Impact Pricing

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  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn about the key rules on negotiation to help you carry out your winning strategies 
• Learn about the winning idea of concessions that you can apply in negotiation    
• Learn how to meet the needs and wants of stakeholders who are coming from different perspectives to foster value-driven conversation

Mark Raffan is a lover of negotiation, marketing, and behavioral science. Over the last few years, he started and grown c Podcast to be the #1 negotiation podcast in the world. 

In this episode, Mark shares his insights about the negative viewpoints around procurement and how to close winning deals through value-driven negotiation. Learn about the negotiation skills and strategies necessary for you to execute your action plan. 

“Always ask for more than you expect to get.”
– Mark Raffan

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!
To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.

Topics Covered: 

 01:23 – From a sales and procurement background, one thing led to another and finally to negotiation. That’s how Mark would describe his journey towards negotiation. 

03:29 – If it is a way to make you believe a certain thing that isn’t necessarily true, but not saying a lie, then you’re just being psychologically conditioned to believe one thing. This is in defense of the procurement guys. 

 06:26 – Sales and procurement are coming into an antagonistic viewpoint of each other. This doesn’t help in reaching a value-driven conversation. 

 08:49 – Mark’s thoughts on the zero-sum game of pricing. 

 09:28 – The more that we can just have rational, normal conversations, I think it’s just going to be better for everyone. Mark’s idea of getting an alignment where sales and procurement are concerned 

 11:33 – People’s misconception about negotiation is that you can’t ask. Mark clears that up. 

 12:15 – There is ego involved in not asking. This is the reason why negotiation fails. 

 14:33 – What is expected of negotiations – making sure that someone feels actually good about the negotiation, making everyone believe that you’re meeting those needs and wants for every discussion. 

15:55 – What a value-based conversation should be – asking why? 

17:14 – Patience wins. How Mark agreed to that 

 17:31 – Don’t let your CEO negotiate. Mark states his agreement to that 

18:02 – If you give something, you get to get something. Giving his thoughts about the idea of concessions 

 21:14 – Shut your mouth. This is one great negotiation tip Mark shares 

 22:29 – Mark’s piece of advice – Plan. Doing strategy work and research will help in your success. 

 23:23 – Why do the planning? Understanding the value on the other side of the table helps you execute those strategies 

 24:53 – Sharing his best pricing advice 

 25:26 – What is it that Mark convinced Mark Stiving about? 

Key Takeaways: 

 “We have different needs and wants. And so obviously you have to try and meet those needs and wants for every discussion. Or make the person believe that you’re meeting those needs and wants for every discussion.”  – Mark Raffan 

 “You should never be doing a one-way concession and you  should never be committing to a concession before getting a commitment in return.”  – Mark Raffan 

 “So many of us go into a negotiation negotiating with ourselves before we even go in. We think that we’re going to be asking for too much.”   – Mark Raffan “There’s got to be some additional reasons why you want the sale. And the reason that you do the planning is to build up the strategy so that you can get those reasons executed.”  – Mark Raffan 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World by Robert Mckee 

Connect With Mark Raffan: 

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn about the key rules on negotiation to help you carry out your winning strategies 
• Learn about the winning idea of concessions that you can apply in negotiation    
• Learn how to meet the needs and wants of stakeholders who are coming from different perspectives to foster value-driven conversation

Mark Raffan is a lover of negotiation, marketing, and behavioral science. Over the last few years, he started and grown c Podcast to be the #1 negotiation podcast in the world. 

In this episode, Mark shares his insights about the negative viewpoints around procurement and how to close winning deals through value-driven negotiation. Learn about the negotiation skills and strategies necessary for you to execute your action plan. 

“Always ask for more than you expect to get.”
– Mark Raffan

Increase Your Pricing Knowledge: Become a Champions of Value INSIDER!
To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.

Topics Covered: 

 01:23 – From a sales and procurement background, one thing led to another and finally to negotiation. That’s how Mark would describe his journey towards negotiation. 

03:29 – If it is a way to make you believe a certain thing that isn’t necessarily true, but not saying a lie, then you’re just being psychologically conditioned to believe one thing. This is in defense of the procurement guys. 

 06:26 – Sales and procurement are coming into an antagonistic viewpoint of each other. This doesn’t help in reaching a value-driven conversation. 

 08:49 – Mark’s thoughts on the zero-sum game of pricing. 

 09:28 – The more that we can just have rational, normal conversations, I think it’s just going to be better for everyone. Mark’s idea of getting an alignment where sales and procurement are concerned 

 11:33 – People’s misconception about negotiation is that you can’t ask. Mark clears that up. 

 12:15 – There is ego involved in not asking. This is the reason why negotiation fails. 

 14:33 – What is expected of negotiations – making sure that someone feels actually good about the negotiation, making everyone believe that you’re meeting those needs and wants for every discussion. 

15:55 – What a value-based conversation should be – asking why? 

17:14 – Patience wins. How Mark agreed to that 

 17:31 – Don’t let your CEO negotiate. Mark states his agreement to that 

18:02 – If you give something, you get to get something. Giving his thoughts about the idea of concessions 

 21:14 – Shut your mouth. This is one great negotiation tip Mark shares 

 22:29 – Mark’s piece of advice – Plan. Doing strategy work and research will help in your success. 

 23:23 – Why do the planning? Understanding the value on the other side of the table helps you execute those strategies 

 24:53 – Sharing his best pricing advice 

 25:26 – What is it that Mark convinced Mark Stiving about? 

Key Takeaways: 

 “We have different needs and wants. And so obviously you have to try and meet those needs and wants for every discussion. Or make the person believe that you’re meeting those needs and wants for every discussion.”  – Mark Raffan 

 “You should never be doing a one-way concession and you  should never be committing to a concession before getting a commitment in return.”  – Mark Raffan 

 “So many of us go into a negotiation negotiating with ourselves before we even go in. We think that we’re going to be asking for too much.”   – Mark Raffan “There’s got to be some additional reasons why you want the sale. And the reason that you do the planning is to build up the strategy so that you can get those reasons executed.”  – Mark Raffan 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World by Robert Mckee 

Connect With Mark Raffan: 

• LinkedIn 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Discover why value-based pricing  is the most neglected step in understanding price 
• Learn how to communicate product value in value conversations with customers before products are made for better pricing 

• Find out the importance of having a pricing strategy to determine a product’s value 

Stephan Liozu is the Founder of Value Innoruption Advisors, a boutique consulting firm specializing in disruptive approaches in value, pricing, and strategic management.  He helps leaders in organizations that want to get started in pricing by conducting assessments and building road maps. 

In this episode, learn all about value pricing and how to use the right pricing toolbox to come up with a price based on how much a customer believes a product is worth.  

“Critical problems are around value. Pricing comes later.”  

- Stephan Liozu 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.  

Topics Covered: 

01:01 - How Stephan got into Pricing: having been named ACP deployment officer for Owens Corning Europe taking care of the pricing module in SAP 

02:37 - The role of a chief value officer: Being the chief conductor of all the value and pricing activity in an organization.  

05:50 - The whole process of measuring value, creating, and capturing it using the dollarization methodology 

07:39 - Going through value creation: looking at the customer problem, do a better job of understanding the customer problem, uncovering it through market research, insights, and ethnographic research 

09:14 - ‘99% of businesses are there to create value, oftentimes they don't know what value really means.’ Stephan's thoughts on it. 

13:40 - Conversations put your customers at ease. Stephan's perspective about value conversation and the challenge that goes with it. 

16:30 - Why do companies don't understand what product value is? Stephan states the three reasons why. 

17:58 - Why is it important to ask the right questions? 

19:18 - Customer segmentation is an often neglected part of a value conversation. Another reason why companies don't think about value. 

19:54 - What Stephan is up to these days: leveraging technology to a lot of his work focusing on monetization of software and data. 

21:03 - Hardware product companies are giving away the software as a way to sell their hardware. We hear Stephan's idea about it. 

22:32 - Talking about cost and value in SaaS companies. The challenge of communicating the value of its product. 

24:49 - He couldn't care less about focusing more on the value of a product. His one pricing advice that could impact your business. 

Key Takeaways: 

“Our competitors are also looking at the customer problem. So we got to do a better job at understanding the customer problem, uncovering it through market research, insights, ethnographic research.” - Stephan Liozu 

“I wanted not to be a CPO chief pricing officer, I wanted to be a CVO chief value officer, because our critical problems are around value, you know, pricing comes later.” - Stephan Liozu 

“Psychologically it puts your customers at ease when you have a conversation, whether it's in creation mode, in quantification, validation, and communication.” - Stephan Liozu 

“To be doing the work in value, you have to have value conversations.” - Stephan Liozu 

“If we have to continue doing everything in finance around the product, then we're not going to achieve our goal to show the value of everything else we do in the bundle.” - Stephan Liozu  

People Mentioned: 

• Ron Baker 

Connect With Stephan Liozu: 

• LinkedIn 
• stephanliozu.com 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Discover why value-based pricing  is the most neglected step in understanding price 
• Learn how to communicate product value in value conversations with customers before products are made for better pricing 

• Find out the importance of having a pricing strategy to determine a product’s value 

Stephan Liozu is the Founder of Value Innoruption Advisors, a boutique consulting firm specializing in disruptive approaches in value, pricing, and strategic management.  He helps leaders in organizations that want to get started in pricing by conducting assessments and building road maps. 

In this episode, learn all about value pricing and how to use the right pricing toolbox to come up with a price based on how much a customer believes a product is worth.  

“Critical problems are around value. Pricing comes later.”  

- Stephan Liozu 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.  

Topics Covered: 

01:01 - How Stephan got into Pricing: having been named ACP deployment officer for Owens Corning Europe taking care of the pricing module in SAP 

02:37 - The role of a chief value officer: Being the chief conductor of all the value and pricing activity in an organization.  

05:50 - The whole process of measuring value, creating, and capturing it using the dollarization methodology 

07:39 - Going through value creation: looking at the customer problem, do a better job of understanding the customer problem, uncovering it through market research, insights, and ethnographic research 

09:14 - ‘99% of businesses are there to create value, oftentimes they don't know what value really means.’ Stephan's thoughts on it. 

13:40 - Conversations put your customers at ease. Stephan's perspective about value conversation and the challenge that goes with it. 

16:30 - Why do companies don't understand what product value is? Stephan states the three reasons why. 

17:58 - Why is it important to ask the right questions? 

19:18 - Customer segmentation is an often neglected part of a value conversation. Another reason why companies don't think about value. 

19:54 - What Stephan is up to these days: leveraging technology to a lot of his work focusing on monetization of software and data. 

21:03 - Hardware product companies are giving away the software as a way to sell their hardware. We hear Stephan's idea about it. 

22:32 - Talking about cost and value in SaaS companies. The challenge of communicating the value of its product. 

24:49 - He couldn't care less about focusing more on the value of a product. His one pricing advice that could impact your business. 

Key Takeaways: 

“Our competitors are also looking at the customer problem. So we got to do a better job at understanding the customer problem, uncovering it through market research, insights, ethnographic research.” - Stephan Liozu 

“I wanted not to be a CPO chief pricing officer, I wanted to be a CVO chief value officer, because our critical problems are around value, you know, pricing comes later.” - Stephan Liozu 

“Psychologically it puts your customers at ease when you have a conversation, whether it's in creation mode, in quantification, validation, and communication.” - Stephan Liozu 

“To be doing the work in value, you have to have value conversations.” - Stephan Liozu 

“If we have to continue doing everything in finance around the product, then we're not going to achieve our goal to show the value of everything else we do in the bundle.” - Stephan Liozu  

People Mentioned: 

• Ron Baker 

Connect With Stephan Liozu: 

• LinkedIn 
• stephanliozu.com 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn how to communicate value to your customers so they get what they want, and you protect your own position in terms of profit and margin 
• Discover how to strategically negotiate to win a sale at a higher price 
• Find out why lowering costs and increasing value doesn’t need to be a trade-off 

Andrew Bailey is a Value Pricing and Price Negotiation Specialist. He is the founder of Commercial Strategy 4. He helps you unleash your pricing power to sell more, more often, and at a higher price to achieve the profits you deserve. 

In this episode, Andrew shares strategic ways to communicate your product’s value through value selling. 

“The value selling journey is about understanding what the customer perceives as value.” 

 - Andrew Bailey 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.  

Topics Covered: 

01:27 - How Andrew got into pricing: a discovery: focusing on pricing and margins is a much more powerful way to maintain and grow profits, than starting the year with a big sales gap to fill 

02:45 - What keeps him in pricing: taking people through the journey of realization to more fulfillment in their business 

04:40 - Expounding on what selling value means: Getting focused on what this looks like, what they really do for people and quantifying that, so they really get a great fix on what drives value for their customers and how they can help their customers by delivering value 

05:27 - Andrew’s thoughts about value when creating new products or new features: go back to the pricing term, willingness to pay; what we've got to try and do is get the customer in the position where they're willing to pay for outcomes in a fair way, so we get what we want in return for what we’re going to do for them 

06:50 - How Andrew communicates the value selling element of a product to win big deals and prices - what I do is backtrack and cover off some of the fundamentals. And so go back to something around the product and what it's delivering 

08:19 - Most companies don’t know about their products’ value, hence the lack of value perception. Andrew relates further to what it’s like working with clients who have this challenge 

09:26 - How can I get my value across to them? Andrew’s idea of a value conversation explained 

12:28 - One of the things they developed in the business is what is called a sweet spot type approach, learn how a company can apply this to get better at negotiation 

13:56 - When it comes to negotiation, who do the salespeople talk to? Is it the decision-makers alone? 

16:04 - Getting all the stakeholders on the customers’ side together for a value conversation is his idea of how a negotiation happens. Because to Andrew, that is easier in order to win a sale at a high price.  

22:30 - Andrew believes the only way we really find out what people are interested in is when we ask questions and listen to them.  

24:08 - His thoughts on Mark’s negotiation rule number one: Patience wins. 

25:03 - Adhering to rule number two: Never let the CEO negotiate. 

26:07 - You don't give anything unless you get something in return. To Andrew, it is important that what you give is valuable to the other person, but that it still preserves your own position. 

Key Takeaways: 

“Value selling is taking the customer through a journey or a process, just understanding the value of what they do, and the results and the outcomes they can deliver for their customers.” - Andrew Bailey 

“Value conversation is a collaborative process that you go through that can uncover more of the value you can deliver, and the value there is for customers to capture, which is ultimately what they want.” - Andrew Bailey 

“Negotiating is there to help you secure and protect the value you're delivering to customers that you're going to get through your price.” - Andrew Bailey  

“In negotiation, people need to just be more open, ask straightforward questions to sit down the first time, and just say, which do you prefer?”  - Andrew Bailey 

Resources Mentioned: 

• "The 7 biggest mistakes people unwittingly make when negotiating and how to avoid them" by Andrew Bailey 

Connect With Andrew Bailey: 

• LinkedIn 
• commercialstrategy4.co.uk 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast: 

• Learn how to communicate value to your customers so they get what they want, and you protect your own position in terms of profit and margin 
• Discover how to strategically negotiate to win a sale at a higher price 
• Find out why lowering costs and increasing value doesn’t need to be a trade-off 

Andrew Bailey is a Value Pricing and Price Negotiation Specialist. He is the founder of Commercial Strategy 4. He helps you unleash your pricing power to sell more, more often, and at a higher price to achieve the profits you deserve. 

In this episode, Andrew shares strategic ways to communicate your product’s value through value selling. 

“The value selling journey is about understanding what the customer perceives as value.” 

 - Andrew Bailey 

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.  

Topics Covered: 

01:27 - How Andrew got into pricing: a discovery: focusing on pricing and margins is a much more powerful way to maintain and grow profits, than starting the year with a big sales gap to fill 

02:45 - What keeps him in pricing: taking people through the journey of realization to more fulfillment in their business 

04:40 - Expounding on what selling value means: Getting focused on what this looks like, what they really do for people and quantifying that, so they really get a great fix on what drives value for their customers and how they can help their customers by delivering value 

05:27 - Andrew’s thoughts about value when creating new products or new features: go back to the pricing term, willingness to pay; what we've got to try and do is get the customer in the position where they're willing to pay for outcomes in a fair way, so we get what we want in return for what we’re going to do for them 

06:50 - How Andrew communicates the value selling element of a product to win big deals and prices - what I do is backtrack and cover off some of the fundamentals. And so go back to something around the product and what it's delivering 

08:19 - Most companies don’t know about their products’ value, hence the lack of value perception. Andrew relates further to what it’s like working with clients who have this challenge 

09:26 - How can I get my value across to them? Andrew’s idea of a value conversation explained 

12:28 - One of the things they developed in the business is what is called a sweet spot type approach, learn how a company can apply this to get better at negotiation 

13:56 - When it comes to negotiation, who do the salespeople talk to? Is it the decision-makers alone? 

16:04 - Getting all the stakeholders on the customers’ side together for a value conversation is his idea of how a negotiation happens. Because to Andrew, that is easier in order to win a sale at a high price.  

22:30 - Andrew believes the only way we really find out what people are interested in is when we ask questions and listen to them.  

24:08 - His thoughts on Mark’s negotiation rule number one: Patience wins. 

25:03 - Adhering to rule number two: Never let the CEO negotiate. 

26:07 - You don't give anything unless you get something in return. To Andrew, it is important that what you give is valuable to the other person, but that it still preserves your own position. 

Key Takeaways: 

“Value selling is taking the customer through a journey or a process, just understanding the value of what they do, and the results and the outcomes they can deliver for their customers.” - Andrew Bailey 

“Value conversation is a collaborative process that you go through that can uncover more of the value you can deliver, and the value there is for customers to capture, which is ultimately what they want.” - Andrew Bailey 

“Negotiating is there to help you secure and protect the value you're delivering to customers that you're going to get through your price.” - Andrew Bailey  

“In negotiation, people need to just be more open, ask straightforward questions to sit down the first time, and just say, which do you prefer?”  - Andrew Bailey 

Resources Mentioned: 

• "The 7 biggest mistakes people unwittingly make when negotiating and how to avoid them" by Andrew Bailey 

Connect With Andrew Bailey: 

• LinkedIn 
• commercialstrategy4.co.uk 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn about what a CPQ is and the value it gives to a company
• Find out how to bundle products together to cater to a customer’s specific needs
• Learn how to achieve price optimization through the use of CPQ

Steve Wilkins is the Head of Pricing Solutions at Standav Corp, a seasoned executive with many years of experience advising senior management teams on revenue growth, new business model development, pricing strategy, data preparation and cleaning, price and revenue management, commercial excellence, change management, profitability improvement, and business transformation.

In this episode, Steve talks about his experience working with pricing-focused CPQ companies, how CPQ helps in bundling products together, how pricing optimization is attained with the use of CPQ, and much more. 

“Pricing is a journey. It's not a sprint. So take it in steps. Don't think that you have to go for that end-goal right away.” 

- Steve Wilkin

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.  

Topics Covered: 

01:37 - Dealing with a lawsuit is the last thing you want to have. But interestingly, it's how Steve started his pricing career.

03:06 - What is a CPQ and what is a pricing system? How do they differ from each other?

03:55 - What does a configured product look like? Steve gives an example.

05:26 - Manufacturers with customizable products can use CPQ. How can they bundle products? 

06:28 - What is so important about CPQ systems? What benefit do you get for buying a CPQ system for your company?

08:12 - What about time to quote? What big of a deal is it about? 

11:56 - Pricing systems consider different factors, and when you add this to different configurations of products it gets complicated. Let's hear Steve's thoughts about it.

13:13 - What is Standav and what does it do? What differentiates it from other implementer companies?

14:23 - Data cleaning is one of the tools Standav offers. What goes on in this process?

15:18 - Dealing with master data management. How does Standav solve the problem of bad data? 

Key Takeaways: 

“With CPQ you're providing a single source for putting multiple things together.” - Steve Wilkins 

“Right now they all integrate into a CPQ to provide the more relevant price or winning price that's going to help speed the process up. So that's where you're going to hear that story of, I can get this through quicker, win more deals at the best price. - Steve Wilkins 

“I believe in the idea of getting the data ready, fixing the problem that caused the data to be bad. And then building that integration into it, is it a pricing system, a CPQ system, a CRM system, we build that.” - Steve Wilkins 

People and Resources Mentioned: 

• Frank Sohn 
• PROS 
• Apttus 
• Salesforce 
• Zilliant 
• Price f(x) 
• Dell Computer 

Connect with Steve Wilkins: 

• LinkedIn 
• E: [email protected] 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Learn about what a CPQ is and the value it gives to a company
• Find out how to bundle products together to cater to a customer’s specific needs
• Learn how to achieve price optimization through the use of CPQ

Steve Wilkins is the Head of Pricing Solutions at Standav Corp, a seasoned executive with many years of experience advising senior management teams on revenue growth, new business model development, pricing strategy, data preparation and cleaning, price and revenue management, commercial excellence, change management, profitability improvement, and business transformation.

In this episode, Steve talks about his experience working with pricing-focused CPQ companies, how CPQ helps in bundling products together, how pricing optimization is attained with the use of CPQ, and much more. 

“Pricing is a journey. It's not a sprint. So take it in steps. Don't think that you have to go for that end-goal right away.” 

- Steve Wilkin

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.  

Topics Covered: 

01:37 - Dealing with a lawsuit is the last thing you want to have. But interestingly, it's how Steve started his pricing career.

03:06 - What is a CPQ and what is a pricing system? How do they differ from each other?

03:55 - What does a configured product look like? Steve gives an example.

05:26 - Manufacturers with customizable products can use CPQ. How can they bundle products? 

06:28 - What is so important about CPQ systems? What benefit do you get for buying a CPQ system for your company?

08:12 - What about time to quote? What big of a deal is it about? 

11:56 - Pricing systems consider different factors, and when you add this to different configurations of products it gets complicated. Let's hear Steve's thoughts about it.

13:13 - What is Standav and what does it do? What differentiates it from other implementer companies?

14:23 - Data cleaning is one of the tools Standav offers. What goes on in this process?

15:18 - Dealing with master data management. How does Standav solve the problem of bad data? 

Key Takeaways: 

“With CPQ you're providing a single source for putting multiple things together.” - Steve Wilkins 

“Right now they all integrate into a CPQ to provide the more relevant price or winning price that's going to help speed the process up. So that's where you're going to hear that story of, I can get this through quicker, win more deals at the best price. - Steve Wilkins 

“I believe in the idea of getting the data ready, fixing the problem that caused the data to be bad. And then building that integration into it, is it a pricing system, a CPQ system, a CRM system, we build that.” - Steve Wilkins 

People and Resources Mentioned: 

• Frank Sohn 
• PROS 
• Apttus 
• Salesforce 
• Zilliant 
• Price f(x) 
• Dell Computer 

Connect with Steve Wilkins: 

• LinkedIn 
• E: [email protected] 

Connect with Mark Stiving:    

• Email: [email protected]     
• LinkedIn     
• Twitter  

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Discover how to develop a pricing strategy that leverage the value your organization creates
• Learn how to execute pricing actions to drive commercial outcomes and growth
• Discover how to use pricing tools to create and transform pricing that supports your business model 

Pricing is where it all comes together, says Steven Forth - co-founder of Ibbaka the leading platform to price and differentiate for the client’s market.

In this episode. Steven shares how he helps companies redefine their value, as well as how they price offerings in the marketplace through a combined deep understanding of pricing design with market segmentation and value creation. 

“Segment your customers based on value. You need to understand what your value drivers are.” 

- Steven Forth

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

To sign up go to insider.championsofvalue.com.  

Topics Covered:

01:24 - Backstory of how Steven started his pricing career: How sitting down with Tom Nagle and reading his book was a turning point in Steven’s career

03:56 - Pricing being an indicator and diagnostic tool in business

05:00 - With new trends coming up in the market, Steven shares what he is seeing as happening in Pricing these days and his insights about it

06:32 - Pricing and one's willingness to pay

08:05 - As there are different views about value-based pricing, Steven shares what value-based pricing means to him

11:42 - Some companies say they have a problem with pricing, but after digging deeper they actually have a value problem. Steven expounds on this

16:02 - Pricing optimization is based on available data around. How do B2B and B2C differ when it comes to available data to utilize

16:02 - As B2C obtains more data than B2B, how do these two differ in terms of value-based pricing and dynamic pricing 

19:31 - Steven expounds on conventional economic theory and how it relates to price elasticity of the demand curve

22:28 - Where does value-based pricing tie into outcomes-based pricing

26:21 - Talking about pricing power. Who has the most pricing power?

28:21 - Why do you need to have a deep understanding of value when it comes to executing outcomes-based pricing

30:35 - Steven discusses the importance of different economic value drivers and emotional value drivers especially where medical companies are concerned

Key Takeaways:

“Pricing is a great indicator and diagnostic tool. It lets you explore so many different parts of the business.”- Steven Forth

“Dynamic pricing has always been how commodities are priced. Markets are dynamic pricing. That's what they are. And we've learned how to make the algorithmic and apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to it.” - Steven Forth

“Willingness to pay is an outcome. It's what you're trying to shape. Framing pricing around willingness to pay, and doing analytics to estimate willingness to pay, I think is actually a way to sub-optimize your pricing outcomes.” - Steven Forth

“Value-based pricing for me is an understanding of the economic, emotional, and community value that your offer creates compared to the alternatives.” - Steven Forth

“Whoever takes on the most risk has the most pricing power. The seller’s ability to predict value outcomes should be more powerful than the buyers. Therefore the seller should be willing to take on more risk.”  - Steven Forth 

People and Resources Mentioned:

• The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing by Thomas Nagle
• William Gibson

Connect With Steven Forth:

• LinkedIn
• Ibbaka.com

Connect with Mark Stiving:   

• Email: [email protected]    
• LinkedIn    
• Twitter