If Prices Could Talk

In this episode of If Prices Could Talk,  Tracy Dent sits down with Jeet Mukherjee (Chief Strategy Officer) to unpack why pricing services feels more emotional, more political, and more fragile than pricing products - and why that can quietly destroy pricing power inside otherwise strong companies.

We’ll explore why discounts show up late in the deal, why confidence matters more than math, and what leaders can do to stop services pricing from going off the rails.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why services pricing breaks down faster than product pricing
• How internal alignment (or lack thereof) sabotages price execution
• How discounting creeps in even when value is obvious
• What leaders get wrong about buyer types, value, and negotiation when selling services

00:00 Introductions

01:43 Why B2B services pricing feels so much harder than products

04:47 Most common way to price in B2B professional services

09:31 What’s my differentiation and how do I charge for it?

12:34 How to put the client in control when they’re buying

14:26 Understanding your client’s price sensitivity

21:55 When AI pushes us towards outcome-based pricing

28:10 Understanding your market and benchmarking

Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

ABOUT HOLDEN ADVISORS

Holden Advisors is a boutique consulting firm specializing in B2B pricing and sales performance. We help companies understand their value through the eyes of their customers and use these insights to develop, price, and sell solutions that meet evolving market demands. 

Our tailored strategies are designed to improve differential value and go-to-market execution. With decades of expertise in value-based pricing, sales implementation, and negotiation, we partner with companies to build and protect their pricing power.

Learn more at www.holdenadvisors.com

Without strong execution from client facing teams, even the best price model will underperform. In this episode of If Prices Could Talk, Tracy Dent sits down with Jeet Mukherjee (Chief Strategy Officer) and Travis Umpleby (Negotiation Master Facilitator) to unpack why price increases derail once they hit the field.

This episode breaks down why price increases collapse in the real world: misaligned leadership, weak discount governance, poor preparation for pushback, and sales teams left with no tools beyond discounting. 

Join us for practical stories and tactics in using service levels to create choice, tightening escalation paths, and rolling out changes to decrease risk and ensure smooth execution.

Key topics: 

• The 3 most common reasons price changes fail (and how to prevent them)
• How discount approval behavior quietly trains buyers to escalate
• Why quotes are fuel for sales confidence
• How to use service levels and packaging to give buyers choices and decrease pushback
• Ways to drive executive alignment and ensure teams have the right tools to go get the new pricing

Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:01 The human and emotional aspects of a price change

04:53 Building belief in your value so sellers can negotiate with backbone

10:11 The top 3 issues in price changes: executive alignment, preparation, and tool kits for sellers

19:47 How to reduce negotiation pressure through choices and tiered offerings

25:41 How to think about timelines for executing a price change

32:25 Learnings from early price changes and key takeaways from trial and error

Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/ 

Connect with Travis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travis-umpleby/ 

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

ABOUT HOLDEN ADVISORS

Holden Advisors is a boutique consulting firm specializing in B2B pricing and sales performance. We help companies understand their value through the eyes of their customers and use these insights to develop, price, and sell solutions that meet evolving market demands. 

Our tailored strategies are designed to improve differential value and go-to-market execution. With decades of expertise in value-based pricing, sales implementation, and negotiation, we partner with companies to build and protect their pricing power.

Learn more at www.holdenadvisors.com

In this episode, Cuvama CEO MG Gurbaxani joins Jeet Mukherjee and Tracy Dent to break down myths in value based selling and what it takes to succeed when AI is no longer a differentiator.

Learn how to sell on value versus features, what CROs are saying behind closed doors about the pressure to scale sales with automation, and how to maintain the human element of discovery.

Topics:

• What value-based selling looks like (done right)
• How to sell a value story instead of insist on ROI
• How to fix discovery so pricing reflects impact, not cost
• Ways companies are quantifying impact to build and protect pricing power

Chapters

00:00 Introductions

02:38 The value selling illusion and what CEOs think is happening

11:21 How to navigate a large buying center

20:51 CRO insights on AI and value selling 

35:46 Stories of how value quantification builds pricing power

44:08 What B2B SaaS CEOs need to get right in H2 

About MG

MG Gurbaxani is the co-founder and CEO of Cuvama, a Customer Value Management platform designed to help B2B GTM teams uncover and communicate value at scale. Over the last two decades, he has guided more than 80 global B2B clients across industries to sharpen pricing strategies, accelerate sales cycles, and enhance customer retention. Cuvama is MG’s answer to the persistent failures he witnessed in value-based selling - transforming his advisory IP into software that empowers sales teams to drive real business outcomes.

Connect with MG: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mg-gurbaxani/

Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

About Cuvama

Cuvama is a London-based Customer Value Management platform that empowers B2B sales and customer success teams to sell business outcomes, not just products. Founded in 2022, Cuvama guides teams to run expert discovery, link buyer needs to impact, and reinforce success post-sale.  By codifying your unique value proposition into structured workflows, Cuvama enables consistent messaging, higher win‑rates, better pricing, and improved customer lifetime value.

https://cuvama.com/

About Holden Advisors

Holden Advisors is a boutique consulting firm specializing in B2B pricing and sales performance. We help companies understand their value through the eyes of their customers and use these insights to develop, price, and sell solutions that meet evolving market demands. 

Our tailored strategies are designed to improve differential value and go-to-market execution. With decades of expertise in value-based pricing, sales implementation, and negotiation, we partner with companies to build and protect their pricing power.

https://holdenadvisors.com/

Many B2B companies still rely on cost-plus pricing. For good reason! It’s clear, it’s simple to explain and defend, and it’s predictable.

But when buyers use it as an excuse to call you a commodity and demand discounts, it can lead to extremely thin margins and dilute your pricing power. 

In this episode, Tracy Dent and Jeet Mukherjee discuss five levers to escape the cost-plus pricing trap without blowing up your commercial model. 

Key topics covered:

• The basics in quantifying differential value and understanding quality of revenue
• How to differentiate beyond the product itself
• Ways to reevaluate your price metric to be outcome-specific
• How to protect resources and assets in a scarce market
• How to build rules to price with confidence and reward the right customer behaviors 

If your commercial team struggles to defend pricing in the face of buyer pressure, this episode will help you start making the shift one step at a time.

Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:32 Why cost plus pricing still dominates

06:05 When buyers call you a commodity

11:45 Handling price negotiations at the time of renewal

19:39 Reframing price from SKUs to outcomes

22:38 Understanding your quality of revenue

25:49 Rules-based pricing that reflects value

https://holdenadvisors.com/how-to-break-out-of-the-cost-plus-pricing-trap/

Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

ABOUT HOLDEN ADVISORS

Holden Advisors is a boutique consulting firm specializing in B2B pricing and sales performance. We help companies understand their value through the eyes of their customers and use these insights to develop, price, and sell solutions that meet evolving market demands. 

Our tailored strategies are designed to improve differential value and go-to-market execution. With decades of expertise in value-based pricing, sales implementation, and negotiation, we partner with companies to build and protect their pricing power.

Learn more at www.holdenadvisors.com

In this episode, we unpack the impact of AI on SaaS pricing, differentiation, and value - and a rundown of pricing related pops and flops.

From Notion’s bundling strategy to the GenAI price war and Reddit’s data lawsuit against Anthropic, this episode digs into how commoditization is forcing B2B software leaders to rethink what they’re really selling—and what buyers are still willing to pay for.

Roundtable episode with host Tracy Dent and in-house pricing experts Jeet Mukherjee, Pete Morelli, and Richard Klein.

Key topics:

• Notion AI’s move from add-on to bundled feature
• Amex vs. Chase value messaging strategies
• GenAI price wars and what they mean for innovation
• Pricing around compute vs. value delivered
• Reddit vs. Anthropic and data monetization implications
• What to do when AI features are table stakes

Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:09 Price pops and flops: Amex, Chase, Cox Internet, and Notion AI

12:29 G2 buyer behavior report and where we are in the AI market lifecycle

https://learn.g2.com/hubfs/G2-2025-Buyer-Behavior-Report-AI-Always-Included.pdf

19:36 When AI becomes a commodity, how can a business differentiate itself?

https://techstrong.ai/articles/when-ai-becomes-a-commodity-how-can-a-business-differentiate-itself/

21:49 Monetizely: The Gen AI price war is coming and customers will lose

https://www.getmonetizely.com/blogs/the-genai-price-war-is-coming-and-customers-will-lose

27:03 WSJ: Reddit sues Anthropic, Alleges unauthorized use of site’s data

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/reddit-lawsuit-anthropic-ai-3b9624dd?

https://fortune.com/2025/06/11/nvidia-jensen-huang-disagress-anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-ai-jobs/ 

https://searchengineland.com/openai-may-pay-reddit-70m-for-licensing-deal-451882

 
Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/

Connect with Pete: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermorelli/ 

Connect with Richard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardfgklein/

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/ 

Learn more at www.holdenadvisors.com

How do you build a sales team that doesn’t crumble under pressure? 30-year sales veteran Vanessa Giuliani joins Holden Advisors CEO Brian Doyle and host Tracy Dent to unpack real-world lessons from high-stakes negotiations across the US, UK, and Canada. 

From poker-playing procurement tactics to sales team transformation, this episode is full of stories and takeaways for sales leaders up against tough procurement teams and challenging negotiations.

Topics covered:

• Sales leadership during pricing pressure
• Building sales teams that protect value and don’t fold against procurement
• Regional differences in negotiation style
• Real stories from negotiations and what to do when it turns into a game of poker

ABOUT VANESSA

Vanessa has been leading teams for 30 years with in-depth experience in financial services, data management, software, technology, credit, and fraud. Most recently, she was the general manager of an international business unit of a multi-billion dollar Fortune 1000 company.

With experience with large and complex organizations like Equifax and CIBC Bank, she has built new revenue streams, set up data exchanges, product transfer between countries, migrations, transformations, and developing new lines of business from the ground up.

Connect with Vanessa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-giuliani-/

Connect with Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianadoyle/

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

ABOUT HOLDEN ADVISORS

Holden Advisors is a boutique consulting firm specializing in B2B pricing and sales performance. We help companies understand their value through the eyes of their customers and use these insights to develop, price, and sell solutions that meet evolving market demands.

Our tailored strategies are designed to improve differential value and go-to-market execution. With decades of expertise in value-based pricing, sales implementation, and negotiation, we partner with companies to build and protect their pricing power.

Learn more at www.holdenadvisors.com

In this episode of If Prices Could Talk, Tracy Dent is joined by Greg James and Jeet Mukherjee to break down the economic, strategic, and emotional factors shaping the autonomous vehicle industry. 

What’s the difference between Tesla’s feature-based pricing and Waymo’s per-mile approach? How does trust impact pricing power? What happens when legacy companies are forced to compete in platform economics?

This episode explores the economic and emotional levers driving how we think about value, and what they mean for leaders facing disruption from AI.

Key Themes:

• Trust as a critical lever in emerging markets
• Subscription vs. CapEx vs. outcome-based pricing
• The role of entropy in complex commercial models
• What B2B leaders can learn from the AV transformation

ABOUT GREG

Granted with 14 patents, Greg is a 30-year industry veteran who has led engineering teams at companies like Intel, Verizon, and Google. Throughout his career, he has led mechanical design teams, enabled customers to manufacture with Intel's advanced SMT and socketed chips, and developed and delivered thermal and mechanical solutions for mobile PCs.  

Connect with Greg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryajames/ 

Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introductions

01:01 The rise of Waymo

08:02 Understanding the value drivers

17:23 What is entropy in auto pricing? Complexity, confusion, and value erosion

33:40 Platform economics and labor disruption; pricing the unknown

38:13 Cost per mile and what customers actually pay for

43:10 Final takeaways and B2B learnings from AV innovation

Research referenced:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2025.2499887#abstract

https://www.moneygeek.com/resources/costs-of-car-ownership/

https://waymo.com/safety/

Join us to unpack the biggest pricing and strategy headlines from the last few weeks. From Klarna’s AI stumble and rising credit defaults to Airbnb’s push to become a full-service travel platform — we explore what these moves mean for value perception, customer trust, and margin pressure. Plus: the implications of Dick’s potential acquisition of Foot Locker, and new consumer sentiment trends out of Europe.

Topics include:

• Klarna’s AI overcorrection and credit losses
• Airbnb’s push to become the “everything app”
• Foot Locker + Dick’s Sporting Goods: what pricing leaders should watch
• New insights on European consumer sentiment and pricing sensitivity
• The evolving role of AI in shaping how we buy and sell

Roundtable episode with Jeet Mukherjee, Pete Morelli, Richard Klein, and Tracy Dent. 

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introductions

01:21 PYMTS.com: Klarna Marks 100 Million Customers as Losses Nearly Double https://www.pymnts.com/earnings/2025/klarna-marks-100-million-customers-as-losses-nearly-double/

11:29 TechCrunch: OpenAI upgrades ChatGPT search with shopping features https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/28/openai-upgrades-chatgpt-search-with-shopping-features/

23:18 Reuters: Dick's Sporting to buy Foot Locker for $2.4 billion to fight soft demand https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/dicks-sporting-goods-acquire-foot-locker-24-billion-2025-05-15/

30:25  WSJ: He Revolutionized Travel. Can Airbnb’s Founder Redesign Your Entire Life? https://www.wsj.com/style/airbnb-services-experiences-founder-brian-chesky-341005e4

36:49 Price flops: Uber, Forever 21, Apple, Wendy’s

In this episode, Chris Anderson joins Tracy Dent and Jeet Mukherjee to break down what it takes to lead a pricing transformation inside a PE-backed company.

From board pressure and sales resistance to customer risk and internal politics, Chris shares the emotional and strategic complexity of navigating pricing change - especially when the spreadsheet says one thing, and the reality says another.

Chris has over 25 years of experience in software and technology development, consulting, and executive leadership. In the last ten years, he served as CEO of AIA Contract Documents, and prior to that, was the CEO of Building Systems Design, Inc. He specializes in  building and customizing software products, eCommerce, web based solutions, and technical team building and development. 

We discuss:

• Why pricing change feels risky for CEOs

• How to keep your sales team on board
• What most teams get wrong about executing a change
• Managing tension between the board, the market, and your team

Connect with Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-anderson-6267ab15

Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/ 

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

Learn more about Holden Advisors:

www.holdenadvisors.com

In this episode, we explore what happens when pricing meets volatility — from SaaS boardrooms to EV factories and grocery aisles.

Join host Tracy Dent alongside Jeet Mukherjee, Pete Morelli, and new Holden Advisors Senior Director Richard Klein as they break down some of the most important business stories of the week through the lens of pricing, strategy, and value.

Topics covered:

• Why SaaS companies are abandoning the old unit economics playbook
• Slate’s electric truck as a low cost, low value option
• Albertsons’ warning on tariffs and ways to communicate price changes
• Uber + VW’s robotaxi bet and pricing innovation in transportation

Learn more about Holden Advisors: www.holdenadvisors.com

Connect with Jeet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeet-mukherjee-58462a1/

Connect with Pete: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermorelli/

Connect with Richard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardfgklein/

Connect with Tracy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyleighdent/

Chapters

00:00 Introductions and welcome to Richard

02:23 How AI agents are rewriting the SaaS playbook https://news.crunchbase.com/ai/rethinking-unit-economics-saas-playbook-sagie/

07:56 TechCrunch: Windsurf slashes prices as competition with Cursor heats up

 https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/23/windsurf-slashes-prices-as-competition-with-cursor-heats-up/

The Verge: Why are companies lining up to buy Chrome? https://www.theverge.com/chrome/656613/google-chrome-buyers-openai-yahoo-perplexity

16:24 The Washington Post: Trump praises Bezos after Amazon denies plan to show tariffs’ costs https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/04/29/amazon-trump-tariffs-leavitt/

Fortune: Albertsons tells suppliers to eat the cost of tariffs: ‘We are not accepting cost increases’ https://fortune.com/2025/04/25/albertsons-suppliers-tariffs-price-cost/

25:48 Tariff impact on consumer confidence

26:52 The Verge: The $20,000 American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, and no touchscreen https://www.theverge.com/electric-cars/655527/slate-electric-truck-price-paint-radio-bezos

30:44 TechCrunch: Uber, Volkswagen pair up to launch robotaxi service in US with self-driving, electric microbuses https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/uber-and-volkswagen-pair-up-to-launch-robotaxi-service-with-self-driving-electric-microbuses/

Futurism: Kawasaki Shows Off Concept for Rideable Horse Robot

https://futurism.com/the-byte/kawasaki-rideable-horse-robot 

36:12 Pricing flops