Finding Value in the First Call: Asking the Right Questions with Bryan Whittington

Ed Arnold works with B2B companies to develop their value-based pricing strategies. His specialty is translating a company’s competitive advantage into a viable customer value pricing strategy, as well as advising on commercial execution. In this episode, Ed shares when value conversations are most effective. He highlights the need to tailor value models to each prospect through open-ended questions that uncover key business drivers. Because when value is clearly demonstrated, price becomes a secondary concern, resulting in smoother sales and fewer pricing objections.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn why guiding customers to do their own value math is more persuasive than presenting a pre-made ROI model. Discover how value conversations shift the focus from cost to impact, making price negotiations smoother. Understand why dumping numbers on customers backfires and how to engage them in a way that builds trust and buy-in.   "As customers, we have a good sense of what a great deal is. But as sellers, we're much less certain about what that value is. You need to have value conversations to get at that." - Ed Arnold   Topics Covered: 00:57 - How he accidentally got into, left, and keeps returning to pricing 03:25 - Explaining how pricing challenges often signal deeper business issues 08:46 - Why customers distrust ROI calculators 11:05 - What value conversation is all about and how to effectively go through it 14:00 - Emphasizing that trust is built through reliability and honest engagement 16:57 - How many good salespeople are there and what make good salespeople 19:17 - The importance of market focus and playbooks in sales 20:49 - Showing the most effective value conversation to have  25:03 - How he trains salespeople on value conversations 29:53 - Noting that while he focuses on larger customers, the same value-based principles apply to marketing lower-ACV products 30:24 - Ed's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "You cannot solve any pricing issue without tackling the strategy. And if the strategy is flawed, then the pricing isn't going to help you." - Ed Arnold "...and this is the thing that I think about value stories. It's not about the product. It's about the customer. The customer is the star of the story." - Ed Arnold   People/Resources Mentioned: Steven Forth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenforth/ Forrester: https://www.forrester.com/bold/ Monitor Deloitte: https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/services/consulting/services/monitor-deloitte.html Leverage Point: https://www.leveragepoint.com/   Connect with Ed Arnold: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edarnold1/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

24 Feb 30min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on December 16, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/value-drivers-vs-value-tables-when-to-go-broad-and-when-to-be-specific/ 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 Feb 4min

Steven Forth is Ibbaka’s Co-Founder, CEO, and Partner. Ibbaka is a strategic pricing advisory firm. In this episode, Steven shares the potential commoditization of AI pricing agents, explaining how their replication and standardization could drive down differentiation and value. He explores the interplay between AI-driven sales and buying processes, emphasizing that businesses must consider how AI will influence purchasing decisions. He also touches on the potential of AI to simplify legal tasks.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn how AI-powered pricing agents compare to SaaS models and why they might face rapid commoditization in the evolving AI landscape. Discover why AI-driven buying decisions are just as important as AI-powered selling strategies—and what that means for the future of pricing. Find out how DeepSeek’s approach to AI training and pricing could shake up the industry, with potential implications for OpenAI and other major players.   "I think that they need to put themselves in the buyer's shoes and ask themselves, how would I be using AI to make a buying decision?" - Steven Forth   Topics Covered: 01:23 - Explaining the four types of AI products and how they impact pricing, automation, and value creation 09:51 - Exploring whether AI agents will become commoditized 12:46 - How complex pricing workflows require multiple AI agents working together as a service, rather than a single standalone pricing agent 14:17 - Explaining that differentiated AI agents with better performance will still command higher prices 19:20 - Highlighting how DeepSeek’s advancements in post-training optimization and lower pricing could drive broader AI adoption 21:20 - What makes AI agents more prone to commoditization  23:22 - How SaaS solutions are less prone to commoditization than AI agents  26:32 - Suggesting that tasks like real estate conveyance could be automated by AI agents 29:02 - Steven's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "A lot of the use cases for outcome-based pricing or results-based pricing really only become relevant when an action is taken on your behalf. And you can evaluate the value of that action and the success of that action." - Steven Forth "Are all agents by nature more subject to commoditization than other parts of the ecology, like copilots or service as software or generators? My gut feeling is that there are going to be agents that are highly differentiated because they rely on highly customized underlying language models and highly tuned prompt sequences that would not be easy for someone else to recreate. And that they'll be able to make better decisions." - Steven Forth "Apart from very specific and narrow cases, I don't think pricing is going to be done by agents. Pricing will be service as software." - Steven Forth   People/Resources Mentioned: Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/onboarding ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co Hubspot: https://www.hubspot.com FinnAI: https://www.finnai.io/en LegalZoom: https://www.legalzoom.com Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/ Pros: https://pros.com Vendavo: https://www.vendavo.com Zilliant: https://zilliant.com Pricefx: https://www.pricefx.com Maxio: https://www.maxio.com DeepSeek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeepSeek   Connect with Steven Forth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenforth/ Email: steven@ibbaka.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

17 Feb 27min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on December 9, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/unlocking-portfolio-value-through-strategic-price-increases/ 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/

14 Feb 3min

Joshua Lowe is a solution-focused pricing professional with a proven track record in pricing (10 years) and pricing transformation (3+ years). He also has an expertise in implementing and utilizing PriceFX, a cloud-native pricing management software.  In this episode, Joshua discusses the evolution of pricing in the auto parts industry, explaining how his company is transitioning from traditional cost-plus pricing to more market-based and value-driven strategies. He highlights the role of data analytics and predictive modeling in optimizing pricing decisions while maintaining fairness and customer retention.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn how a major industry player is shifting from cost-plus pricing to market-based and value-based approaches. Discover how analytics and data science shape pricing strategies, ensuring competitiveness and profitability. Understand why leaving some value on the table fosters long-term customer relationships and repeat business.   "You've got more pricing power than you might realize." - Joshua Lowe   Topics Covered: 01:31 - Joshua describing his journey into pricing 02:55 - Clarifying that Napa Auto Parts is a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company and sharing why he has stayed with Napa Auto Parts 04:27 - How his pricing strategies not only capture value but also reinvest in growth and detailing his role in setting nationwide retail, wholesale, and resale pricing frameworks  06:37 - The evolution of market segmentation in pricing, highlighting shifts between regional and nationwide pricing models and the factors influencing those changes 08:53 - Explaining customer segmentation in pricing, emphasizing the importance of transaction data, value drivers, and willingness to pay 11:27 - Pricing strategies based on delivery distance, emphasizing relationship-based pricing over cost-to-serve 13:09 - Explaining product segmentation and how Napa Auto parts sources products 15:56 - How cost increases from suppliers generally flow through their own pricing 17:03 - The role of cost-plus pricing in the industry and its gradual shift toward market-based and value-based pricing 21:31 - How Napa Auto Parts structures pricing 24:59 - Joshua's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: “There's a lot of price moves that you use in pricing to extract value, but a lot of times too, you're trying to figure out ways to reinvest those wins back into sales so that you can grow.” - Joshua Lowe “You never try to extract a hundred percent of the value of any single transaction because you might actually start losing customer retention over time. You want to leave 10, 20% on the table. I've always kind of kept that in the back of my mind as we do certain activities of how we keep the fairness in play as we make pricing actions.” - Joshua Lowe   People/Resources Mentioned: Gates Corporation: https://www.gates.com/us/en.html Genuine Parts Company: https://www.genpt.com/ Napa Auto Parts: https://www.napaonline.com/   Connect with Joshua Lowe: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-lowe-42034746/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

10 Feb 27min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on December 2, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/what-is-value/ 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/

7 Feb 2min

Dave Brown is a CEO / Founder of QiiQ Healthcare which is developing an AI assistant for healthcare workers, to invigorate the deep sense of fulfillment in delivering high quality care - frictionlessly. In this episode, Dave shares how AI can improve healthcare by providing clinicians with actionable insights from patient data, making consultations more efficient. He highlights the challenge of adopting new technologies in healthcare due to risks and the complexity of changing established systems. Brown also shares insights on the economic impact of healthcare innovations and stresses the importance of doing thorough homework when entering the healthcare market.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Explore the impact of AI in healthcare and how it can improve healthcare outcomes and reduce doctor-patient interaction. Gain insights on healthcare pricing challenges and how understanding stakeholder decisions can lead to more effective solutions. Learn to navigate the massive, evolving healthcare industry and the challenges of making a meaningful impact through technology and pricing strategies.   "Do your homework. You cannot wander into this [healthcare] with youthful vigor and expect to change the world easily. And it's certainly not easy to come up with a pricing model that everybody understands and likes." - Dave Brown   Topics Covered: 01:46 - How he got interested in pricing and why it mattered to him 03:13 - Detailing how QiiQ Healthcare technology works and what makes pricing for it complicated 10:58 - Sharing how QiiQ is driven by a social mission, as well as mentioning the real challenge in healthcare technology 13:49 - How QiiQ Healthcare technology is demonstrating its value in a leading Parkinson’s clinic 15:29 - Addressing patient willingness to pay and the impact of chronic diseases on society 18:34 - How QiiQ technology streamline doctor-patient interactions and save time 21:06 - Using the trolley problem to illustrate the complexity of decision-making in change management 23:31 - Highlighting the challenge of adopting new technology despite its potential, due to uncertainty and mental workload 25:34 - Discussing the challenges of accepting AI in healthcare, drawing analogies to self-driving cars and the risks involved 28:40 - Explaining how the relationship between cost reduction and profits in healthcare is complex and not solely driven by cynicism 29:45 - Dave's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: “Everybody that's working with me is driven by a social need or a social urge. It's extremely common in the healthcare industry. But part of what you're hearing [challenges] is motivated by a deeper grasp of the challenge in adoption. Without adoption, you generate no value.” - Dave Brown   Connect with Dave Brown: Website: https://www.qiiq.health/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davecbrown/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

3 Feb 32min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on November 24, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/confused-buyers-dont-buy-a-case-study-in-how-to-align-saas-pricing-with-customer-value/ 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/

31 Jan 3min