versus B2C contexts 22:40 - Talking about the blend of skills required in pricing, noting that it's not about pure numbers 23:44 - Jason's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Competitive intelligence from pricing --- people are like, well, I'm just going to ask them what the number is. Well, the number by itself doesn't stand alone; you got to bring the whole story to the conversation in that case." - Jason Covitz   People/Resources Mentioned: Capital One: https://www.capitalone.com First Data: https://www.first-datacorp.com Covetrus: https://covetrus.com/   Connect with Jason Covitz: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcovitz/ Email: jascovitz@gmail.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

1 Jul 202425min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 8, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/simplifying-segmentation-for-enhanced-profitability/ 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/

28 Jun 20244min

With over 25 years of experience in pricing strategy, analytics, and customer relationship management, Adrienne Gordon is passionate about empowering businesses to leverage pricing as a long-term strategic advantage and a path to self-actualization. In this episode, Adrienne delves into the profound impact of CEO decisions on overall company pricing. She explores the concept of 'value killers' such as the 'Bob Factor',  the 'Lester Factor,' and ‘Cheryl factor’ illustrating how individual actions and outdated models can undermine pricing policies. Additionally, she discusses the importance of setting clear pricing goals, understanding price distribution and variance, and leveraging pricing processes to maximize profitability.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Delve into the crucial role of leadership in effective pricing and value delivery within a company Find out common pitfalls and strategies in pricing that will help you understand how internal processes and individual actions can impact a company's pricing power and profitability Discover actionable advice for immediate impact enhancing your company's pricing approach and proactive value creation   "If you look at pricing as a process, you will self-actualize as a company." - Adrienne Gordon   Topics Covered: 00:51 - How she found herself in pricing 02:26 - How her role in product management helped her develop valuable skills in product segmentation and customer insights 03:55 - Differentiating these two companies she manages, Pricing Empowered and Price Space 06:36 - The role of leadership, specifically CEOs, in pricing strategy 09:09 - Explaining the concept of "value killers" using the metaphor of "Bob" 11:40 - The negative impact of allowing CEOs to negotiate prices and discussing the concept of parameters of empowerment 14:29 - Another value killer: The Lester factor 16:55 - What makes ‘'Cheryl factor' a value killer and the extent of profit leaks this causes 20:15 - Three key actions leaders should take to drive pricing in their companies 24:19 - Differentiating between intentional and unintentional price variance 25:14 - Adrienne's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: “If the CEO doesn't believe that you can proactively price and influence markets with your pricing, then the company has no faith in it either.” - Adrienne Gordon "Parameters of empowerment: to me sometimes actually retracting some permission and then testing your value proposition, pushing pricing a little bit so that the organization can see the worth doesn't fall apart when you do that. And releasing that empowerment back, I think, actually, can help companies evolve." - Adrienne Gordon "I often make recommendations, do not put on your parameters of empowerment 5, 10, and 15. Put on 4.72. Somebody's going to have to do the hard work to figure out what 4.72% discount is. And that's a good thing." - Adrienne Gordon   People/Resources Mentioned: McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com   Connect with Adrienne Gordon: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-gordon-0a93129/ Website: https://www.pricespace.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

24 Jun 202426min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 2, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/reduce-the-risk-of-raising-prices/ 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/

21 Jun 20242min