In the course of our work here at the PricingBrew Journal…our research and development calls, Help Desk interactions, live webinar sessions, and so on…we interact with a wide variety of Pricing teams. And while these teams certainly share a titular connection, they can differ dramatically in terms of size, budget, tenure, industry dynamics, business model, reporting structures, etc.
But one of the most important and telling differences between various teams is often only visible when you’re on the outside looking in…
Frankly, some Pricing teams seem to be “majoring in the minors.” Or, using another baseball reference, some teams seem to be “playing small ball.” In more direct terms, these teams are focusing their efforts and resources on relatively small things that can’t really move the needle all that much.
In sharp contrast, other teams are squarely focused on things that can have a major impact on overall performance. To be clear, they’re dealing with the smaller and more tactical issues as well. But they aren’t letting those smaller things consume them. And they certainly aren’t fooling themselves into thinking all those “minor league” issues are THE issues.
Should you find that left-hand column in the chart above most closely describes the types of things that consume the bulk of your team’s time and energy, what can you do? How do you step up to the majors?
Well, if I were prone to consultant-speak…which regular readers will know that I am not…at all…I might suggest that you need to develop a more inspiring “vision” for your team. And I might also suggest that you need to develop a more compelling “mission statement” to guide your efforts moving forward.
But having suffered through far too many of these feel-good “vision and mission” exercises as a practitioner myself, I’ll spare you that frustration. After all, those things are just words on paper that make very little difference unless and until they are turned into action.
So…why not skip the navel-gazing and jump right to the action?
Assess your situation and prioritize your capability gaps. Identify a doable initiative that will move the needle and generate demonstrable results. Set aside some time on regular basis to focus on driving that initiative toward fruition. Measure and communicate the impacts of your efforts to garner more internal support and momentum.
Then, just rinse and repeat.
Of course, it won’t be easy…nothing worth doing ever is. But it is a fairly straightforward and doable process…with no navel-gazing required…unless you really want to…I won’t judge 🙂
From Tactical to Strategic Pricing
Some teams are so mired in tactical grunt work and daily firefights that they never make progress on strategic pursuits. How have other pricing teams transitioned into more strategic functions? What steps did they take?
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.
Avoiding the Top 10 Pricing Mistakes
You're going to make mistakes. But if you can avoid the biggest mistakes, you're definitely rigging the game in your favor. In this on-demand webinar, learn about the top 10 mistakes that other pricing groups have made along the way.
