Impact Pricing

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

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Find out the three pillars that a great pricing professional should be skilled in to enrich the pricing function of the company and ensure its success on a larger scale 
• Find out how the Finance department complements Pricing people in terms of achieving a company’s overall pricing strategy 
• Learn about what encompasses pricing strategy to meet a company’s long-term goal

Anton Malygin is a seasoned executive with years of experience building new capabilities and driving enterprise transformation in Fortune 1000 companies, focusing on revenue growth, new business models, pricing strategies, price and revenue management, commercial excellence, profitability improvement, market intelligence, customer experience, and business transformation.  

In this episode, Anton shares how knowledge of different industries helps you become an effective pricing person as you are exposed to different pricing strategies and issues. As pricing is important to the company, so is the pricing team, thus, he also talks about what important skill sets one should possess to fill in the crucial role in pricing.

“Stay relevant to the organization. If you will stop being relevant in your organization that's going to be the end of pricing discipline in the company.”  

- Anton Malygin

Topics Covered:

01:13 - What led Anton into Pricing 

02:32 - Two types of pricing projects he does which contrasts the impact it has on customers 

03:20 - Why is he staying in Pricing and what does he love about it? 

04:27 - How is it working with product management or sales or marketing as a VP of Pricing and Licensing 

06:01 - How do he and his team help in making people understand the value of a product 

07:29 - Does he have a team of Pricing people working with him 

07:57 - The three important pillars that are required of a great pricing professional 

10:45 - What his team is building out at Palo Alto - in terms of being a pricing consultant or one that sets the price 

12:37 - Why the Finance department is valuable and at the same time challenging 

13:47 - What do Finance people focus on and what do they miss out 

18:28 - Why it is important to be  a thought leader 

19:30 - The advantage of understanding different industry pricing issues and techniques 

20:49 - What Anton’s role like in Palo Alto 

21:40 - Does he have a mentor 

23:24 - What important pricing lesson he likes people to know more about 

24:58 - What is a pricing strategy 

27:29 - Anton’s pricing advice that can impact your business

Key Takeaways:

“I see myself developing, and pricing also leads to a lot of other different opportunities, being part of the pricing organization in the company. You become one of those important centers in the organization. And it feels like you're impacting a lot from the standpoint of the performance of the company.” - Anton Malygin  

“When we engage with a product organization, we work with them side by side on development of the strategy, and the pieces that we're bringing to the table as a pricing methodology, one of them is a value-based pricing focus.”  - Anton Malygin 

“The pricing person has to have good relationships and has to be a very good communicator and relationship builder with corporate management, marketing, sales, finance, etc.” - Anton Malygin 

“The pricing person has to be perceived as a leader, as someone who's knowledgeable about pricing, and that is extremely important because if a pricing professional is just average and has an average knowledge of pricing, well, she’s/he’s probably not very different from any other product manager or finance person that sometimes does the pricing or marketing.” - Anton Malygin

Connect with Anton Malygin:

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Find out the three pillars that a great pricing professional should be skilled in to enrich the pricing function of the company and ensure its success on a larger scale 
• Find out how the Finance department complements Pricing people in terms of achieving a company’s overall pricing strategy 
• Learn about what encompasses pricing strategy to meet a company’s long-term goal

Anton Malygin is a seasoned executive with years of experience building new capabilities and driving enterprise transformation in Fortune 1000 companies, focusing on revenue growth, new business models, pricing strategies, price and revenue management, commercial excellence, profitability improvement, market intelligence, customer experience, and business transformation.  

In this episode, Anton shares how knowledge of different industries helps you become an effective pricing person as you are exposed to different pricing strategies and issues. As pricing is important to the company, so is the pricing team, thus, he also talks about what important skill sets one should possess to fill in the crucial role in pricing.

“Stay relevant to the organization. If you will stop being relevant in your organization that's going to be the end of pricing discipline in the company.”  

- Anton Malygin

Topics Covered:

01:13 - What led Anton into Pricing 

02:32 - Two types of pricing projects he does which contrasts the impact it has on customers 

03:20 - Why is he staying in Pricing and what does he love about it? 

04:27 - How is it working with product management or sales or marketing as a VP of Pricing and Licensing 

06:01 - How do he and his team help in making people understand the value of a product 

07:29 - Does he have a team of Pricing people working with him 

07:57 - The three important pillars that are required of a great pricing professional 

10:45 - What his team is building out at Palo Alto - in terms of being a pricing consultant or one that sets the price 

12:37 - Why the Finance department is valuable and at the same time challenging 

13:47 - What do Finance people focus on and what do they miss out 

18:28 - Why it is important to be  a thought leader 

19:30 - The advantage of understanding different industry pricing issues and techniques 

20:49 - What Anton’s role like in Palo Alto 

21:40 - Does he have a mentor 

23:24 - What important pricing lesson he likes people to know more about 

24:58 - What is a pricing strategy 

27:29 - Anton’s pricing advice that can impact your business

Key Takeaways:

“I see myself developing, and pricing also leads to a lot of other different opportunities, being part of the pricing organization in the company. You become one of those important centers in the organization. And it feels like you're impacting a lot from the standpoint of the performance of the company.” - Anton Malygin  

“When we engage with a product organization, we work with them side by side on development of the strategy, and the pieces that we're bringing to the table as a pricing methodology, one of them is a value-based pricing focus.”  - Anton Malygin 

“The pricing person has to have good relationships and has to be a very good communicator and relationship builder with corporate management, marketing, sales, finance, etc.” - Anton Malygin 

“The pricing person has to be perceived as a leader, as someone who's knowledgeable about pricing, and that is extremely important because if a pricing professional is just average and has an average knowledge of pricing, well, she’s/he’s probably not very different from any other product manager or finance person that sometimes does the pricing or marketing.” - Anton Malygin

Connect with Anton Malygin:

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn how to involve stakeholders in making pricing decisions, why it is considered a team effort  
• Determine the best ways to be influential and stay price competitive despite experiencing business challenges 
• Find out the key qualities required to rise through the ranks and become a highly qualifies and effective pricing executive

Wendy Johnson started out as an M&A Consultant at Accenture. After she got her MBA, she went to IBM, another big corporation as a pricing and investment specialist. She was at CA Technologies for eight years where she was VP of Global Pricing and is now an executive at FIS. 

In this episode, Wendy talks about what skills and characteristics you need to have to function as a key pricing executive effectively, at the same time manage the best pricing team and how being logical is crucial in making pricing decisions.

“I find that we can do the best work in terms of pricing and setting a price that best aligns with your strategy. But the people who have to execute it determines the success of that price.”  

- Wendy Johnson  

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered: 

01:18 - How did Wendy start her career in Pricing 

02:40 - What made her stay in Pricing all these years 

03:24 - What made her rise up through the ranks 

04:43 - What influence do her mentors have on her 

05:41 - Is she a logical or touchy-feely managerial person 

06:51 - The important skills needed to be in a pricing team 

09:45 - How to set pricing where sales and product management department agree 

11:46 - Doing the right thing for the business 

12:24 - Pushing the big wall 

14:27 - Qualities of a leader that are needed to replace Wendy 

15:38 - Wendy’s one big Pricing advice that would impact one’s business 

16:53 - How to get people to understand the value of their products 

Key Takeaways: 

“I think the key is knowing how to build relationships. Pricing is, typically anytime you're making a pricing decision, there's a lot of emotion behind it, whether it's from the product owners, or the salespeople, there's conflict across those different groups. And you have to be able to manage those discussions and not be emotional and come out with an answer that maybe not everybody likes, but everybody can accept, and everybody can support and respect.” - Wendy Johnson 

“A lot of times when you have, most of the work that's thrown our way where people want some kind of pricing analysis. The problem is, usually not pricing. People usually think it's pricing because it's the easiest thing to point to.” - Wendy Johnson 

“The most valuable use of your time is probably figuring out how to be the most influential within the constraints that you have, and trying to make an incremental change on pushing out those walls at the same time.”  - Wendy Johnson 

“Who do you choose to replace you? It's a tough decision and it's usually looking forward in terms of what's next on the docket and who you think would be better aligned to that particular project?”- Wendy Johnson 

“You can tell how good your sales team is, if you ask somebody else in the company like an administrative assistant or somebody in operations, what your company sells and what the value is, and if they can answer that. Do you have champions for what you do as a company and do they understand the value?” -  Wendy Johnson 

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Denise Elias 

Connect with Wendy Johnson: 

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn how to involve stakeholders in making pricing decisions, why it is considered a team effort  
• Determine the best ways to be influential and stay price competitive despite experiencing business challenges 
• Find out the key qualities required to rise through the ranks and become a highly qualifies and effective pricing executive

Wendy Johnson started out as an M&A Consultant at Accenture. After she got her MBA, she went to IBM, another big corporation as a pricing and investment specialist. She was at CA Technologies for eight years where she was VP of Global Pricing and is now an executive at FIS. 

In this episode, Wendy talks about what skills and characteristics you need to have to function as a key pricing executive effectively, at the same time manage the best pricing team and how being logical is crucial in making pricing decisions.

“I find that we can do the best work in terms of pricing and setting a price that best aligns with your strategy. But the people who have to execute it determines the success of that price.”  

- Wendy Johnson  

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered: 

01:18 - How did Wendy start her career in Pricing 

02:40 - What made her stay in Pricing all these years 

03:24 - What made her rise up through the ranks 

04:43 - What influence do her mentors have on her 

05:41 - Is she a logical or touchy-feely managerial person 

06:51 - The important skills needed to be in a pricing team 

09:45 - How to set pricing where sales and product management department agree 

11:46 - Doing the right thing for the business 

12:24 - Pushing the big wall 

14:27 - Qualities of a leader that are needed to replace Wendy 

15:38 - Wendy’s one big Pricing advice that would impact one’s business 

16:53 - How to get people to understand the value of their products 

Key Takeaways: 

“I think the key is knowing how to build relationships. Pricing is, typically anytime you're making a pricing decision, there's a lot of emotion behind it, whether it's from the product owners, or the salespeople, there's conflict across those different groups. And you have to be able to manage those discussions and not be emotional and come out with an answer that maybe not everybody likes, but everybody can accept, and everybody can support and respect.” - Wendy Johnson 

“A lot of times when you have, most of the work that's thrown our way where people want some kind of pricing analysis. The problem is, usually not pricing. People usually think it's pricing because it's the easiest thing to point to.” - Wendy Johnson 

“The most valuable use of your time is probably figuring out how to be the most influential within the constraints that you have, and trying to make an incremental change on pushing out those walls at the same time.”  - Wendy Johnson 

“Who do you choose to replace you? It's a tough decision and it's usually looking forward in terms of what's next on the docket and who you think would be better aligned to that particular project?”- Wendy Johnson 

“You can tell how good your sales team is, if you ask somebody else in the company like an administrative assistant or somebody in operations, what your company sells and what the value is, and if they can answer that. Do you have champions for what you do as a company and do they understand the value?” -  Wendy Johnson 

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Denise Elias 

Connect with Wendy Johnson: 

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn how the airline industry comes up with optimal pricing to maximize profitability 
• Find out how to come up with optimal pricing to move the industry appropriately even in a competitive environment. 
• Discover the needed skill sets of a leader to keep driving to get things done

Chris Amenechi is a VP of Pricing and Revenue Management at Copa Airlines, and Managing Director at Amencil, Inc. He is a transformative travel leader who is an expert in Merchandising, E-Commerce, Distribution, Pricing, Revenue Management, Planning, and Corporate Strategy, Digital and Data Strategy, Marketing Optimization, and Business Process Transformation. 

In this episode, Chris shares about how revenue management works in designing a pricing mix for an airline company. He went on to discuss the people and skillsets needed to form a strong team to meet a company’s objectives. At the same time, he points out what leadership traits you need to possess to be an effective VP of Pricing.

“Pricing is not a sprint, it's a marathon. And so, yes, inasmuch as you're shortsighted to make a quarter work, you want to elevate the year and the next year and the next year. The whole idea is to get your product, depending on what it is, to be at the top of the marketplace.” 

- Chris Amenechi

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:20 - What led Chris onto the Pricing path 

02:11 - How does revenue management differ from yield management 

04:30 - How much of the fees passengers pay add up to an airline’s profitability 

07:45 - Thoughts on everyone being upset over airlines starting to charge for checked luggage 

11:19 - How about giving a discount to passengers with no checked luggage 

12:13 - The characteristics needed to become a VP for Pricing 

15:57 - Why the need to look at pricing from a customer perspective, from an industry perspective and a competitive perspective  

19:09 - Talking about the risk-averse nature of most management  

21:06 - Who gets to be promoted or not

Key Takeaways:

“If you want to get the optimal revenue point you've got to get into some revenue management, which means there are loss leaders, there's this cheaper prices, there's this more expensive prices based on all the demand, all the demand profiles you have, the customer profiles you have. Revenue management is the ideal pricing and allocation of inventory and combining the two is an optimal way to generate the most for the system of that airline.” - Chris Amenechi  

“Everybody in the world, whether it's the phone companies, your cable companies, they're able to restructure their rate structures. So they would give you the minimal package and they'll go up to the big packages and then if you wanted anything additional was your choice. It’s the customer choice model and it was an upsell model.” - Chris Amenechi  

“I would say two most important things needed to get promoted to VP are a dedication to being a bit of an innovator, a bit of an expert, and also a bit of a routine player. You've got to be able to do all three.” - Chris Amenechi

Connect with Chris Amenechi:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn how the airline industry comes up with optimal pricing to maximize profitability 
• Find out how to come up with optimal pricing to move the industry appropriately even in a competitive environment. 
• Discover the needed skill sets of a leader to keep driving to get things done

Chris Amenechi is a VP of Pricing and Revenue Management at Copa Airlines, and Managing Director at Amencil, Inc. He is a transformative travel leader who is an expert in Merchandising, E-Commerce, Distribution, Pricing, Revenue Management, Planning, and Corporate Strategy, Digital and Data Strategy, Marketing Optimization, and Business Process Transformation. 

In this episode, Chris shares about how revenue management works in designing a pricing mix for an airline company. He went on to discuss the people and skillsets needed to form a strong team to meet a company’s objectives. At the same time, he points out what leadership traits you need to possess to be an effective VP of Pricing.

“Pricing is not a sprint, it's a marathon. And so, yes, inasmuch as you're shortsighted to make a quarter work, you want to elevate the year and the next year and the next year. The whole idea is to get your product, depending on what it is, to be at the top of the marketplace.” 

- Chris Amenechi

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:20 - What led Chris onto the Pricing path 

02:11 - How does revenue management differ from yield management 

04:30 - How much of the fees passengers pay add up to an airline’s profitability 

07:45 - Thoughts on everyone being upset over airlines starting to charge for checked luggage 

11:19 - How about giving a discount to passengers with no checked luggage 

12:13 - The characteristics needed to become a VP for Pricing 

15:57 - Why the need to look at pricing from a customer perspective, from an industry perspective and a competitive perspective  

19:09 - Talking about the risk-averse nature of most management  

21:06 - Who gets to be promoted or not

Key Takeaways:

“If you want to get the optimal revenue point you've got to get into some revenue management, which means there are loss leaders, there's this cheaper prices, there's this more expensive prices based on all the demand, all the demand profiles you have, the customer profiles you have. Revenue management is the ideal pricing and allocation of inventory and combining the two is an optimal way to generate the most for the system of that airline.” - Chris Amenechi  

“Everybody in the world, whether it's the phone companies, your cable companies, they're able to restructure their rate structures. So they would give you the minimal package and they'll go up to the big packages and then if you wanted anything additional was your choice. It’s the customer choice model and it was an upsell model.” - Chris Amenechi  

“I would say two most important things needed to get promoted to VP are a dedication to being a bit of an innovator, a bit of an expert, and also a bit of a routine player. You've got to be able to do all three.” - Chris Amenechi

Connect with Chris Amenechi:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Find out the key characteristics of a pricing person which is important in order to communicate complex matters breaking them into simpler concepts for easier pricing decision-making 
• Learn the pricing expert’s role in sales and project management  

• Look into the crucial role of a pricing person in the organization’s profitability

Yann Gaucher is a results-driven technology business leader experienced in pricing, licensing, as well as delivering initiatives that impact revenue, market growth, customer acquisition, and product expansion for global software companies.  

He believes that success is based upon keen business acumen; a deep understanding of the business infrastructures’ sales needs to sell products and services; a compelling ‘get the job done’ work style and an uncompromising belief in offering the best possible solution to the customer.  

In this episode, Yann walks us through what a pricing person’s role looks like, the responsibilities that go with it. And how he rose from the ranks to become the VP of Pricing.

“The ability to drive and drive insight into the data and be comfortable to put oneself out there, I think is what will drive recognition and visibility in someone's career.”  

- Yann Gaucher

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:26 - What got Yann into a career in Pricing 

02:13 - Yann’s thoughts on product managers not focusing enough on price 

03:37 - How Yann’s roles as a business analyst and product manager helped in the  

07:11 - Finding a middle ground between empathy for the salesforce and fulfilling company-wide objective and profitability 

09:05 - Being comfortable with data and knows how to understand data and not necessarily being an analyst 

11:50 - What is an important characteristic of a Pricing person 

14:56 - How sponsorship help influence pricing decisions in an organization 

16:42 - The benefits of having mentors 

18:28 - How important is managing people 

20:16 - Describing his role as VP of Pricing 

21:38 - Does Yann’s team set the prices 

22:51 - How much product managers know about a product’s value 

Key Takeaways:

“The [pricing] role we are in is difficult. We have to have that empathy in helping the salesforce promote the product at the same time you have those company-wide objective and profitability aspects that you also have to go and champion and find the right middle ground. sometimes it's not easy to please everybody in that room.” - Yann Gaucher 

“You have to understand what will help you create that opportunity and when it comes down to pricing, be able to interpret the data, and extract insight from it is crucial.” - Yann Gaucher 

“The understanding of the data is very key because it will be always a function of how a given organization is structured.”  - Yann Gaucher 

“Drive and leadership are key characteristics of a good pricing person. In that space, people will really come to you and tell you what to do and when they want. You have to be able to be proactive about what to look for and what needs attention and be able to make the case and especially communicate complex concepts simply.  - Yann Gaucher 

“Pricing is one of the functions, I think, where it's very easy to drown in data and in analysis paralysis, and you need someone that can break up that breadth.” - Yann Gaucher 

“I had the chance to have a couple of mentors that I was able to rely on. They were mentors more in the sense of growing up as a person, as a manager more than just pricing.”- Yann Gaucher 

Connect with Yann Gaucher: 

• LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Find out the key characteristics of a pricing person which is important in order to communicate complex matters breaking them into simpler concepts for easier pricing decision-making 
• Learn the pricing expert’s role in sales and project management  

• Look into the crucial role of a pricing person in the organization’s profitability

Yann Gaucher is a results-driven technology business leader experienced in pricing, licensing, as well as delivering initiatives that impact revenue, market growth, customer acquisition, and product expansion for global software companies.  

He believes that success is based upon keen business acumen; a deep understanding of the business infrastructures’ sales needs to sell products and services; a compelling ‘get the job done’ work style and an uncompromising belief in offering the best possible solution to the customer.  

In this episode, Yann walks us through what a pricing person’s role looks like, the responsibilities that go with it. And how he rose from the ranks to become the VP of Pricing.

“The ability to drive and drive insight into the data and be comfortable to put oneself out there, I think is what will drive recognition and visibility in someone's career.”  

- Yann Gaucher

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:26 - What got Yann into a career in Pricing 

02:13 - Yann’s thoughts on product managers not focusing enough on price 

03:37 - How Yann’s roles as a business analyst and product manager helped in the  

07:11 - Finding a middle ground between empathy for the salesforce and fulfilling company-wide objective and profitability 

09:05 - Being comfortable with data and knows how to understand data and not necessarily being an analyst 

11:50 - What is an important characteristic of a Pricing person 

14:56 - How sponsorship help influence pricing decisions in an organization 

16:42 - The benefits of having mentors 

18:28 - How important is managing people 

20:16 - Describing his role as VP of Pricing 

21:38 - Does Yann’s team set the prices 

22:51 - How much product managers know about a product’s value 

Key Takeaways:

“The [pricing] role we are in is difficult. We have to have that empathy in helping the salesforce promote the product at the same time you have those company-wide objective and profitability aspects that you also have to go and champion and find the right middle ground. sometimes it's not easy to please everybody in that room.” - Yann Gaucher 

“You have to understand what will help you create that opportunity and when it comes down to pricing, be able to interpret the data, and extract insight from it is crucial.” - Yann Gaucher 

“The understanding of the data is very key because it will be always a function of how a given organization is structured.”  - Yann Gaucher 

“Drive and leadership are key characteristics of a good pricing person. In that space, people will really come to you and tell you what to do and when they want. You have to be able to be proactive about what to look for and what needs attention and be able to make the case and especially communicate complex concepts simply.  - Yann Gaucher 

“Pricing is one of the functions, I think, where it's very easy to drown in data and in analysis paralysis, and you need someone that can break up that breadth.” - Yann Gaucher 

“I had the chance to have a couple of mentors that I was able to rely on. They were mentors more in the sense of growing up as a person, as a manager more than just pricing.”- Yann Gaucher 

Connect with Yann Gaucher: 

• LinkedIn

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn why the Less-Than-Truckload industry is different from other logistics services 
• Discover the pricing complexity in the Less-Than-Truckload industry 
• Find out the different struggles within the Less-Than-Truckload industry when it comes to pricing their services

Curtis Garrett is the VP of Pricing at Recon Logistics, a world class LTL Freight Management Company. Curtis is on a mission to simplify LTL Freight. His career-long goal is to bring transparency, automation, and the tools needed to do this into the LTL industry.  

In this episode, Curtis talks about the pricing design in a Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) industry, sharing the complex variables that go into the LTL price mix. He also shares some personal backstory of how he was able to advance and uplevel his pricing career, proving that you don’t need a college degree to have a great career. Take inspiration from Curtis’ success journey in pricing. 

“As long as you are well aware of what your costs are, that gives you the freedom to build your actual profit and your margin in different ways. And make it a little more flexible for who you're trying to engage with.”

- Curtis Garrett

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:27 - What started Curtis’ journey into Pricing 

02:14 - The pricing complexity of a less-than-truckload freight business 

05:44 - How Curtis’ mentors influenced his pricing career 

08:16 - Does Curtis work with a team? 

09:40 - Characteristics that are prerequisites for promotion in the kind of workplace that he has 

13:00 - Making sure that what you’re doing in the day-to-day basis net out to the overall strategy of the company 

19:03 - How hard it is to be pushing more than one wall at one time 

19:37 - How not having a degree affected his career 

23:02 - How he landed a VP position without having to be asked which school he graduated from 

25:28 - It’s not the degree, it’s your skills that matter 

Key Takeaways:

“Industry-wise, LTL is somewhat comparable to airline and hotel pricing. But it's even more complex, in my opinion, because a seat on an airplane or room in a hotel, you pretty much know there's no space variable there. But with LTL freight, you really don't know the size of the freight you're going to get and how much room it's going to take up in your trailer.” - Curtis Garrett 

“The balance of keeping that larger macro strategy in your mind, but in the day in, day out, or even minute by minute, making sure that what you're doing is the best possible work at that time.” - Curtis Garrett 

“I don't think any wall that can be pushed over is the right wall you should be pushing against anyways. If it is something of value and the right problem to be solved, I think by default, it's gonna take a while and it's gonna be hard.” - Curtis Garrett 

“I think anybody can be successful and if there are large companies out there that hold back candidates just because of that one disqualifier, then, I think they're probably missing out on a lot of good people.” - Curtis Garrett 

Resources Mentioned:

• Todd Polen 

Connect with Curtis Garrett:

• reconlogistics.com 
• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn