Beyond Hiring: Why Private Equity Firms Are Building Pricing Transformation Teams (Not Just Filling Roles) with Jon Jennings and Ryan Walter

Join Mark Stiving for a unique dual-guest conversation with Jon Jennings, longtime Impact Pricing sponsor and successful pricing recruiter, and Ryan Walter, a pricing veteran with over 15 years of leadership experience who recently transitioned into recruiting. Together, they reveal the insider's view of private equity pricing transformations, from deal diligence to exit strategies.

In this episode, they explore why private equity firms are investing heavily in pricing capabilities, how to determine the right level of pricing leadership for different situations, and the evolving landscape of pricing careers.

The conversation covers everything from pre-acquisition planning to AI's impact on pricing roles, offering valuable insights for both pricing professionals and business leaders.

Why you have to check out today's podcast:

• Learn the critical difference between hiring a pricing person and orchestrating a pricing transformation.
• Understand the decision framework for determining whether you need a manager, director, or VP-level pricing leader.
• Explore why portfolio companies often resist pricing initiatives and how to overcome that resistance.

"In the private equity space, part of the diligence is we think there's an opportunity of pricing improvement of some dollar amount to go get. In order to get that, you're going to need to transform the way things are working, which is building out a team."

– Ryan Walter

Topics Covered:

02:05 – Ryan's journey into pricing: From MBA analytics to solving 7-Eleven's cigarette pricing crisis in Florida

03:29 – Pricing transformation strategies: Why PE's 5-year timeline perfectly aligns with pricing capability building

07:49 – Pricing as a center of excellence: The evolution from analyst roles to VP-level positions and what's next

11:05 – Private equity hiring differences: Stakeholder dynamics, investment thesis pressure, and the "shorter leash" reality

14:30 – Pricing problems in portfolio companies: When port cos don't see the problem PE firms see and how to bridge that gap

17:37 – Pricing transformation explained: Why it's all-encompassing and requires strategy, finance, data, and leadership skills

20:48 – Transformational roles in organizations: The difference between backfilling and building, and why transformation always wins

23:41 – Hiring pricing professionals for PE: Building pricing advisor roles at the firm level and sharing resources across portcos

26:17 – AI's impact on pricing: Data foundation requirements and immediate use cases like rebate design and negotiation prep

29:13 – AI in pricing strategies: Competitive data matching, SKU comparison, and the 80% solution approach

32:06 – Promoting the pricing field: Building the next generation of talent and educating people into pricing careers

Key Takeaways:

"In the private equity space, part of the diligence is we think there's an opportunity of pricing improvement of some dollar amount to go get. In order to get that, you're going to need to transform the way things are working, which is building out a team." – Ryan Walter

"The reason I like that word [transformation] is it's all encompassing because it's not really one thing. It's not, oh, we need to get a director of FPA in here. We need to get somebody who understands strategy, who understands finance, who understands data and IT tools, and is a leader that can influence others." – Ryan Walter

"If you're going to go for a pricing transformation, you have to dive in with both feet. Halfway doesn't typically work." – Jon Jennings

Resources and People Mentioned:

• 7-Eleven: https://www.7-eleven.com/

Connect with Jon Jennings & Ryan Walter:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonjennings/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-walter3141/

Connect with Mark Stiving:

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