Frank Luby is a writing partner and editor for business books, articles, and corporate communication and co-founder and CEO at Present Tense LLC.

In this episode, Frank emphasizes the importance of clear and effective writing for pricing professionals, offering techniques like the "10-10" and "Rule of 13" methods to structure writing efficiently. He highlights how good writing can influence decision-making within organizations, often reaching and persuading people beyond initial conversations. Additionally, he underscores the value of listening to customers and understanding their real needs, which can significantly enhance pricing strategies and company success.

 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Discover practical writing tips and actionable strategies to help you organize and improve your writing, making it more persuasive and impactful.
• Learn how writing plays a crucial role in influencing and shifting thinking within organizations amplifying your message beyond one-on-one conversations.
• Gain insights on structuring effective communication, prioritizing the right information in your writing and focusing on making a single point effectively. 

 

"Truly, honestly, listen to customers."

- Frank Luby

 

Topics Covered:

01:33 - How he got into pricing

03:23 - What's his contribution in Hermann Simon's book on pricing

04:21 - Noting two challenging tasks that makes writing about pricing difficult

05:39 - Acknowledging the complexity of the term "value" in pricing

07:36 - Deciding which narrative perspective to use in writing between blogs and books

09:15 - An effective writing technique to engage readers

10:05 - What his role is at the upcoming PPS (Professional Pricing Society) conference

12:09 - Why a pricing director or manager should care about improving their writing skills, even if they feel confident writing emails

14:10 - How writing can have a greater influence than many people realize

15:46 - Sharing two key writing approaches to help people organize their thoughts effectively

18:50 - Comparing writing to architecture

20:03 - Explaining the "Rule of 13" method as a way to test whether a chapter idea can stand alone

21:21 - The concept of prioritizing writing tasks using the acronym "CSR”.

23:01 - Importance of understanding your audience, especially when trying to shift or replace existing strategies in pricing 

25:53 - Introducing the 50/500 rule: Making a single, clear point in writing

27:31 - Frank's best pricing advice.

28:24 - Why businesses often don't listen to their customers, despite it being an obvious necessity

 

Key Takeaways:

"I often make the analogy to writing an architecture. And you wouldn't want somebody building your house just by having a bunch of bricks and cement and two by fours delivered. You'd like to see a plan, you'd like to see what they're going to design. And it's hard to change things later on. So, that planning part, especially for a book, is immensely important." - Frank Luby

"That's where this 13-method comes in where you can test some of those things that if you can't have those three supporting pieces, or three examples or three ways to elaborate on a particular point, that's your signal right off the bat that that might not carry a chapter." - Frank Luby

"The other hint is prioritizing what you want to write about." - Frank Luby

"We love simplification and we love to have simple answers and simple descriptions, and no segment of customers, or no individual customer, is really that simple. So, we pick up on the things that we can make easy groups out of and we tend to ignore the rest. And sometimes, the rest we're ignoring is really the vital part of the equation." - Frank Luby

 

People/Resources Mentioned:

• Hermann Simon: https://hermannsimon.com
• Price Management: Strategy, Analysis, Decision, Implementation: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Management-Strategy-Analysis-Implementation/dp/3319994557
• Dow Jones: https://www.dowjones.com/about/
• David Brooks: https://www.nytimes.com/column/david-brooks

 

Connect with Frank Luby:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-luby-318220/

 

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: [email protected]