PricingBrew

Insights & Tips

Already a subscriber? Login

Become a subscriber and unlock an information arsenal focused on making your pricing efforts more effective.

A Far Better Way to Improve Pricing

Product designers, particularly those involved with software, have long struggled against a particular tendency in human nature. You see, when we make a thing, we naturally want that thing to be as good as it could possibly be.

Unfortunately, building a product that is as good as it can be requires long hours coming up with seemingly endless lists of product requirements. And then it can take months, years, even decades to build a product that successfully meets those requirements.

Of course, by then, the market may have changed so much that the original requirements are no longer applicable.

To circumvent this natural desire for perfection, product managers follow a principle known as minimum viable product (MVP). An MVP is a basic version of the product that is just functional enough to get some customer reactions. Nothing more. Nothing less. It allows a company to get products to market as soon as possible and to start integrating customer feedback into the next iteration.

In pricing, we aren’t making any products, but we often do put together proposed improvements. It’s natural to want these improvements to be as good as they can possibly be.

But as the saying goes, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”

Our research has shown, time and time again, that’s it’s far better to put some improvement in place — any improvement — even if it’s not yet ideal. “Best practice” isn’t best if it never gets implemented. It’s far better to get something going and then make additional adjustments over time.

PricingBrew has several resources that explain different ways to get an “MVP” initiative into production:

  • “Better” Practices for Pricing Improvement aims to help you figure out which initiatives will be both beneficial and doable in your organization. It advocates for a pragmatic approach that can start to move the needle in the right direction.
  • Identifying & Capturing Profitable “Quick Wins” highlights some tactics that don’t require a lot of time or knowhow but have an outsized impact on the bottom line. It focuses on very achievable projects that can help your team begin to impact your organization.
  • Getting Your Salespeople to Price Better offers some techniques that help improve engagement among your sales team. It can also help increase your understanding of how salespeople think and ultimately improve your relationship with them.

By applying these minimum viable product techniques, your pricing team can become a different kind of MVP — the most valuable player on your company’s payroll.

Get Immediate Access To Everything In The PricingBrew Journal

Related Resources

  • Assessing Your Pricing Capabilities

    While you might think your pricing capabilities are pretty good, how do you really know? How can you tell? In this on-demand webinar, learn how to leverage "3 P" assessments to figure out where you're at and where you need to improve.

    View This Webinar
  • Stop Being Afraid of Procurement

    In this interview with Chris Provines, author of "Selling to Procurement", get an inside look at the goals and tactics of the purchasing people who are working so hard to get your salespeople to give up margin.

    View This Interview
  • Identifying & Capturing Profitable "Quick Wins"

    It’s always good to have a few simple strategies close at hand for boosting margin dollars without having to expend a lot of time, effort, or money. In this three-part recorded training session, we discuss and explain 15 "quick win" strategies and tactics that have proven effective for others.

    View This Webinar
  • Understanding How B2B Pricing Is Different

    It's dangerous to assume that the pricing principles are the same whether the buyer is an individual consumer or a business. This guide explains five important differences between B2B and B2C pricing and how you can use them to your advantage.

    View This Guide