Impact Pricing

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 18, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/what-if-they-find-out/ 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/

23 Juni 20232min

This one is the 4 of Hearts from the Selling Value card deck. This concept of asking for something anytime we're going to give a discount, we simply refer to it as gives and gets. We don't give anything without getting something. And so, what should we be getting when we're giving something? Well, surely we could get almost anything. What we really want to do is get the things that protect the profit of the company. And what are those things? If you think about all of the different items that you might be able to claw back from a customer. For example, it might be who pays for delivery. It might be how long the delivery takes. It might be when we schedule it. There's many, many different things we might be able to claw back. What we want to do is, think about how much does it cost us to deliver that thing to the customer so that if we claw it back, if we take that back from our customer, we're actually saving us costs on our side. Now, a couple quick thoughts. You know that, first off, I'm a pricing person, but in truth, we're thinking about how do we get the best margin for the company. And secondly, you've heard me say over and over again that costs don't matter to pricing, but costs do matter to profit. And if we're talking about a one-on-one situation and we have to give up some kind of discount, then let's try to get something in exchange that lowers our costs. 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, 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/

21 Juni 20232min

Michael Hammersley co-founded and invented a payment system designed to locate the market price of any consumer good. He authored the utility patent that protects the invention. In this episode, Michael discusses the platform he co-founded, a dual-sided marketplace of buyers and sellers that helps businesses reach a pricing competitive advantage.   Why you've got to check out this podcast: Discover what Drop Pilot platform is Find out how it can benefit both sellers and buyers in determining the best price possible Learn to figure out the best pricing your customers are willing to pay   "Find out what your customer is willing to pay before you sell them the product." - Michael Hammersley   Topics Covered: 01:34 - How he started his career in pricing 02:21 - What's so interesting about analyzing pricing potential as a distressed fund 02:55 - Getting to know what Drop Pilot is and what dual-sided marketplace mean 04:00 - Is Drop Pilot a marketplace or research area and what benefit does this platform have for the sellers? 05:26 - What kinds of businesses work with them and what it means to have multi-unit transactions? 06:18 - Buyer's benefit in using Drop Pilot and explaining the research aspect of the platform 08:34 - Proprietary payment system's role in the marketplace  and where his coaching focuses on in regard to the platform 11:01 - How to get people to bid with B2B businesses 12:56 - What is a Drop Day? 18:17 - Is the platform representing the real market? 19:11 - How the whole idea about Drop Pilot started and dealing with scalping issues 20:36 - Michael’s best pricing advice that impact’s one’s business   Key Takeaways: "We have a lot of repeat droppers who each time they come up with a new product, they'll come back, release it with us, figure out how to price it, and then sell it on their own website." - Michael Hammersley "If you want to figure out customer willingness to pay for a pricing tool, you really have to generate those numbers on your own based on estimations." - Michael Hammersley “If you want to look at the pricing analytics and you want to find out what your customers are willing to pay, it actually makes more sense to operate in a pressurized environment because you get the highest and best price.” - Michael Hammersley “What you would want to do is take a look at the analytics and find the clusters of where the most bids came in like what the most common bid was, and then use that as a reference point to set your retail price." - Michael Hammersley "One thing that our algorithm or our platform actually does is it completely prevents the use of scalping bots." - Michael Hammersley   Connect with Michael Hammersley: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-r-hammersley-77285225b/   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

19 Juni 202322min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 11, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/price-segmentation-in-tioli-markets/ 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/

16 Juni 20233min

This one is the 4 of Spades from the Selling Value card deck. Every time a salesperson gets in front of a procurement officer, a purchasing agent, however they're called, the purchasing agent will act price sensitive. Their job is to get a better price for their company.  And so, they will always tell you that your price is too high, they need a discount. And you have to decide as a salesperson, do you want to give it to them? And here's the trick, does the purchasing agent actually have any power or authority to influence the decision process?  If you're selling a commodity, and they could go to three, or four, or 10 different sources to get essentially the exact same thing, and those are all approved sources for the manufacturing capability, procurement has a lot of power. You need to do a great job at making sure procurement stays happy and figure out what it really takes to close that deal.  On the other hand, if you're selling a piece of capital equipment and you've had a long sales cycle selling to a relatively large committee of people who've been debating, what's the best solution for us? And then they take that to procurement so the purchasing can go buy it. It turns out, procurement has almost no power.  They'll pretend to have a lot of power, but they really don't. The decision was made by the committee. And so, we don't have to give big discounts to procurement in situations like that. Here's the problem, it takes guts.  So, do you have the guts? 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/

14 Juni 20232min

Jens Hentschel's passion is B2B relationship management and is especially interested in the interaction between the two sides at the negotiation table: buyers and sellers, suppliers and customers, sales and procurement professionals. In this episode, Jens delves into the role of procurement in guiding the internal stakeholder's buying journey on the supply side, while the sales professional assists in facilitating a value-based negotiation.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain a comprehensive understanding of procurement's involvement in the sales process using the direct and indirect spend terminologies Recognize the significance of involving procurement at the outset of the negotiation process Learn how procurement and sales can create a mutually beneficial scenario in pricing value   "When you get into that situation where you have been put on the spot in that negotiation, don't budge on price." - Jens Hentschel   Topics Covered: 01:16 - How he got into pricing 03:04 - Jens important thoughts about Mark's bad impression of procurement 07:27 - A case where it's all about price [on the procurement side] and not a win-win situation 11:12 - Understanding procurement's role in the sales process using the direct and indirect spent terms 15:00 - Why the need to involve procurement early on in the sales process 17:57 - Identifying the right procurement person and establishing the initial conversation 20:49 - A procurement's participation in the customer's buying journey 22:22 - Discussing the concept of supplies vendors list 25:00 - The role that price play in making it to the vendor's list 27:12 - Jens impactful pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "What we are trying to preach is, involve them [procurement] right away because 90% of what your customers spend is managed through a procurement process." - Jens Hentschel "Something that I can only recommend to anybody to do is, interact with them [procurement] early, provide them with value insights that they're not able to gather themselves. That's how you start building that relationship." - Jens Hentschel "My thinking is, the procurement professional is the enabler of the buying journey of the internal stakeholder. And they can do it best by having a salesperson on the supplies helping them to be that facilitator." - Jens Hentschel "Where really value is created is where the sales professional on the supply side and the procurement professional on the customer side really work hand in hand to promote a solution." - Jens Hentschel   Resources/ People Mentioned: Procter and Gamble: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procter_%26_Gamble   Connect with Jens Hentschel: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenshentschel Website: https://www.fivis.io/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

12 Juni 202329min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 4, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/price-segmentation-by-negotiating/ 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/

9 Juni 20232min

This one is the 5 of Diamonds from the Selling Value card deck.  We typically give our salespeople some level of discount authority. And the reason we do that is, let's say they walked in, and they asked the factory, or headquarters, 'Hey, could I have a 5% discount?' And we always say yes to that. Then all we've done is slowed down the sales process.  Instead, we give them some level of discount authority. Knowing that, you know, if you come in for 5% or less, I'm going to give it to you anyway. So, you just have permission to go give 5% or less. The problem, of course, is that salespeople typically give the max that they're allowed to give.  There's all these different levers that they could pull. They could sell value, and they can discount price. And discounting price is one of those levers that they're going to pull because it's easy. See how easy it is for me to discount the 5% and it doesn't hit my commission that much. So, it's okay for me to give that 5% discount.  What we want to do as a company is sit back and say, what are the right levels of discount authority? What should I let my salesperson discount to? What should I let my sales managers discount to, my sales directors discount to? There are different levels, and we want them to be incented to discount as little as possible. 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, 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/

7 Juni 20232min