While measures to stabilize businesses are surely top-of-mind, now is also the time to think both strategically and tactically about sales and pricing capabilities. Successful companies understand what drives sales wins and focus resources accordingly. In this article, the authors focus on tactics to use right now to protect the existing business and improve win rates, despite the market environment.
Experience shows that some of the most thoughtful pricing leaders take advantage of slowdowns to invest in the future. Building new pricing discipline, flexibility, and capabilities now can create long-term competitive advantages. For pricing leaders, the three most important areas to focus on are: being creative in meeting customer needs while preserving value, driving strong pricing discipline, and investing boldly in capabilities for the future, as the authors explain.
In pricing and sales negotiations, the vast majority of people are haunted by the “ghost of prices past.” This is because the only method for truly determining if a price point is a market competitive price occurs at the transactional level, and this analysis requires real time knowledge of market conditions, product state, margin erosion, M&A activity, and at least 142 other measurable variables. So how can you know for certain that your price is competitive?
While the current global crisis is making it necessary for companies to act quickly, careful consideration must be made regarding pricing decisions and strategies. Rash actions can have detrimental effects that can become long-term burdens, and poor decisions in a time of uncertainty can result in years of rebuilding in order to restore profitability. In this article, the authors present immediate actions that you can take to protect your company’s cash flow while also ensuring its long-term success.
In a very chaotic world, such as the one in which we currently find ourselves, cost-plus pricing is straight forward. Costing, however, can be rather complex, which makes managing dynamic cost-plus pricing very tricky. If your main pricing orientation is cost-based or cost-plus, you should consider the points presented here in order to survive current challenges.
2020 will mark the release of the fourth generation Certified Pricing Professional (CPP) program, the only globally recognized pricing designation. In this article, the Academic Advisor to the CPP designation explains what is new about “CPP 4.0” and explores what CPP designates, what challenges it qualifies pricers to address, and the development process and academic integrity involved in the creation of the curriculum, materials and testing models.
The coronavirus crisis is affecting companies and the economy with full force. The consequences are multifaceted, from the increasing vulnerability of supply chains and the rising number of infections on production lines to added stress on sales teams, which must react to rapidly changing market events. Adding agility to their pricing processes and price models can help companies reduce the impact of the crisis, as the authors explain.
In this article, the author presents a scenario of an all too common lifecycle that plays out consistently in pricing management groups in mature companies: new pricing managers are hired for growth, they immediately lower prices while ignoring other key indicators, and when this doesn’t work they scramble for other solutions or leave before creating a black mark on their resume. This article describes how to break this cycle and provides strategies for new pricing managers to help improve their chances of success.
Many companies are now revising pricing strategies to build resiliency for the aftermath of COVID-19. Companies that refine their pricing strategy with foresight in 2020 will set the stage for a stronger recovery and long- term growth as the crisis abates. In this article, the authors present a roadmap for redeveloping pricing strategy based on insights into three key areas.
Do your customers trust you? How do you find out? If they don’t, how do you build that trust and understand what your customers expect from you? In this article, the author outlines clear steps you can take to develop your customers’ trust in both your organization and your pricing.