PricingBrew

Insights & Tips

Already a subscriber? Login

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

Do You Have These Pricing Skills and Abilities?

For The Anatomy of a Successful B2B Pricing Analyst, we asked the PricingBrew Network to weigh-in on the most important skills a B2B pricing analyst should possess, or seek to develop. And as usual, the feedback and input we received was both thoughtful and thought-provoking.

While the resulting guide details all 21 of the most important attributes, skills, and capabilities, there were more than a few surprises. Consider the following excerpts from the guide:

  • Results Orientation—We heard negatives about analysts who think the analysis itself is the objective. On the other hand, we heard positives about analysts who recognize that their work is a means to an end, and who always “keep their eye on the prize”—i.e. business and financial results.
  • Change Management—Most participants cited a need for pricing analysts to understand organizational dynamics and how to go about fostering change within their organizations. They expressed a need for pricing analysts to be masters of “influence without authority”. As one participant put it, “Pricing is 40% figuring out what to do and 60% getting the company to do it.”
  • Problem Solving—We heard strong negatives about pricing analysts who could identify potential problems, but had no idea how to go about solving them or preventing them from happening in the future. Positives were expressed toward analysts who were capable of devising multiple potential solutions to the same problem or issue.

It’s clear that to be successful in B2B pricing, you need more than technical skills. Sure, being able to conduct the appropriate pricing analyses is a valuable skillset. Yes, being able to perform the right mathematical calculations is a useful capability. And of course, being a wizard with Excel formulas and pivot-tables is certainly very helpful.

But considering that only 8 of the 21 categories outlined in the guide are technical in nature, what the pricing experts and seasoned practitioners in the Network seem to be saying, is that technical pricing skills are just table stakes.

As the saying goes, technical pricing skills are “necessary, but not sufficient.”

Get Immediate Access To Everything In The PricingBrew Journal

Related Resources

  • Exposing the Secrets of Price Negotiation

    How do you protect your margins when your sellers are so outmatched? How do you keep them from falling for every trick in the book? And what does your pricing team need to know to provide another layer of protection?

    View This Webinar
  • Pros & Cons of Different Pricing Locations

    To help guide your decision about where to locate a dedicated Pricing function in your business, we've compiled this reference table outlining four typical locations, the rationale for each location, as well as the top pros and cons that have been reported.

    View This Tool
  • Revamping Sales Comp to Improve Pricing

    In this on-demand webinar, you'll learn about the pros and cons of various approaches for infusing pricing performance into your sales compensation plan to reduce unnecessary discounting and boost profitability.

    View This Webinar
  • The Fundamentals of Price Structure

    In this on-demand webinar, we explore ten different approaches for structuring your prices to align to customer needs and priorities---from bundling, add-ons and multi-part prices to volume schedules, surcharges, and more.

    View This Webinar