Nikhil Kalla is a Global Pricing Manager at Ingersoll Rand who collaborates closely with regional pricing and global cross functional teams to drive projects that build pricing governance, create value propositions, align pricing with the market by applying segmentation, harmonization, rationalization and market research.

In this episode, Nikhil shares the significance of customer segmentation in developing a product that caters to different pricing tiers - top, middle, and low. This approach ensures that the product aligns with customers' willingness to pay based on the value they receive.

"If we had known our customer more or the most, you would have been able to segment your market and gain maximum on your profitability."

- Nikhil Kalla

Why you have to check out today's podcast:

• Learn how customer segmentation drives different pricing points while still attracting customers from various segments
• Gain insights into the significance of customer segmentation in shaping product design and establishing pricing strategies that cater to customers' varying levels of willingness to pay
• Find out how proper communication of your product's value can help you gain the most advantage in pricing

Topics Covered:

01:46 - What's all this obsession of Nikhil over mastering Rubik's cube

02:52 - How he found himself in pricing

04:31 - Defining customer segmentation

07:09 - Customer segmentation by way of price segmentation

08:59 - What goes into approving different price points for different customers and even for the same ones

11:20 - What drives different pricing mix

17:18 - Market segmentation as a way to sell your products more intelligently

19:40 - How this works: Two different products targets two different market segments with two different price points

26:42 - Explaining what real-life scenario versus assumptions when talking about value to price ratio[how packaging works as part of customer segmentation]

30:23 - Nikhil's best pricing advice

Key Takeaways:

"Customer segmentation is all about deriving value, the maximum value from your customer base." - Nikhil Kalla

"Other than just being value and pricing, I feel there's more about communication of that value and then convincing part to be able to fetch maximum price so that the ratio of value by price is least as a win for me if I'm the supplier. And it has to be maximum so that the buyer gets to gain the most out of that transaction." - Nikhil Kalla

"When it comes to having the ability to sell to a slightly non elastic market where the demand is going to be expected to stay the same, you would always want to rely on pricing as a lever. Because everything that comes through pricing just goes to your pocket." - Nikhil Kalla

Connect with Nikhil Kalla:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhil-kalla

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: [email protected]