Here at PricingBrew, we believe that all pricing teams should be focused on the same thing:
Proactively creating the conditions under which better and more profitable pricing outcomes are the natural result.
But while the goal is (or should be) the same for every company, pricing teams can take many different paths to get to that goal.
One of our objectives for our research efforts is to identify what the very best pricing groups are currently doing to move closer to that goal and share that knowledge with others. Then, rather than reinventing the wheel, pricing teams can learn from these examples and, hopefully, put into practice the strategies and tactics that really work.
So what are the skills that leading pricing teams are most focused on improving these days?
1. Analysis — Top pricing practitioners are not only honing their analysis skills to improve pricing — they’re also applying their skills to tangential areas to reveal other profitable opportunities for the company. For example, some groups are helping identify which customers could be buying more. Others are figuring out which customers are showing signs of defection to competitors.
If this kind of analysis would help your organization, check out Using Pricing Analysis to Drive More Growth and There’s More to Profit Than Price.
2. Technology — Years ago, pricing technology required extensive initiatives and a huge financial outlay. But today, price optimization technology has become much, much easier to implement at a very affordable price. As a result, a growing number of companies are deploying these state-of-the-art tools to determine what prices should be. And that frees up the pricing team to concentrate on other, more strategic areas.
If you haven’t yet deployed these new software tools, we have some resources that can help you understand the available options and make smart purchasing decisions. See All About Price Optimization and Making Sense of Pricing Technology.
3. Pricing Intelligence — With worldwide economic factors in constant flux, pricing teams need to understand where the markets and competitors are going so they can prepare themselves and the company for potential changes. It’s not enough to have the right prices today. If you want to remain in business, you need to plan ahead for your pricing needs well into the future.
If you’d like to improve your ability to forecast and plan ahead, watch The Fundamentals of Pricing Intelligence and How to Combat Competitive Pricing Pressure.
4. Influence & Change — Dozens of different elements influence pricing, and the pricing team only controls a tiny fraction of them. You don’t get to decide what products you make or even the final price that customers will pay when the deal closes. And the people who do control those things probably don’t answer to you.
That’s why so many top pricing teams are learning more about change management and techniques to build influence within their organizations. These soft skills are tremendously important — and even if they don’t come naturally to you, they can be learned. To get started improving your skills in this area, listen to the webinars on Boosting the Pricing Team’s Influence and How to Defend Your Prices.
5. Charting Their Long-Term Course — In pricing, it’s easy to get stuck in the day-to-day. But our research has shown that the best pricing teams are thinking about the long term. They are anticipating where the team will be months and years down the road (especially as they focus on delivering on that mission statement.)
The webinars on Developing a Winning Roadmap for Pricing Success and Optimizing Pricing Operations can help you get started on a similar initiative.
Of course, you need many other skills beyond these five to succeed in pricing. But if you want your team to focus on the areas that top-notch teams think are most important, these capabilities are a great place to start.
Using Pricing Analysis to Drive More Growth
Pricing analysis capabilities are usually only focused on pricing. But pricing isn't the only thing the analytical processes and underlying data can be used for. In this on-demand webinar, you will learn how answering other powerful questions can increase your impact and internal profile.
There's More to Profit Than Price
For many pricing teams, expanding their perspectives from "pricing" to "profitability" is the key to maximizing effectiveness. In this on-demand training session, we expose and explore five of the other powerful growth levers that really matter in B2B environments.
All About Price Optimization
The term "price optimization" is being thrown around with such abandon these days that confusion, rather than clarity, is the more likely result. In this on-demand webinar, you'll learn what price optimization really is and how it works.
Making Sense of Pricing Technology
Are pricing technologies all the same? Do the differences actually matter? What do we need? How do we choose? In this webinar, we cut thru the confusion to help you understand your options for technology-enabled pricing.
The Fundamentals of Pricing Intelligence
In pricing, it's easy to feel like you're making decisions in a vacuum. But there are many powerful sources of pricing intelligence you can leverage. In this on-demand webinar, learn how to design and implement systems for tapping into those sources of intelligence and how best to respond.
How to Combat Competitive Pricing Pressure
What's the best way to manage competitive pricing pressure? In this 4-part training webinar, we share 20 strategies and tactics leading pricing teams are using to anticipate competitive moves, minimize their impact, and respond more effectively.
Boosting the Pricing Team's Influence
How can a B2B pricing team improve results when they don't control all the cooks in the kitchen? How can they be heard when others don't have to listen? In this session, learn the science of influence and persuasion.
How to Defend Your Prices
In B2B environments, you're sometimes facing a battle on two fronts: With customers and prospects, and with others inside your own company. In this on-demand webinar, learn about effective strategies and tactics for defending your prices internally and externally.
Developing a Winning Roadmap for Pricing
From our research, leading pricing functions go through key evolutionary phases in becoming more effective and strategic. In this 3-part training webinar, learn how to develop a roadmap that streamlines that evolution with a plan to be a more valuable and strategic function.
Optimizing Pricing Operations
Over the last few years, most teams have changed their day-to-day operations quite a bit to deal with all of the challenges. So how do we make sense of this patchwork to make our operations more efficient and effective?
