AI as a Multiplier for Pricing with Emanuel Martonca

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 Sep 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 Sep 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 Sep 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 Sep 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 Sep 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 Sep 20243min

Christine Nicholson has a 25-year experience of running companies in multiple sectors. She started, built, and exited multiple successful businesses. She took a business from £0-£4.5m turnover in 15 months. And she also rescued a bankrupt company from millions in debt to an eight-figure exit in under 18 months. More than just experience, she studied hard to become a Chartered Management Accountant with a law degree, a postgraduate degree in Information Systems Management - and a Professionally Accredited and Experienced Business Mentor. In this episode, Christine shares valuable insights on several key topics related to business valuation and pricing like the owner's emotional attachment, preparing a business for sale and customer feedback for pricing strategies. She provides a balanced view of how to strategically prepare a business for sale, emphasizing the importance of logical pricing decisions and understanding customer value perceptions. Why you have to check out today's podcast: Gain insights on emotional influence in business decisions to help you make more informed, rational decisions that enhance your company's value. Discover actionable tips on how to boost a company's valuation by implementing effective pricing strategies. Learn the importance of customer engagement to understand their perception of value for better pricing decisions. "Go and ask your customers what they think of your service. If you were no longer providing this service, what would they be willing to pay for the level of service that they get from someone else?" - Christine Nicholson Topics Covered: 01:02 - How did she get involved in pricing 03:20 - Discussing a common misconception among business owners regarding the value of their businesses 03:51 - Highlighting a scenario of the emotional complexities and the challenges business owners face when selling their businesses 12:22 - The psychological dynamics involved when business owners try to value their businesses and their services 14:37 - Explaining the key factors that sophisticated buyers look for when purchasing a company 17:22 - Deeper motivations tied to personal beliefs and values other than price when selling a business 19:40 - How adjusting pricing is one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve a business 22:05 - Christine's approach to helping companies fix their pricing strategies which involves more than simply raising prices 24:07 - Addressing the emotional and logical aspects of business decision-making 25:36 - Christine's best pricing advice Key Takeaways: "When you're talking directly to your customers, you have to talk with your heart because you're dealing with one human being typically to another. " - Christine Nicholson "...if you get your pricing right, then you're going to make more profits; you're going to generate more positive cash flows." - Christine Nicholson "When it comes to selling your business, all the heart is with the seller, and all the logic is with the buyer." - Christine Nicholson "When people put their soul into something, they attach a value to it when they're selling their business; ironically, and completely paradoxically, they don't attach the value of the effort that they put into the business to their customers." - Christine Nicholson "One of the biggest problems that I see from a selling business is where somebody is mentally associating the value of the business by the effort they've put in, but they're not reflecting that correctly in the way that their pricing to their customers." - Christine Nicholson "You need to believe the value that you are giving to your client." - Christine Nicholson "Buyers do not want to buy a job. They are buying an investment that has a hard return on capital. And the more certain they are about the return on capital, the higher the money that they will pay and the faster you'll get the cash in your bank." - Christine Nicholson Connect with Christine Nicholson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-nicholson/ Website: https://getexitready.co.uk/ Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

9 Sep 202430min

Patrick Taylor is a global business improvement expert with over 30 years of delivered value leveraging experience across all domains of pricing and margin improvement as well as commercial and financial processes. In this episode, Patrick shares the critical aspects of effective pricing strategies and their impact on business profitability. He emphasizes the importance of understanding both the external market and customer needs when setting prices. He also advocates for the use of various data visualization tools, such as scatterplots and Pareto charts, to analyze pricing effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. Why you have to check out today's podcast: Gain insights into customer-focused pricing and understand market conditions when setting prices to align pricing strategies with customer expectations. Learn about profitability metrics and delve into the significance of monitoring profitability by customer and product. Understand sales team dynamics to empower sales teams with the knowledge and tools needed to confidently sell at set prices. "Listen to your customers, look at your market, look externally first on price." - Patrick Taylor Topics Covered: 01:14 - Patrick describing his journey into the pricing world 04:01 - Sharing his insights on how pricing has evolved over the years and his fundamental approach to it 07:22 - Emphasizing on the importance of focusing on customer value rather than getting overly caught up in tools like Excel or AI 08:54 - How to motivate executives to focus more on the value they deliver to customers and the decisions those customers have to make 11:58 - Aligning product offerings with customer needs and maximizing revenue opportunities 13:38 - How convincing a CEO to focus on pricing requires demonstrating that there is a real problem 17:34 - Highlighting the importance of using data-driven KPIs and charts to understand pricing behavior and sales performance and important thoughts about price variance 22:09 - What is it about the Pareto chart that he considers it when doing pricing 26:24 - Discussing the importance of focusing on margin dollars over margin percentages, especially when market conditions dictate pricing 29:14 - Patrick's best pricing advice Key Takeaways: "At the end of the day, from a pricing perspective, the customer only cares about two things. They care about the value they get relative to what they're buying and relative to the next best competitive alternative." - Patrick Taylor "Putting that customer first is the number one thing you've got to do." - Patrick Taylor "You can create the best model in the world, but if it doesn't work easily for your sales team to work, they can't communicate it to their customer; it's a problem." - Patrick Taylor People/Resources Mentioned: Tom Nagle: https://impactpricing.com/podcast/604-insights-into-value-based-pricing-strategies-for-b2b-with-tom-nagle/ Alteryx: https://www.alteryx.com Google: https://www.google.com/?client=safari Tableau: https://www.tableau.com Pros: https://pros.com Connect with Patrick Taylor: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickjtaylor/ Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

2 Sep 202431min