Disrupting Pricing with AI: Insights from Steven Forth

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 14, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/four-ways-to-grow-a-customer/ 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 Okt 20233min

This one is the King of Spades from the Impact Pricing card deck.  Of course there's no such thing as a commodity. Well, many salespeople, many business people think they're selling a commodity. And what that really means is that they just have to charge the same price that everybody else charges. But is that really true? In my view of the world, if you're charging the exact same price, that means you're not adding any value. Why would I buy from you versus somebody else? And in truth, there are ways that you can add value to almost anything.  For example, if you were to go to two different vendors of gold coins online today, you'll find they're not identical prices. But isn't gold a commodity? Well, maybe it's approximately the same price, but there's a difference in price based on the service level of the vendor. Based on something that they're giving above and beyond. Maybe it's free shipping. Maybe it's storage. Maybe it's the niceness of the salespeople.  Regardless of what it is, there's something there that says, Hey, I get to charge a little bit more than my competition because my product, my service, something is better. And what we need to do, even if we're selling a true commodity, something that is physically identical to somebody else's, we can differentiate it through other means. So, we should always be focused on the fact that we are not selling a commodity.  In fact, my view of the world is, if you're claiming that you sell a commodity, then we don't need you as a salesperson. And we don't need you as a product manager. Because pretty much everybody has the same thing, why would we need you to help us? So, accept that fact and drive hard, what's different? Where's your differentiation? What can you do that's better so that you can charge a higher price? We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, and then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

18 Okt 20233min

Brooks Hamilton is a principal at Hamilton AI Strategy Advisors, specializing in strategy consulting, product management, program management, cross-functional team leadership, and go-to-market strategy. In this episode, Brooks discusses AI Pricing capabilities and upcoming opportunities that benefit pricing optimization, revenue and data management, and AI's ability to enhance productivity in various areas of your business.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn the basics of getting started with AI, especially if you are new to using it Find out how AI can help pricing people in price optimization, management revenue, and data management Learn about AI advancements in email response features, the challenges of using it, and the implications of not implementing it   "I would really look at the opportunity in front of them to delight their customers and delight their employees by simplifying the Excel file management problem that we all wrestle with."  - Brooks Hamilton   Topics Covered: 01:30 - What you can expect from this conversation 02:15 - How is AI pricing helping businesses with no big data sets?  05:32 - The ease of consolidation of customers' names with AI Pricing  07:46 - How much is there to learn with AI pricing? 09:31 - Getting started with AI and navigating it 12:13 - Addressing the issue of AI failing to generate your unique voice [ in the case of writing pricing blogs] 15:06 - Could AI potentially offer a precise solution for the problem presented? [in reference to  Mark’s case] 16:53 - Going deeper into the analogy that Mark provided regarding the AI’s capability to provide a solution 18:55 - AI’s capability advancement in terms of pricing 20:43 - Email responses advancement where AI is concerned 22:17 - Two ways to find out your customers’ size in terms of revenue even with limited data 24:16 - Challenges and questions with regards to AI pricing  25:46 - What does Brooks' company, Hamilton AI Strategy Advisors do? 27:07 - Some more challenges in addition to what Mark already mentioned and what could be the implications 27:37 - Brook's advice on how organizations should look at and think about AI  38:33 - Brook's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "In the realm of pricing, certainly things like price optimization, and then more broadly revenue management, especially in a B2B realm, where do I go find these opportunities, have really been the domain of sophisticated analytical and optimization packages." - Brooks Hamilton "Right now I think that the main opportunities are going to be in data management, data cleanup, and then just trying to make your life as a corporate citizen or somebody who interacts with corporate citizens easier in terms of getting faster and more complete on your email responses. It can be that simple to try to just get more productive." - Brooks Hamilton "It's one that I would advise them [companies] to not take off looking at it and saying, hey, this is just going to be crypto crap all over again. Because there are some real differences. And as McKinsey has pointed out, if you do not begin this journey, it is going to be very challenging later to catch up because unlike other tech revolutions, the pace of change of this one is rapid." - Brooks Hamilton   People/Resources Mentioned: OpenAI: https://openai.com Outlook: https://www.microsoft.com/en/microsoft-365/outlook/email-and-calendar-software-microsoft-outlook McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/   Connect with Brooks Hamilton: Email: brooks.hamilton@strategyadvisors.ai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooks-hamilton-austin/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

16 Okt 202330min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 7, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/two-ways-to-grow-revenue/ 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 Okt 20232min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 1, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/the-first-principle-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/

11 Okt 20233min

Karan Sood had the privilege of overseeing revenue management for over $6 billion in revenue across a diverse range of industries during the past decade. Throughout this experience, he gained a deep understanding of the critical role that pricing plays in business success. In this episode, Karan explains how to effectively map out touch points within organizations to help individuals understand the significant impact pricing can have on business success.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Understand the challenges that come with the pricing role and learn how to strike a balance when interacting with other roles in the company for them to understand pricing's role in business success Gain insights on how sales flow through pricing Learn how pricing intersects with strategy and marketing   "Map out your pricing touchpoints in marketing, supply chain, finance…everyone! And then figure out how your pricing should operate in the organization." - Karan Sood   Topics Covered: 01:29 - What led him to pricing and how that internship led him to one job after another 05:46 - Pricing as strategy and marketing 07:40 - Important thoughts on pricing underrepresentation 10:34 - Why there aren't VP of Pricing titles in most organizations 11:34 - The friction role that go with pricing 13:44 - How does pricing relate with sales enablement? 21:53 - What happens when you're mainly pricing and not enabling sales teams 24:56 - Likely reason for sales prevention team existing in the sales enablement team 25:43 - Causes of over-discounting and how not to fall into the trap 28:17 - Karan's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: “Pricing sits at the heart of the organization.” - Karan Sood “It's [pricing] not guesswork, but it's guesswork with a framework in a way that there's no one perfect price.” - Karan Sood “I don't worry about that price per se anymore because I know with the right leverage with the customer and internally in the organization, I can move that needle.” - Karan Sood   People/Resources Mentioned: Philip Kotler: https://www.pkotler.org Robert Dolan:https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6449 Thomas Nagle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-tom-nagle-2bb2288/ Yellow Pages: https://www.yellowpages.com   Connect with Karan Sood: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soodkaran/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

9 Okt 202331min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 25, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/defining-value-based-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/

6 Okt 20235min

This one is the Ace of Clubs from the Impact Pricing card deck.  Nobody cares about your product. Let's use an example. Let's pretend that you're in the marketplace for a new car, and you're thinking to yourself, Hey, I could go buy a Tesla or some other electric car, or I could buy a more traditional gas powered car.  And so, are you really focused on what are the features of the electricity, of the batteries? Are you really focused on, Hey, if I buy electric then I have electric. You actually don't care.  Here's what you might care about. You might care about the fact that electric cars, especially Teslas, have amazing acceleration. They come off the line super quickly. You may care about the fact that you're not burning fossil fuels and you're not polluting your city. These are things that you value.  But you know what you don't care about? You don't care about the fact that it's electricity or if it's gas. You care about the things it does for you. How it impacts your life, how it impacts your world, how it impacts your self perception. These are all things you value. And so, when we're selling a car, are we going to sell, Hey, this is an electric car. Or are we going to sell, Hey, this is really fast. Or, Hey, this really helps the environment, and don't you want to be environmentally conscious.  In the end, buyers buy value. They really don't care about your product. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our Impact Pricing playing cards, pick a card, read the saying, and then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

4 Okt 20232min