By now, surely everyone knows just how important it is to have “executive support” behind a new pricing initiative. But what does it actually mean?
Does just getting the go-ahead on your initiative mean that you have executive support? When your budget and head-count requests finally make it through the approval gauntlet, does that constitute executive support?
What does “executive support” actually look like?
I thought I knew—until I read a case study in the PricingBrew Journal entitled, “Effective Internal Marketing for Pricing Initiatives“.
This case study details the lengths to which one executive team went in support of a new pricing initiative. They took every opportunity to speak about the initiative, its purpose, and its progress in company meetings, departmental conference calls, etc. They sent “Well done!” emails to specific reps who had exhibited the desired behaviors, CC’ing the rest of their department. They acted as guest speakers in department meetings, fielding tough questions about the initiative.
To the rest of the organization, these executives weren’t just giving the initiative a passive blessing or stamp of approval—no, they appeared to be intimately-associated with the initiative itself.
Through their actions and behaviors, they made it very clear to the rest of the organization that the success of this initiative was 1) critical to the ongoing profitability of the company, and 2) very important to the executive team, personally.
And that, my friend, is what real executive support looks like.
Effective Internal Marketing for Pricing Initiatives
Pricing initiatives don't happen overnight and organizational support can wane over time. Without some thoughtful planning, initiatives can end-up fading into the background. Learn the approaches two companies used to keep support and momentum going.
Selling Your Pricing Initiative
Want to get your pricing initiative approved? In this on-demand webinar, learn how to structure and deliver your investment "case" in such a way that approval is almost a foregone conclusion.
Two Ways to Champion Pricing Initiatives
This case history details how one pricing champion used two different approaches to gain support and approval...and got very different results. Find out which approach worked better.
