Have you seen how many universities are offering pricing degrees these days?
No?
That’s probably understandable since there still aren’t all that many four-year programs in the US that focus specifically on pricing. In fact, there aren’t any that we know of (though if we’re wrong, please let us know!).
It’s okay that there aren’t many four-year programs though, because have you seen how many pricing courses are available online and at industry conferences?
No?
Yeah, you can find a few sales ops courses here and there, but not nearly at the same level that you would find for other business disciplines, like marketing or finance or accounting.
Making matters worse, some of the pricing information out there that masquerades as “best practices” is nothing more than theories that sound good. They haven’t actually been tested in the field, so no one knows if they are helpful or not. It’s really easy to make pricing approaches sound great on paper, but they rarely ever work out ideally in a real business environment.
With so little training material available, it’s really difficult for pricing teams to know if they are doing the right things.
Filling that void of practical information is what motivates us every day here at PricingBrew. We don’t just offer our opinions — we do the actual research to find out what other firms are doing.
When they find things that really work, we pass that information along. But sometimes the most valuable information of all is when companies are willing to tell us about the projects that went poorly.
By documenting the lessons other teams have learned, we hope to help your team avoid common pitfalls. We focus on capturing what teams would do differently if they could go back and do everything over again. And then we pass that information along so that the entire profession can benefit.
In fact, some of our favorite resources available on PricingBrew are built around stories of what not to do:
- Neutralizing the Sales Team’s Excuses shows you how to avoid getting caught in the trap of accepting the sales team’s explanations for poor price execution. It helps you get to true root causes and explains how to prevent people from hiding behind poor excuses.
- Delivering Data to Decision-Makers tells you how to present management with the information they need to see — even when they’ve asked for something completely different. It helps you stop providing stale reports month after month and provide much more useful insight.
- Tales from the Trenches in B2B Pricing takes a look at 10 different case studies from real-life incidents. It’s a smorgasbord of dos and don’ts that other teams have learned the hard way.
- Developing a Winning Roadmap for Pricing Success outlines how to create an effective plan for making pricing a more valuable and strategic function so the team can spend less time putting out fires and more time on work that boosts the bottom line.
- “Better” Practices for Pricing Improvement highlights how amazing results can still be generated by just getting “better”. Pricing has so much power that “best practices” aren’t the only option–these simple solutions can generate big benefits.
- Why Pricing Initiatives Fail offers our observations after studying a number of pricing initiatives that didn’t work out as planned. Know what can go wrong so you can avoid making the same mistakes.
Of course, these are just a small fraction of the material available when you subscribe to PricingBrew. You can see the entire list by browsing the catalog.
Neutralizing the Sales Team's Excuses
When sales reps fail to do what's expected, it's human nature to offer "explanations" beyond personal failing or expedience. Learn how Pricing can address the top "reasons" for poor price execution in the field.
Delivering Data to Decision Makers
Providing data to decision-makers is a core responsibility for most pricing teams. But getting it right is a significant challenge. In this on-demand session, learn how leading teams are making their efforts in this area more effective.
Tales from the Trenches in B2B Pricing
Pricing improvement in B2B can be a messy affair. In this on-demand webinar, glean insights from ten cautionary case studies so you don't repeat the same mistakes and miscalculations.
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.
"Better" Practices for Pricing Improvement
That lofty place of "best practice" can sometimes seem very far away. Fortunately, pricing has so much power that amazing results can be generated by just getting "better." In this webinar, learn how to adapt best practices in less than ideal situations.
Why Pricing Initiatives Fail
In B2B, some pricing initiatives just don’t work out as planned—they either struggle to produce worthwhile results or they fail outright. So, how do we avoid making the same mistakes that have derailed other initiatives?
