Impact Pricing

Amy Konary has more than 20 years of experience advising companies on subscription business strategies. She is the founder and chair of Subscribed Institute, a think tank for the subscription economy. Through the Subscribed Institute, Amy brings together a community of business executives, thought leaders, and industry experts at a series of Executive Summits and events. She generates research and industry benchmarks on subscription transformation topics. Amy also advises Zuora customers on subscription business strategy development, execution, and maturity.  

Amy shares about subscription success in this episode, impacting revenue growth by enabling flexible pricing and product packaging.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn about how subscription pricing considers three pricing models to maximize revenue 
• Find out the three pricing elements that impact revenue growth 
• Learn to understand the B2B Subscription Pricing

“Simple core with flexible pricing, that would be my advice.” 

 - Amy Konary

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:41 - Amy talks about the report B2B Subscription Pricing: Three Critical Elements That Impact Revenue Growth 

03:07 - What is flexible pricing 

04:44 - Company that uses a flexible pricing 

06:07 - On price tweaking 

08:14 - How is a product defined 

12:04 - Flat fee versus per unit pricing 

13:51 - Getting in-depth into per-unit pricing 

15:25 - The difference between per-unit pricing versus usage-based pricing 

17:59 - Discussing growth rate in terms of using or not using usage-based pricing 

19:18 - How Box uses a usage-based pricing 

22:13 - One important pricing advice that could have an impact on one’s business 

Key Takeaways:

“What we find in the subscription world is the way that you add flexibility is by coupling a simple and flexible approach. And what we mean by that is rather than selling products, you're selling services around specific subscribers.” - Amy Konary  

“The fastest-growing companies are those that introduce new packages or products more frequently.” - Amy Konary  

“Pricing and packaging are really important, your ability to cross-sell, and upsell is really important. Your ability to increase volume is really important because that's really where you're going to get the most of your revenue from that subscriber.” - Amy Konary  

“Keep it simple, just launch something really simple when you get to market. As the company matures, as their revenue grows, that's where you start to see companies do segmentation, really get into the good, better, best models, maybe sell some add-ons.” - Amy Konary 

“In the subscription world, you want to eliminate that kind of friction, you want to make it really obvious to the customer, what they should buy, and what kind of value it's going to offer to them. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you've got too much choice for customers.” - Amy Konary 

“We see usage-based pricing being a really important approach, particularly in situations where it's really important what that usage might be to the value that you're getting out of the service.” - Amy Konary

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Carl Gold 
• box.com 
• B2B Subscription Pricing: Three Critical Elements That Impact Revenue Growth 

Connect with Amy Konary:

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Mark Stiving, Ph.D., MBA, is a widely recognized pricing expert and marketing pro who teaches companies how to boost revenues and realize their true value.

Theresa French is the Sales and Marketing Operations Manager at Impact Pricing. 

Pricing has been a lifelong passion for Mark. As a child, he contemplated why companies always use 99 cent price endings, which led to the question, "Do companies think we're stupid?"

As Mark would admit it, he feels guilty every time he is selling, that's why he wants everyone to know what he is doing, and the reason why he does Impact Pricing Podcast.

In this episode, Theresa and Mark talked about IP’s program called Guidance for Pricing Success(GPS), sharing everything you need to know about it, who this program for, what's in it for you, and what solution this would ultimately provide to a company's faster revenue growth.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Find out why companies should go for Guidance for Pricing Success(GPS) over hiring a pricing consultant
• Discover the ultimate value you can earn from the courses offered in Champions of Value
• Learn about the impact value conversation brings to your product, to your customer, and ultimately to your company’s profitability

“Every company I’ve ever talked with and I’ve ever worked with, they don’t understand what value really means.”

– Mark Stiving

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:43 – Mark talks about a program he’s releasing called Guidance for Pricing Success (GPS)

02:58 – For whom is Guidance for Pricing Success(GPS)?

04:45 – Who can take the most advantage from The Champions of Value?

06:13 – Convincing reasons why you should go for GPS over hiring a consultant

08:20 – What company challenge is GPS creating a solution for? 

09:55 – Strengthening the value conversation

11:51 – How to go about value conversations and how to have this conversation with a customer

13:09 – What’s in it for you in the courses Champions of Value offer and why you will get value way more than what you paid for the courses?

14:39 – Mark confessing his guilt in selling and helping you

Key Takeaways:

“Everybody needs GPS. If there was anything I could convince people of, it’s, you need to go understand value, how your customers perceive your value. Most companies have at least realize they want to move away from cost-plus pricing, they want to do value-based pricing. And yet they don’t understand value.” – Mark Stiving

“Champions of value is really about helping people learn way more about pricing and the things they need to know. And at the same time coaching them to deal with internal politics, or how to have meetings or how to do change management.” – Mark Stiving

“The other thing for the champions of value is when we have smaller companies, companies that aren’t quite at the $50 million range. It’s pretty cost-effective if they send several people through the champions of value program, and then they can try to implement this themselves.” – Mark Stiving

“If you have somebody who understands value and puts themselves in the minds of the buyer, and we’ve really thought through this, well, then you’re much less likely to make those million-dollar mistakes.” – Mark Stiving

“CEOs have many different issues. Probably the one thing that they would say, ‘I’m not growing fast enough, I need faster revenue growth.’ And how do they go get faster revenue growth? Well, it turns out that probably what’s happening is the company has figured out how to deliver a lot of value to the marketplace, what they haven’t done is figured out how to capture that value.” – Mark Stiving

“Why wouldn’t you spend 100 bucks a month in order to get promoted in order to improve your career, and I don’t care who you are if you’re a pricing professional if you’re a product manager if you’re a product marketer if you’re in sales. If you understand value, the way your customers understand value, I guarantee you it will impact your career for the better.” – Mark Stiving

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]   
• LinkedIn
• https://www.championsofvalue.com/

Connect with Theresa French:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Mark Stiving, Ph.D., MBA, is a widely recognized pricing expert and marketing pro who teaches companies how to boost revenues and realize their true value.

Theresa French is the Sales and Marketing Operations Manager at Impact Pricing. 

Pricing has been a lifelong passion for Mark. As a child, he contemplated why companies always use 99 cent price endings, which led to the question, "Do companies think we're stupid?"

As Mark would admit it, he feels guilty every time he is selling, that's why he wants everyone to know what he is doing, and the reason why he does Impact Pricing Podcast.

In this episode, Theresa and Mark talked about IP’s program called Guidance for Pricing Success(GPS), sharing everything you need to know about it, who this program for, what's in it for you, and what solution this would ultimately provide to a company's faster revenue growth.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Find out why companies should go for Guidance for Pricing Success(GPS) over hiring a pricing consultant
• Discover the ultimate value you can earn from the courses offered in Champions of Value
• Learn about the impact value conversation brings to your product, to your customer, and ultimately to your company’s profitability

“Every company I’ve ever talked with and I’ve ever worked with, they don’t understand what value really means.”

– Mark Stiving

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:43 – Mark talks about a program he’s releasing called Guidance for Pricing Success (GPS)

02:58 – For whom is Guidance for Pricing Success(GPS)?

04:45 – Who can take the most advantage from The Champions of Value?

06:13 – Convincing reasons why you should go for GPS over hiring a consultant

08:20 – What company challenge is GPS creating a solution for? 

09:55 – Strengthening the value conversation

11:51 – How to go about value conversations and how to have this conversation with a customer

13:09 – What’s in it for you in the courses Champions of Value offer and why you will get value way more than what you paid for the courses?

14:39 – Mark confessing his guilt in selling and helping you

Key Takeaways:

“Everybody needs GPS. If there was anything I could convince people of, it’s, you need to go understand value, how your customers perceive your value. Most companies have at least realize they want to move away from cost-plus pricing, they want to do value-based pricing. And yet they don’t understand value.” – Mark Stiving

“Champions of value is really about helping people learn way more about pricing and the things they need to know. And at the same time coaching them to deal with internal politics, or how to have meetings or how to do change management.” – Mark Stiving

“The other thing for the champions of value is when we have smaller companies, companies that aren’t quite at the $50 million range. It’s pretty cost-effective if they send several people through the champions of value program, and then they can try to implement this themselves.” – Mark Stiving

“If you have somebody who understands value and puts themselves in the minds of the buyer, and we’ve really thought through this, well, then you’re much less likely to make those million-dollar mistakes.” – Mark Stiving

“CEOs have many different issues. Probably the one thing that they would say, ‘I’m not growing fast enough, I need faster revenue growth.’ And how do they go get faster revenue growth? Well, it turns out that probably what’s happening is the company has figured out how to deliver a lot of value to the marketplace, what they haven’t done is figured out how to capture that value.” – Mark Stiving

“Why wouldn’t you spend 100 bucks a month in order to get promoted in order to improve your career, and I don’t care who you are if you’re a pricing professional if you’re a product manager if you’re a product marketer if you’re in sales. If you understand value, the way your customers understand value, I guarantee you it will impact your career for the better.” – Mark Stiving

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]   
• LinkedIn
• https://www.championsofvalue.com/

Connect with Theresa French:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Tim Williams is a Business Model and Pricing Strategist for professional services firms. He is an industry veteran who is the Founder and Managing Director of Ignition Consulting Group, also a noted author and presenter for major industry associations and business conferences worldwide. As a career marketing professional, Tim’s seminars and keynote presentations have taken him literally around the world, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, India, and Australia.  

In this episode, Tim highlights how important it is to devote your time, effort, and energy to the value you can create - a diagnosis of the matter, so to speak, rather than jump right into the solution.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Find out how to maximize profits through value creation 
• Learn how to price based on value by understanding what success looks like 
• Discover an effective method of receiving a rate more than what you would quote your client for

“A lot of companies and professional firms have jumped straight to the scope of work without considering what I call the scope of value, without having a clear definition of what success looks like.”

- Tim Williams

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

00:40 - What led Tim’s path to Pricing 

01:54 - The change from hourly to project-based pricing 

02:55 - What pricing model do advertising agencies adopt  

04:09 - How hourly rate charges for the cost and not the value 

04:51 - The Cost-Plus Pricing hardware companies are using 

05:48 - How disclosing more cost information veer away from the value creation 

06:34 - The difference between a business model and a pricing model 

08:06 - How Cost-Plus Pricing and Hourly Rate Pricing doesn’t capture value 

09:29 - Thoughts about communicating value  

11:45 - Why it is sometimes hard to price based on value 

12:18 - Effective method he uses for charging clients’ high rate 

13:08 - Receiving from clients beyond the base price you set  

14:15 - Companies going for a subscription model pricing 

16:16 - How does the subscription model look like in a crisis communication training 

17:28 - The challenges and future of subscription model pricing 

19:13 - Areas where the subscription model doesn’t apply 

22:54 - One piece of pricing advice that can have a big impact on one’s business

Key Takeaways:

“The hourly rate is only a manifestation of your cost structure. It's not a revenue model at all. I think the central problem in professional services is that by using the hourly rate, professional firms are simply charging for their costs, not their value.” - Tim Williams 

“Unfortunately, professional firms, agencies, in particular, have ceded way too much power to professional buyers by disclosing more and more cost information. You're having completely the wrong conversation. You're not talking about value created, you're talking about costs incurred.”  - Tim Williams 

“Devote your time and energy to the scope of value question.” - Tim Williams 

“I think letting your client decide what the value is, can also sometimes be effective.” - Tim Williams 

“I certainly know there's a school of thought that believes that the entire business world is moving toward a subscription-based model. I think it's a little more challenging in the service world than the product world. But even in professional services, there's a fair amount of intellectual property that resides in professional firms that can be packaged up, named, turned into options, and offered via subscription.” - Tim Williams

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Ron Baker 

Connect with Tim Williams:

• Ignitiongroup.com 
• LinkedIn 
• Twitter

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn 

Tim Williams is a Business Model and Pricing Strategist for professional services firms. He is an industry veteran who is the Founder and Managing Director of Ignition Consulting Group, also a noted author and presenter for major industry associations and business conferences worldwide. As a career marketing professional, Tim’s seminars and keynote presentations have taken him literally around the world, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, India, and Australia.  

In this episode, Tim highlights how important it is to devote your time, effort, and energy to the value you can create - a diagnosis of the matter, so to speak, rather than jump right into the solution.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Find out how to maximize profits through value creation 
• Learn how to price based on value by understanding what success looks like 
• Discover an effective method of receiving a rate more than what you would quote your client for

“A lot of companies and professional firms have jumped straight to the scope of work without considering what I call the scope of value, without having a clear definition of what success looks like.”

- Tim Williams

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

00:40 - What led Tim’s path to Pricing 

01:54 - The change from hourly to project-based pricing 

02:55 - What pricing model do advertising agencies adopt  

04:09 - How hourly rate charges for the cost and not the value 

04:51 - The Cost-Plus Pricing hardware companies are using 

05:48 - How disclosing more cost information veer away from the value creation 

06:34 - The difference between a business model and a pricing model 

08:06 - How Cost-Plus Pricing and Hourly Rate Pricing doesn’t capture value 

09:29 - Thoughts about communicating value  

11:45 - Why it is sometimes hard to price based on value 

12:18 - Effective method he uses for charging clients’ high rate 

13:08 - Receiving from clients beyond the base price you set  

14:15 - Companies going for a subscription model pricing 

16:16 - How does the subscription model look like in a crisis communication training 

17:28 - The challenges and future of subscription model pricing 

19:13 - Areas where the subscription model doesn’t apply 

22:54 - One piece of pricing advice that can have a big impact on one’s business

Key Takeaways:

“The hourly rate is only a manifestation of your cost structure. It's not a revenue model at all. I think the central problem in professional services is that by using the hourly rate, professional firms are simply charging for their costs, not their value.” - Tim Williams 

“Unfortunately, professional firms, agencies, in particular, have ceded way too much power to professional buyers by disclosing more and more cost information. You're having completely the wrong conversation. You're not talking about value created, you're talking about costs incurred.”  - Tim Williams 

“Devote your time and energy to the scope of value question.” - Tim Williams 

“I think letting your client decide what the value is, can also sometimes be effective.” - Tim Williams 

“I certainly know there's a school of thought that believes that the entire business world is moving toward a subscription-based model. I think it's a little more challenging in the service world than the product world. But even in professional services, there's a fair amount of intellectual property that resides in professional firms that can be packaged up, named, turned into options, and offered via subscription.” - Tim Williams

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Ron Baker 

Connect with Tim Williams:

• Ignitiongroup.com 
• LinkedIn 
• Twitter

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn 

Dave Daniels is a technology veteran with a passion for product marketing and product management.  

He is a founder of Launch Clinic, which was acquired by Pragmatic Institute (formerly Pragmatic Marketing). He is also a Pragmatic Institute certified instructor, strategist, problem solver, mentor, speaker, entrepreneur, and traveler. 

In this episode, Dave talks about a product launch framework that incorporates crucial components such as customers, segments, competitors, and positioning necessary to build a pricing roadmap that targets your company’s objective.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Discover about a product launch framework which drives a pricing structure towards achieving a company-wide goal 
• Learn about straightforward strategies of raising your prices to meet your business objectives  
• Find out how to increase your price better by using a price launch framework

“Always assume that your customers are willing to pay a higher price than you think that they do. Because you often look through your own lens of what you would be willing to pay, not what the market would be willing to pay. You can always go down, it’s hard to go up.“ 

 – Dave Daniels

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:34 – How did Dave get involved with Pricing 

03:23 – Talking about his aha moment in Pricing – the notion of ‘which one’ or ‘will I’ 

05:03 – How does a product launch framework look like 

06:39 – The fact about not many companies consider about Pricing in the planning stage 

08:09 – What happens when the product launch plan is not well-thought-out and well-developed 

09:31 – The difference between a launch and a release 

11:11 – How should we go about as we launch prices 

12:19 – The scary thing about increasing your prices 

13:42 – What are the two phases of the product launch framework 

15:29 – Doing a price increase better by using Dave’s price launch framework  

16:43 – Components of the price launch framework that you need to look into 

19:05 – On being straightforward in raising your price 

20:53 – What’s the best thing about having a pricing framework 

22:38 – Dave’s thoughts on pricing roadmaps 

Key Takeaways:

“It’s not how much it cost us to build it and then price it. It was like how much do people willing to pay?” – Dave Daniels 

“It always came up as a big issue around launch a lot, mostly because in the launch planning process, it starts and everybody starts thinking about all the tactics, the promotional stuff. And then they forget about these important little business details like how are we going to price the product, what’s our pricing strategy, how are we going to price in this market versus that market?” – Dave Daniels 

“At any time prices are increased, somebody somewhere is going to be upset, their feathers are going to be ruffled. That’s to be expected, and you should put that into your calculus, that it is possible.” – Dave Daniels 

“Frameworks provide structure and direction. And they’re designed to integrate with other frameworks.” – Dave Daniels 

“Don’t be afraid to charge a higher price because you’ll be surprised at how many people will actually pay for it.” – Dave Daniels

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Tesla S 
• Hyundai  
• Kia 
• Zipcar 
• Netflix 

Connect with Dave Daniels:

• LinkedIn 
• BrainKraft.com 
• Facebook 

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Dave Daniels is a technology veteran with a passion for product marketing and product management.  

He is a founder of Launch Clinic, which was acquired by Pragmatic Institute (formerly Pragmatic Marketing). He is also a Pragmatic Institute certified instructor, strategist, problem solver, mentor, speaker, entrepreneur, and traveler. 

In this episode, Dave talks about a product launch framework that incorporates crucial components such as customers, segments, competitors, and positioning necessary to build a pricing roadmap that targets your company’s objective.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Discover about a product launch framework which drives a pricing structure towards achieving a company-wide goal 
• Learn about straightforward strategies of raising your prices to meet your business objectives  
• Find out how to increase your price better by using a price launch framework

“Always assume that your customers are willing to pay a higher price than you think that they do. Because you often look through your own lens of what you would be willing to pay, not what the market would be willing to pay. You can always go down, it’s hard to go up.“ 

 – Dave Daniels

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:34 – How did Dave get involved with Pricing 

03:23 – Talking about his aha moment in Pricing – the notion of ‘which one’ or ‘will I’ 

05:03 – How does a product launch framework look like 

06:39 – The fact about not many companies consider about Pricing in the planning stage 

08:09 – What happens when the product launch plan is not well-thought-out and well-developed 

09:31 – The difference between a launch and a release 

11:11 – How should we go about as we launch prices 

12:19 – The scary thing about increasing your prices 

13:42 – What are the two phases of the product launch framework 

15:29 – Doing a price increase better by using Dave’s price launch framework  

16:43 – Components of the price launch framework that you need to look into 

19:05 – On being straightforward in raising your price 

20:53 – What’s the best thing about having a pricing framework 

22:38 – Dave’s thoughts on pricing roadmaps 

Key Takeaways:

“It’s not how much it cost us to build it and then price it. It was like how much do people willing to pay?” – Dave Daniels 

“It always came up as a big issue around launch a lot, mostly because in the launch planning process, it starts and everybody starts thinking about all the tactics, the promotional stuff. And then they forget about these important little business details like how are we going to price the product, what’s our pricing strategy, how are we going to price in this market versus that market?” – Dave Daniels 

“At any time prices are increased, somebody somewhere is going to be upset, their feathers are going to be ruffled. That’s to be expected, and you should put that into your calculus, that it is possible.” – Dave Daniels 

“Frameworks provide structure and direction. And they’re designed to integrate with other frameworks.” – Dave Daniels 

“Don’t be afraid to charge a higher price because you’ll be surprised at how many people will actually pay for it.” – Dave Daniels

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Tesla S 
• Hyundai  
• Kia 
• Zipcar 
• Netflix 

Connect with Dave Daniels:

• LinkedIn 
• BrainKraft.com 
• Facebook 

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Jose Morabito is a highly accomplished Pricing & Finance Executive with an outstanding ability to generate strategies for and deliver on innovative projects.  

In this episode, Jose talks about how he carries out his function as a pricing executive. As a pricing person dedicated to seeing the whole company's goal, he emphasizes the three important constituents who made up the company whose welfare needs to be taken care of. He also could not stress enough on how value plays a big part in pricing decisions.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn about the mindset of looking beyond your current job, so you continually evolve, improve, and become competent as a leader who is ready to handle the challenges of what lies ahead 
• Find-out the three organizational constituencies that are crucial in making pricing decisions 
• Discover how to make sound pricing decisions amidst organization disagreements

"We at pricing are an enabler to the business. We're not a barrier." 

 - Jose Morabito

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:18 - How Jose’s journey in Pricing began 

02:09 - What is revenue management 

03:20 - What made him choose Pricing after moving between Finance and Pricing 

04:54 - What are Finance people most concerned about 

05:29 - Jose’s thoughts on Finance people being risk-averse, hence the focus on Cost-plus Pricing 

06:14 - Life lessons from Jose’s mentors 

08:12 - What's the key to making great pricing professional 

09:53 - His thoughts about soft skills versus technical skills 

13:36 - At what point should I question what you say 

14:59 - How hard does he push against a constraint 

15:43 - How does he encourage his people to push against a wall 

16:35 - Not saying yes right off the bat 

17:15 - Misconceptions people need to hear about Pricing 

18:34 - How to communicate Value versus Pricing to product and salespeople 

19:33 - Which pricing model did Amex, ADP adapt to 

20:05 - Jose's Pricing advice that can have a significant impact on your business

Key Takeaways:

“The ability to think like a general manager is key in making a good pricing person.” - Jose Morabito 

“You typically have at least three constituencies in a company - a shareholder, a customer, and an employee. And depending on the role that you're in, your job is to look after one of those three constituents." - Jose Morabito 

"A good pricing person needs to have the ability to think like a GM and see and understand and weigh the impacts to the three constituents when making a decision." - Jose Morabito 

"Whenever you can influence somebody by saying, 'I had this experience in the past and we did something like this and here's how it succeeded or failed' - I think that adds a lot of credibility to what you're saying." - Jose Morabito 

"The person who's ready to be promoted is somebody who has already been performing at the next level.” - Jose Morabito 

"If you are not agreeing to the decision early on, and then agree at the end to support it, that agreement is the only thing that people outside of that room need to hear." - Jose Morabito

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Alan Gallo 
• Doria Camaraza 

Connect with Jose Morabito:

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Jose Morabito is a highly accomplished Pricing & Finance Executive with an outstanding ability to generate strategies for and deliver on innovative projects.  

In this episode, Jose talks about how he carries out his function as a pricing executive. As a pricing person dedicated to seeing the whole company's goal, he emphasizes the three important constituents who made up the company whose welfare needs to be taken care of. He also could not stress enough on how value plays a big part in pricing decisions.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn about the mindset of looking beyond your current job, so you continually evolve, improve, and become competent as a leader who is ready to handle the challenges of what lies ahead 
• Find-out the three organizational constituencies that are crucial in making pricing decisions 
• Discover how to make sound pricing decisions amidst organization disagreements

"We at pricing are an enabler to the business. We're not a barrier." 

 - Jose Morabito

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:18 - How Jose’s journey in Pricing began 

02:09 - What is revenue management 

03:20 - What made him choose Pricing after moving between Finance and Pricing 

04:54 - What are Finance people most concerned about 

05:29 - Jose’s thoughts on Finance people being risk-averse, hence the focus on Cost-plus Pricing 

06:14 - Life lessons from Jose’s mentors 

08:12 - What's the key to making great pricing professional 

09:53 - His thoughts about soft skills versus technical skills 

13:36 - At what point should I question what you say 

14:59 - How hard does he push against a constraint 

15:43 - How does he encourage his people to push against a wall 

16:35 - Not saying yes right off the bat 

17:15 - Misconceptions people need to hear about Pricing 

18:34 - How to communicate Value versus Pricing to product and salespeople 

19:33 - Which pricing model did Amex, ADP adapt to 

20:05 - Jose's Pricing advice that can have a significant impact on your business

Key Takeaways:

“The ability to think like a general manager is key in making a good pricing person.” - Jose Morabito 

“You typically have at least three constituencies in a company - a shareholder, a customer, and an employee. And depending on the role that you're in, your job is to look after one of those three constituents." - Jose Morabito 

"A good pricing person needs to have the ability to think like a GM and see and understand and weigh the impacts to the three constituents when making a decision." - Jose Morabito 

"Whenever you can influence somebody by saying, 'I had this experience in the past and we did something like this and here's how it succeeded or failed' - I think that adds a lot of credibility to what you're saying." - Jose Morabito 

"The person who's ready to be promoted is somebody who has already been performing at the next level.” - Jose Morabito 

"If you are not agreeing to the decision early on, and then agree at the end to support it, that agreement is the only thing that people outside of that room need to hear." - Jose Morabito

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Alan Gallo 
• Doria Camaraza 

Connect with Jose Morabito:

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn to be directionally correct in your pricing decisions 
• Find out the important characteristics required to be a pricing expert 
• Learn how to be creative and do different things in Pricing to know what works and what doesn’t

Stephane Bratu leads the pricing and marketing analytics team for the e-commerce division of one of the largest distributors in the world. He developed advanced decision support systems to improve business performance and spearheaded many engagements to Fortune 500 clients in the transportation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail industries. 

He also developed analytics insights to help clients improve their business decisions., as well as conducted opportunity assessments, pre-sale analysis, solution design, and implementations using advanced machine learning and optimization modeling. 

In this episode, Stephane talks about the important characteristics of a pricing person, why he has to go beyond the analytics side of things, get expertise in team management, and be knowledgeable to different pricing models in order to contribute to successful pricing decisions.

“There is no silver bullet in pricing. Otherwise, we would all know it.”  

- Stephane Bratu

Topics Covered:

01:10 - What led to his Pricing career 

02:15 - What makes him stick with Pricing 

03:37 - What got him to a VP position in Pricing 

06:02 - Is analytical capability a skill necessary for a pricing person 

06:44 - The need to learn management skills, and people skills aside from the analytical side of Pricing 

07:21 - Why are mentors important 

08:15 - What to consider when promoting people 

10:20 - The advantage of him coming from a data science side of things 

13:15 - People that do analytics and execute on a day-to-day basis versus those who figure out what we should do differently and execute it within the company 

15:45 - Is value a key driver in analytics and how do you capture value 

17:19 - Keep getting better at creating value 

18:06 - His pricing advice that creates an impact in your business 

18:34 - The need to get creative in getting optimal pricing

Key Takeaways:

“I realized in the past, it is very important to have mentorship that gives you a different perspective, organizes your thoughts, enables you to perform well.” - Stephane Bratu 

“Value pricing is hard. It's very hard to implement. And to capture the value is to really, really understand the business.” - Stephane Bratu 

“You have to be careful in the way you price your value so that you take into consideration right where the competitor is doing. So, it's very important in the details. You would never get it 100%. But if you move in the right direction, capture the value, that could create a competitive advantage.” - Stephane Bratu 

“Value pricing is important because value is expensive. So, you need to reap the benefit of the effort that you make to create value for the customer. And if you don't do that, you miss opportunities.” - Stephane Bratu

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Professor Peter Belobaba 

Connect with Stephane Bratu:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn