Impact Pricing

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 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn about how the Pricefx pricing platform optimizes pricing 
• Find out about the Pricefx pricing system’s flexibility which enables it to work across different industries using only a single platform 
• Learn about Pricefx subscription pricing strategies 

Gabe Smith is the Chief Evangelist at Pricefx. He is a Brand ambassador, thought leader, and chief storyteller. Responsible for expanding awareness of price optimization, CPQ, and the Pricefx brand throughout the universe.  

He works with strategic clients and new use cases and feeds innovation back into the product organization. He also develops unified marketing content that extends into the sales process to create a resonant and unique position for Pricefx. 

In this episode, Gabe talks about Pricefx’s pricing system and how it is used across different industries using a single platform. 

“Realize that there are potentially different segments of customers that get different value, and package to offer in a way that appeals to those and set your pricing in a way that makes sense with those things in mind.”

- Gabe Smith

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:03 - What led Gabe to Pricing 

02:20 - From a pricing consultant to a management role 

02:39 - What monetizing innovation is all about 

04:02 - What is Pricefx built for 

05:36 - What does Pricefx actually do 

09:46 - How does the Pricefx pricing system capability respond to different industries 

11:31 - The different industries Pricefx pricing has served 

14:11 - Thoughts about generation-one customers having tons of custom-versions of their product in the marketplace 

14:58 - What’s the smallest-sized company Gabe would recommend buy from Pricefx? 

16:19 - The advantage large companies have with Pricefx platform 

17:35 - How does Pricefx do Subscription pricing 

19:12 - Thoughts on subscription pricing and the three value levers 

19:54 - Gabe’s pricing advice that will have a big impact on your business 

Key Takeaways:

“We believe strongly in being able to reflect all of the things that influence, especially the ones that really move the needle with regards to the net margin.” - Gabe Smith 

“Pricefx is really about speed and flexibility - instead of trying to pre-bake things - and make them simple. We have the architectural flexibility to be able to make changes to account for those industry-specific needs as well.” - Gabe Smith 

“What we decided was that our value metric, the thing that aligns most readily to the value our customers get from our solution, is the amount of revenue that they're managing, and potentially the capabilities.”  - Gabe Smith 

“You've got to have the ability to have a subscription that makes sense, but also have the implementation aspect lightweight enough, where they're not going to have a big IT team and a bunch of pricing people to work on (it), and project management people to manage this whole thing.”- Gabe Smith 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price by Madavhan Ramanujam 

Connect with Gabe Smith:

• LinkedIn 
• Twitter 
• E:[email protected] 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn about how the Pricefx pricing platform optimizes pricing 
• Find out about the Pricefx pricing system’s flexibility which enables it to work across different industries using only a single platform 
• Learn about Pricefx subscription pricing strategies 

Gabe Smith is the Chief Evangelist at Pricefx. He is a Brand ambassador, thought leader, and chief storyteller. Responsible for expanding awareness of price optimization, CPQ, and the Pricefx brand throughout the universe.  

He works with strategic clients and new use cases and feeds innovation back into the product organization. He also develops unified marketing content that extends into the sales process to create a resonant and unique position for Pricefx. 

In this episode, Gabe talks about Pricefx’s pricing system and how it is used across different industries using a single platform. 

“Realize that there are potentially different segments of customers that get different value, and package to offer in a way that appeals to those and set your pricing in a way that makes sense with those things in mind.”

- Gabe Smith

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:03 - What led Gabe to Pricing 

02:20 - From a pricing consultant to a management role 

02:39 - What monetizing innovation is all about 

04:02 - What is Pricefx built for 

05:36 - What does Pricefx actually do 

09:46 - How does the Pricefx pricing system capability respond to different industries 

11:31 - The different industries Pricefx pricing has served 

14:11 - Thoughts about generation-one customers having tons of custom-versions of their product in the marketplace 

14:58 - What’s the smallest-sized company Gabe would recommend buy from Pricefx? 

16:19 - The advantage large companies have with Pricefx platform 

17:35 - How does Pricefx do Subscription pricing 

19:12 - Thoughts on subscription pricing and the three value levers 

19:54 - Gabe’s pricing advice that will have a big impact on your business 

Key Takeaways:

“We believe strongly in being able to reflect all of the things that influence, especially the ones that really move the needle with regards to the net margin.” - Gabe Smith 

“Pricefx is really about speed and flexibility - instead of trying to pre-bake things - and make them simple. We have the architectural flexibility to be able to make changes to account for those industry-specific needs as well.” - Gabe Smith 

“What we decided was that our value metric, the thing that aligns most readily to the value our customers get from our solution, is the amount of revenue that they're managing, and potentially the capabilities.”  - Gabe Smith 

“You've got to have the ability to have a subscription that makes sense, but also have the implementation aspect lightweight enough, where they're not going to have a big IT team and a bunch of pricing people to work on (it), and project management people to manage this whole thing.”- Gabe Smith 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price by Madavhan Ramanujam 

Connect with Gabe Smith:

• LinkedIn 
• Twitter 
• E:[email protected] 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn about the concept of digital transformation and its relevance in this evolving world of pricing 
• Find out how better pricing is achieved through artificial intelligence with less human intervention 
• Discover the need to integrate digital transformation with customer experience to create an impact in pricing 

Craig Zawada is a Sales Growth and Pricing Strategy Expert.  

He joined PROS in 2010 and serves as its Chief Visionary Officer. He is responsible for creating and articulating the vision for how PROS uses big data and the latest technology, to help companies drive incremental sales growth and profit improvement. 

In this episode, Craig shares how relevant market prices can be created with less human intervention. 

“View pricing from that customer experience perspective, not from the management perspective of trying to protect margin and all those things.” 

 - Craig Sawada 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered: 

01:09 - What paved his entry into the world of Pricing 

02:26 - Moving from consulting to technology - his entry into Pros 

04:02 - His thoughts about the concept of digital transformation 

06:38 - Taking a look at the concept of digital transformation in B2C versus B2B companies 

09:37 - How to gauge willingness to pay accurately 

12:35 - Setting market-relevant price without human intervention 

16:59 - Why we cannot do away with negotiating the price 

19:39 - Tradeoff of the price for benefits 

20:22 - When is the use of AI in pricing applicable 

21:38 - His best pricing advice to impact businesses 

24:00 - Factors to help understand customer’s willingness to pay and why it’s important to integrate into the pricing system 

Key Takeaways: 

“Digital transformation to me is how you transform your process in pricing, such that you can deliver on this new customer's need of getting a fair market price immediately, without having to go through this management problem of pricing that companies try to control.” - Craig Zawada 

“The interesting part and where AI is incredibly applicable and really important in this environment in the future environment is being able to make those decisions without human intervention to set the market-relevant price.” - Craig Zawada 

“A lot of this back and forth negotiation is due to a lack of confidence in knowing what the market price is.”  - Craig Zawada 

“People want choices, right? So they want to be able to configure their choices and understand what are the implications of that, so you can know ways of reducing the price.” - Craig Zawada 

“From a pricing perspective, you have a tremendous opportunity to have an impact by integrating price into that digital transformation, because it's one of the most fundamental things that is part of that customer experience in buying.” - Craig Zawada 

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Gartner 
• Saint Gobain Glass 
• McKinsey 

Connect With Craig Zawada: 

• pros.com 
• [email protected] 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn about the concept of digital transformation and its relevance in this evolving world of pricing 
• Find out how better pricing is achieved through artificial intelligence with less human intervention 
• Discover the need to integrate digital transformation with customer experience to create an impact in pricing 

Craig Zawada is a Sales Growth and Pricing Strategy Expert.  

He joined PROS in 2010 and serves as its Chief Visionary Officer. He is responsible for creating and articulating the vision for how PROS uses big data and the latest technology, to help companies drive incremental sales growth and profit improvement. 

In this episode, Craig shares how relevant market prices can be created with less human intervention. 

“View pricing from that customer experience perspective, not from the management perspective of trying to protect margin and all those things.” 

 - Craig Sawada 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered: 

01:09 - What paved his entry into the world of Pricing 

02:26 - Moving from consulting to technology - his entry into Pros 

04:02 - His thoughts about the concept of digital transformation 

06:38 - Taking a look at the concept of digital transformation in B2C versus B2B companies 

09:37 - How to gauge willingness to pay accurately 

12:35 - Setting market-relevant price without human intervention 

16:59 - Why we cannot do away with negotiating the price 

19:39 - Tradeoff of the price for benefits 

20:22 - When is the use of AI in pricing applicable 

21:38 - His best pricing advice to impact businesses 

24:00 - Factors to help understand customer’s willingness to pay and why it’s important to integrate into the pricing system 

Key Takeaways: 

“Digital transformation to me is how you transform your process in pricing, such that you can deliver on this new customer's need of getting a fair market price immediately, without having to go through this management problem of pricing that companies try to control.” - Craig Zawada 

“The interesting part and where AI is incredibly applicable and really important in this environment in the future environment is being able to make those decisions without human intervention to set the market-relevant price.” - Craig Zawada 

“A lot of this back and forth negotiation is due to a lack of confidence in knowing what the market price is.”  - Craig Zawada 

“People want choices, right? So they want to be able to configure their choices and understand what are the implications of that, so you can know ways of reducing the price.” - Craig Zawada 

“From a pricing perspective, you have a tremendous opportunity to have an impact by integrating price into that digital transformation, because it's one of the most fundamental things that is part of that customer experience in buying.” - Craig Zawada 

People / Resources Mentioned: 

• Gartner 
• Saint Gobain Glass 
• McKinsey 

Connect With Craig Zawada: 

• pros.com 
• [email protected] 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn the factors to consider when building a distributor pricing strategy 
• Find out the uniqueness of the spirits industry and how pricing decisions are made taking into consideration all the concerned parties involved 
• Discover the process of how the product in the spirits company go through different distribution channels and ultimately brought to the end-consumers 

Karl Petersson was the Director of Commercial Performance at Bacardi. He had worked in the spirits industry on both the supplier and distributor side. He also has 12 years executive experience in commercial strategy development and people management.  

He managed a Finance and Pricing responsibility for a $300-million consumer packaged goods business improving profit by +$6 million. He has  4 years of experience managing the P&L of a consulting business and grew the revenue 50% with increased profitability while expanding the organization to 25 project managers and engineers in the US and Europe. He was responsible for initiatives optimizing $9 billion of revenue for Fortune Global 1000 companies generating $400 million in profit improvement. 

In this episode, Karl shares how pricing is done in the spirits industry taking into consideration the end retailers and distributors’ margin goal. 

“If you want to really push pricing all the way through and make it hit your bottom line, work and coordinate across all players that are relevant for that decision.”

- Karl Petersson 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:18 - Karl’s journey into Pricing. 

02:45 - How pricing looks like in the spirits industry? Do they sell through a distributor? 

04:06 - How is pricing done at the consumer level, at the grocery store or at a nightclub? 

05:03 - Thoughts on treating the grocery stores and end-retailers as customers, Bacardi as a loss leader 

08:02 - What dictates the volume produced? 

08:30 - How do they get to influence pricing beyond the distributor 

12:06 - Bacardi’s pricing strategy  as they work with their retailers taking into consideration the competitors 

13:57 - What’s interesting to know about the spirits industry when it comes to raising prices? 

15:01 - Can they set prices and sell directly to consumers in other countries other than the US? 

16:10 - How do they work with distributors on pricing when they have a margin to meet? 

19:07 - Taking a look at nightclub pricing 

21:13 - Do you pay for shelf space in an outlet if you are trying to build your brand? 

22:14 - Does it make sense to use price endings for drinks? 

23:49 - His pricing advice that would impact other people’s business 

24:33 - Does size matter when it comes to pricing when coordinating with other concerned players? 

Key Takeaways: 

“An interesting part of the negotiation is do you have a brand that's strong enough to make a chain compress on their own margin just to get that hot price point?” - Karl Petersson 

“In Europe, you can set the pricing to your customers, so you don't have to sell for that distributor tier. You can go and sell directly to your customers, groceries, nightclubs, etc.” - Karl Petersson 

“Pricing with nightclubs, you will be bucketed on-premise on nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, bars. And for those accounts, you will see some interesting stuff like it's not only about the price, and that comes with a super low acquisition cost, and then someone buying a ton based upon it.”  - Karl Petersson 

“When it comes to coordinating pricing with different channels it's not that you're a small company, it's just that you might have a brand that doesn't have a lot of value. That will change the kind of negotiation you can do.” - Karl Petersson 

Connect with Karl Petersson: 

• LinkedIn  

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

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

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn the factors to consider when building a distributor pricing strategy 
• Find out the uniqueness of the spirits industry and how pricing decisions are made taking into consideration all the concerned parties involved 
• Discover the process of how the product in the spirits company go through different distribution channels and ultimately brought to the end-consumers 

Karl Petersson was the Director of Commercial Performance at Bacardi. He had worked in the spirits industry on both the supplier and distributor side. He also has 12 years executive experience in commercial strategy development and people management.  

He managed a Finance and Pricing responsibility for a $300-million consumer packaged goods business improving profit by +$6 million. He has  4 years of experience managing the P&L of a consulting business and grew the revenue 50% with increased profitability while expanding the organization to 25 project managers and engineers in the US and Europe. He was responsible for initiatives optimizing $9 billion of revenue for Fortune Global 1000 companies generating $400 million in profit improvement. 

In this episode, Karl shares how pricing is done in the spirits industry taking into consideration the end retailers and distributors’ margin goal. 

“If you want to really push pricing all the way through and make it hit your bottom line, work and coordinate across all players that are relevant for that decision.”

- Karl Petersson 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:18 - Karl’s journey into Pricing. 

02:45 - How pricing looks like in the spirits industry? Do they sell through a distributor? 

04:06 - How is pricing done at the consumer level, at the grocery store or at a nightclub? 

05:03 - Thoughts on treating the grocery stores and end-retailers as customers, Bacardi as a loss leader 

08:02 - What dictates the volume produced? 

08:30 - How do they get to influence pricing beyond the distributor 

12:06 - Bacardi’s pricing strategy  as they work with their retailers taking into consideration the competitors 

13:57 - What’s interesting to know about the spirits industry when it comes to raising prices? 

15:01 - Can they set prices and sell directly to consumers in other countries other than the US? 

16:10 - How do they work with distributors on pricing when they have a margin to meet? 

19:07 - Taking a look at nightclub pricing 

21:13 - Do you pay for shelf space in an outlet if you are trying to build your brand? 

22:14 - Does it make sense to use price endings for drinks? 

23:49 - His pricing advice that would impact other people’s business 

24:33 - Does size matter when it comes to pricing when coordinating with other concerned players? 

Key Takeaways: 

“An interesting part of the negotiation is do you have a brand that's strong enough to make a chain compress on their own margin just to get that hot price point?” - Karl Petersson 

“In Europe, you can set the pricing to your customers, so you don't have to sell for that distributor tier. You can go and sell directly to your customers, groceries, nightclubs, etc.” - Karl Petersson 

“Pricing with nightclubs, you will be bucketed on-premise on nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, bars. And for those accounts, you will see some interesting stuff like it's not only about the price, and that comes with a super low acquisition cost, and then someone buying a ton based upon it.”  - Karl Petersson 

“When it comes to coordinating pricing with different channels it's not that you're a small company, it's just that you might have a brand that doesn't have a lot of value. That will change the kind of negotiation you can do.” - Karl Petersson 

Connect with Karl Petersson: 

• LinkedIn  

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

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

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Discover the 5-step to innovation storytelling method which enables transformation 
• Find out one important part aspect of an innovation story that causes people to connect and act 
• Find out what our standard should be when we want to use innovation to produce transformation and action 

Susan Lindner is a Cultural Anthropologist, Brand Marketer, and Disruptor. She believes incredible connections change the world. She is the founder of Emerging Media, an innovation communications consultancy dedicated to helping innovators and disruptors create stories, to get them the resources, runway, and recognition they deserve. 

In this episode, Susan shares how the transforming power of innovation storytelling creates an impactful change and disruption to your business.  Susan gives leaders a blueprint for creating their own stories that offer a vision, message, and path all stakeholders can follow with religious zeal. 

“Poll your customers and find out why they love you and why they can't live without you. And then charge double.”

- Susan Lindner

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:40 - What her company, Emerging Media, is all about 

 02:47 - What do we expect from an innovation story  

05:27 - How should innovation story impact the world 

 06:57 - Why the idea of innovation story takes a while to saturate into one’s awareness 

 08:02 - The challenges innovation story faces 

 09:08 - How does storytelling differ in B2C versus B2B 

 11:21 - Sharing the 5 steps to innovation story 

 18:05 - Relating an example on how to fully take advantage of innovation storytelling 

 21:28 - What bar are we setting when we bring innovation to a room? 

 23:09 - Humans connect at drama and pain 

 25:52 - What is her passion in life 

 26:19 - Sharing pricing advice to give a big impact on your business 

Key Takeaways: 

“The human brain understands information via story.” - Susan Lindner 

“Anything that you have learned over the course of your lifetime, chances are you've learned it via story unless you've experienced it directly. And even if that were the case, someone probably described it to you before you ever experienced it.” - Susan Lindner

“Our expectation these days around innovation is transformation. We want to know that our lives are made better by this thing that you're bringing into the world.” - Susan Lindner 

“We want to know the pain incurred because human beings connect at the pain, not at winning. That is the biggest mistake. We can revel in celebration together but humans connect at drama and pain.”  - Susan Lindner 

“A founder’s story is the beginning of the prophet’s story. I want to believe that what you have done has transformed you first.”  - Susan Lindner 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Schedule a FREE 30-minute innovation storytelling consultation Susan Lindner. Click here: ScheduleSusan.com 
• Her new book coming up this September: Innovation Storytelling - Get the Resources, Runway, and Recognition you Deserve by Susan Lindner 
• Jesus 
• Buddha 
• Muhammad 

• Luke Skywalker 
• Joseph Campbell 

Connect With Susan Lindner: 

• SusanLindner.com 

• LinkedIn  

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

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

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Discover the 5-step to innovation storytelling method which enables transformation 
• Find out one important part aspect of an innovation story that causes people to connect and act 
• Find out what our standard should be when we want to use innovation to produce transformation and action 

Susan Lindner is a Cultural Anthropologist, Brand Marketer, and Disruptor. She believes incredible connections change the world. She is the founder of Emerging Media, an innovation communications consultancy dedicated to helping innovators and disruptors create stories, to get them the resources, runway, and recognition they deserve. 

In this episode, Susan shares how the transforming power of innovation storytelling creates an impactful change and disruption to your business.  Susan gives leaders a blueprint for creating their own stories that offer a vision, message, and path all stakeholders can follow with religious zeal. 

“Poll your customers and find out why they love you and why they can't live without you. And then charge double.”

- Susan Lindner

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:40 - What her company, Emerging Media, is all about 

 02:47 - What do we expect from an innovation story  

05:27 - How should innovation story impact the world 

 06:57 - Why the idea of innovation story takes a while to saturate into one’s awareness 

 08:02 - The challenges innovation story faces 

 09:08 - How does storytelling differ in B2C versus B2B 

 11:21 - Sharing the 5 steps to innovation story 

 18:05 - Relating an example on how to fully take advantage of innovation storytelling 

 21:28 - What bar are we setting when we bring innovation to a room? 

 23:09 - Humans connect at drama and pain 

 25:52 - What is her passion in life 

 26:19 - Sharing pricing advice to give a big impact on your business 

Key Takeaways: 

“The human brain understands information via story.” - Susan Lindner 

“Anything that you have learned over the course of your lifetime, chances are you've learned it via story unless you've experienced it directly. And even if that were the case, someone probably described it to you before you ever experienced it.” - Susan Lindner

“Our expectation these days around innovation is transformation. We want to know that our lives are made better by this thing that you're bringing into the world.” - Susan Lindner 

“We want to know the pain incurred because human beings connect at the pain, not at winning. That is the biggest mistake. We can revel in celebration together but humans connect at drama and pain.”  - Susan Lindner 

“A founder’s story is the beginning of the prophet’s story. I want to believe that what you have done has transformed you first.”  - Susan Lindner 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Schedule a FREE 30-minute innovation storytelling consultation Susan Lindner. Click here: ScheduleSusan.com 
• Her new book coming up this September: Innovation Storytelling - Get the Resources, Runway, and Recognition you Deserve by Susan Lindner 
• Jesus 
• Buddha 
• Muhammad 

• Luke Skywalker 
• Joseph Campbell 

Connect With Susan Lindner: 

• SusanLindner.com 

• LinkedIn  

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

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

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Find out why you need to price test, even after making the effort to understand value through all the analytics available
• Learn how to consistently deliver substantial lifts in revenue and profit through pricing
• Learn about the social science of pricing: utilizing the best of data science, artificial intelligence, and the psychological behaviors of consumers, to maximize your long-term profit

Ammanuel Selameab has spent 7+ years in pricing and can’t imagine what else he’d rather do.  His work has taken him across both B2B and B2C contexts, supporting companies like Enbridge Energy, Cargill, Omnicom, Old Navy, and Shutterfly. He is the Pricing Head at Carta and is the founder of Run Pricing Tests.

In this episode, Ammanuel shares how running pricing tests can help you generate long-term revenue and increase your market share.

Spend more than 30 seconds thinking about your pricing. It’s the most essential decision that you’ll make. It’s the most impactful decision that you’ll make and it deserves more of your attention.” 

– Ammanuel Selameab 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com

Topics Covered:

01:17 - How Ammanuel’s  pricing career began 02:29 - Where Ammanuel’s long-term aspirations lie

04:13 - How does a pricing role in a company gives you an edge over someone in accounting or sales

04:51 - How Ammanuel’s company came to be. Where does he find customers and what product does he offer

07:04 - How are tests structured to get desired results

09:18 - Talking about price segmentation and price discrimination

10:13 – What’s important point to know about price testing

11:30 - On dealing with data scarcity

12:21 - Explaining how decisions are probabilistic, and the best way of supporting those decisions

14:15 - Viewing what they do in pricing as a social science 15:10 - How does the engagement of price testing take place in a company with a direct sales force

18:37 - What kinds of companies do they offer their services to, and how many salespeople are working for them

20:25 - One large test success they have had so far

20:54 - Are there negative impacts with tests

22:30 - After all the efforts to understand value, and all the analytics available, why go and test it

23:14 – His best pricing advice to make a big impact on your business

Key Takeaways: 

“Because pricing initiatives almost always are cross-functional in nature, you’re exposing yourself to many different functional areas. In terms of your capacity to lead, you now have a much broader perspective on the business than someone perhaps exclusively in accounting or sales might not be privy to.” – Ammanuel Selameab 

“The business that I built is around taking pricing hypotheses and going to market and testing their viability.” – Ammanuel Selameab 

“Even if we don’t achieve stats sig, any amount of data we can provide you to inform  your pricing decisions is a good thing.” – Ammanuel Selameab 

“Going to the market, doing the work for companies of testing and vetting out ideas, is the best way of supporting data.”  – Ammanuel Selameab 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Van Westendorp’s Price Sensitivity Meter 

Connect With Ammanuel Selameab: 

• RunPricingTests.com 
• LinkedIn 
• E: [email protected] 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

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