As input prices rose astronomically, margin leakage followed for many companies. This is because the legacy tools and processes being used to pass through cost changes were completely inadequate to deal with inflationary pressures. Our current wave of volatility - embodied by slowed growth, high interest rates, and potential recession – is applying pressure in the opposite direction. Companies equipped to know where, when, and by how much prices may need to decrease will be in the best position to maintain margins and avoid losing volume.

This conversation sheds light on a new book by the CEO and Founder of Rapid Pricer, Kiran Gange, and is centered around analytics based pricing approaches for maximizing margins for retailers.

A discussion covers what was received and experienced at our a workshop, spear-headed by Hillary Gretton, that took place during our 2023 Spring pricing and workshop conference.

Curiosity allows us to look beyond our current situation and ask "What else could or should we be doing?" Too often we get stuck in routines or become so myopically focused on tomorrow's deliverables that we don't take the time to question our strategies or if they're still accomplishing what we set out to do as a company or department. So how do we break out of our assumptions and get curious about what could, or should be?

“Hillary Gretton is Associate Director, Access & Contract Analytics with Jazz Pharmaceuticals. She has extensive experience with both the “hows” and “whys” of best pricing practices, and values the importance of managing both the data/technology as well as the people and communication aspects. Hillary is a proud CPP alumna and earned her MBA from the University of Redlands.”

Scott Sinning has a passion for pricing and learned about leading pricing projects during his years of experience as VP of Pricing Strategy for Graybar Electric, a $10B wholesale distributor.  Like many of you listening, he’s sat in the pricing leader hot seat.  He now runs his own consulting firm focused on helping companies and their pricing leaders achieve success faster.  Scott has also been a frequent speaker at PPS conferences and is a Certified Pricing Professional.

Michael Compton is Director of Firm Strategy and Leader of the new Pricing function at Edward Jones. He has 16 years’ experience in the Full Service Financial Advisory industry in various product profitability, pricing and analytics roles. He specializes in translating business strategies into pricing recommendations and helping define pricing capabilities. He recently started his journey towards earning the CPP in 2022 and he has an MBA from the University of Georgia.

Adnan Akbari, Senior Director of Pricing at Holden Advisors, is responsible for helping clients grow by realizing the full potential of their offerings. Prior to joining Holden Advisors, he spent the last 12 years of his career focused on growth initiatives within Fortune 500 companies including building pricing organizations, service offering development and sales strategy.

Curiosity allows us to look beyond our current situation and ask "What else could or should we be doing?" Too often we get stuck in routines or become so myopically focused on tomorrow's deliverables that we don't take the time to question our strategies or if they're still accomplishing what we set out to do as a company or department. So how do we break out of our assumptions and get curious about what could, or should be?

“Hillary Gretton is Associate Director, Access & Contract Analytics with Jazz Pharmaceuticals. She has extensive experience with both the “hows” and “whys” of best pricing practices, and values the importance of managing both the data/technology as well as the people and communication aspects. Hillary is a proud CPP alumna and earned her MBA from the University of Redlands.”

Artificial intelligence is making an impact on many industries and pricing is one among them. While a completely automated pricing solution for B2B is still far away there are many innovations that have already been built specifically for B2B pricing professionals. These innovations can be leveraged today and our workshop will cover on how to do this.

Kiran is the CEO and founder at Rapid Pricer, an Artificial Intelligence based company in Amsterdam that specializes in reducing food waste through real time pricing for retailers. Previously, he had founded CustoLogix in the year 2008 to help retailers leverage analytics and mathematical capabilities for pricing and promotions. Recently, Kiran has also founded Global Launch Base, an internationalization consulting firm in 2021 which helps European companies with international go-to-market strategies and market launches. Biography He has over 16 years of experience launching innovative technologies around the world.

He has consulted on behalf of large consulting companies such as PwC, IBM and Kurt Salmon at some of the largest retailers in the world. His entrepreneurial experiences include successful ventures in the Silicon Valley, Mexico City, Bangalore, Amsterdam and New Delhi. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering with honors from the Bangalore Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Pepperdine University on a full merit scholarship.

With inflation, costs are going up, margins are being squeezed, companies need to raise prices, but many are scared.  They may have already had a price increase and are afraid of another.  What should they do?

Mark Stiving is an educator at heart and a pricing enthusiast by education and experience. He has led, coached, and taught businesses about value-based pricing for 30 years.

Mark has driven company-wide pricing initiatives worth hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental profit. He started and sold three companies and has written three books on pricing and value:  Impact Pricing; Win Keep Grow; and Selling Value.

As the economic outlook continues to be murky, plenty of companies are making cuts. But you can’t cut your way to prosperity. There are often-overlooked opportunities to grow the top line — a lot and fast, even in the face of a down market.

Jason McDannold and Yale Kwon lead the private equity commercial transformation practice at AlixPartners and would like to discuss several key tactical opportunities on how to sustain growth in a downturn economy.

AlixPartners is a results-driven global consulting firm that specializes in helping businesses respond quickly and decisively to their most critical challenges—from urgent performance improvement to complex restructuring, from risk mitigation to accelerated transformation.