Impact Pricing

This one is the 4 of Diamonds from the Selling Value card deck.  Wow, walk away from a negotiation, ouch! We're essentially saying, "No, we're not going to negotiate anymore. Take the deal that we've given you or not. Totally up to you." And what happens when we do this?  First off, we're at risk of losing the deal, and that's painful. Especially, if you're in sales and you're paid to get revenue. You've got to meet a quota, your commission comes from that. But it turns out, from a company perspective, oftentimes that's a really smart thing to do.  First off, maybe it's the wrong customer for you. Maybe they need a deep, deep discount because they really don't get the value from your product that they should be getting. Or maybe that they're just negotiating and if you walk away, they come back and say, "Okay, we'll take it." And so, now you've made the sale.  Or, what if you even lose the deal? But because you lost that deal, word gets out, especially to channel partners, other salespeople, we're not willing

Carole Mahoney is an author, speaker, coach, and trainer taking a cognitive approach to sales success. In this episode, Carole shares how salespeople should initiate a pricing conversation that should be 'Not Be About Me' and quantify the cost of not doing something. That way, buyers make a decision for fear of negative business impact.   What you will learn from this episode: Discover a powerful pricing conversation technique that focuses on addressing potential objections and inspires people to take action by tapping into their fears of negative outcomes Find out how salespeople add value and uncover urgency for people to make a decision Understand why salespeople need to create a ‘dirty laundry list’ and include them in their conversation "The biggest piece of advice for finding value in a conversation and talking about pricing is to make it a collaborative conversation." - Carole Mahoney   Topics Covered: 01:30 - How she found a career in pricing 02:20 - Salespeople find it uncomfortable talking about

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 25, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/quick-and-dirty-pricing-research/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact. Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  

This one is the 4 of Clubs from the Selling Value card deck.  It turns out that procurement people often lie to us. And it's their job, not necessarily to lie, but it's their job to get a better price.  And what often happens is they'll say to you, "Hey, you're up against these other two or three competitors. In this situation, you have to lower your price if you expect to win this deal." And it turns out oftentimes that's not true. Oftentimes, you're not up against two or three different competitors.  Back many, many years ago when I was in sales, I recall procurement people actually saying, "You're up against this other competitor." And it turns out the competitive product they were looking at wasn't even similar to the product that I was offering. And so, it was obvious to me that they were just lying.  And in fact, I experienced this extremely clearly when I was on the buying situation. I was part of a committee and we'd chosen a software application that we wanted to purchase. And I was in the meeting wh

John Ray is a Pricing and Business Development Coach for Professional Services Firms, and a Podcast Host and Producer. In this episode, John shares optimal strategies for positioning your value proposition to attract the best fit clients for your business.   What you will learn from this episode: Discover how to craft a compelling value proposition by identifying the unique value that your clients perceive in your offerings Learn about the importance of continuing value conversation Overcome the fear of pricing the value you provide to your clients   "Develop your options around that client and let them choose. And you'll find out your pricing suddenly improves." - John Ray   Topics Covered: 01:15 - How he got himself into pricing 02:10 - Who is his ideal client? 03:59 - Insights on solopreneurs making their business work even if they don't necessarily plan on being a business owner 05:28 - The feeling of fear and inadequacy in pricing in a lot of solopreneurs 06:11 - It's not all about expertise but the va

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 18, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/what-if-they-find-out/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

This one is the 4 of Hearts from the Selling Value card deck. This concept of asking for something anytime we're going to give a discount, we simply refer to it as gives and gets. We don't give anything without getting something. And so, what should we be getting when we're giving something? Well, surely we could get almost anything. What we really want to do is get the things that protect the profit of the company. And what are those things? If you think about all of the different items that you might be able to claw back from a customer. For example, it might be who pays for delivery. It might be how long the delivery takes. It might be when we schedule it. There's many, many different things we might be able to claw back. What we want to do is, think about how much does it cost us to deliver that thing to the customer so that if we claw it back, if we take that back from our customer, we're actually saving us costs on our side. Now, a couple quick thoughts. You know that, first off, I'm a pricing person, b

Michael Hammersley co-founded and invented a payment system designed to locate the market price of any consumer good. He authored the utility patent that protects the invention. In this episode, Michael discusses the platform he co-founded, a dual-sided marketplace of buyers and sellers that helps businesses reach a pricing competitive advantage.   Why you've got to check out this podcast: Discover what Drop Pilot platform is Find out how it can benefit both sellers and buyers in determining the best price possible Learn to figure out the best pricing your customers are willing to pay   "Find out what your customer is willing to pay before you sell them the product." - Michael Hammersley   Topics Covered: 01:34 - How he started his career in pricing 02:21 - What's so interesting about analyzing pricing potential as a distressed fund 02:55 - Getting to know what Drop Pilot is and what dual-sided marketplace mean 04:00 - Is Drop Pilot a marketplace or research area and what benefit does this platform have for

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 11, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/price-segmentation-in-tioli-markets/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  

This one is the 4 of Spades from the Selling Value card deck. Every time a salesperson gets in front of a procurement officer, a purchasing agent, however they're called, the purchasing agent will act price sensitive. Their job is to get a better price for their company.  And so, they will always tell you that your price is too high, they need a discount. And you have to decide as a salesperson, do you want to give it to them? And here's the trick, does the purchasing agent actually have any power or authority to influence the decision process?  If you're selling a commodity, and they could go to three, or four, or 10 different sources to get essentially the exact same thing, and those are all approved sources for the manufacturing capability, procurement has a lot of power. You need to do a great job at making sure procurement stays happy and figure out what it really takes to close that deal.  On the other hand, if you're selling a piece of capital equipment and you've had a long sales cycle selling to a re

Jens Hentschel's passion is B2B relationship management and is especially interested in the interaction between the two sides at the negotiation table: buyers and sellers, suppliers and customers, sales and procurement professionals. In this episode, Jens delves into the role of procurement in guiding the internal stakeholder's buying journey on the supply side, while the sales professional assists in facilitating a value-based negotiation.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain a comprehensive understanding of procurement's involvement in the sales process using the direct and indirect spend terminologies Recognize the significance of involving procurement at the outset of the negotiation process Learn how procurement and sales can create a mutually beneficial scenario in pricing value   "When you get into that situation where you have been put on the spot in that negotiation, don't budge on price." - Jens Hentschel   Topics Covered: 01:16 - How he got into pricing 03:04 - Jens important thought

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 4, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/price-segmentation-by-negotiating/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  

This one is the 5 of Diamonds from the Selling Value card deck.  We typically give our salespeople some level of discount authority. And the reason we do that is, let's say they walked in, and they asked the factory, or headquarters, 'Hey, could I have a 5% discount?' And we always say yes to that. Then all we've done is slowed down the sales process.  Instead, we give them some level of discount authority. Knowing that, you know, if you come in for 5% or less, I'm going to give it to you anyway. So, you just have permission to go give 5% or less. The problem, of course, is that salespeople typically give the max that they're allowed to give.  There's all these different levers that they could pull. They could sell value, and they can discount price. And discounting price is one of those levers that they're going to pull because it's easy. See how easy it is for me to discount the 5% and it doesn't hit my commission that much. So, it's okay for me to give that 5% discount.  What we want to do as a company is

Alessandro Monti is a pricing enthusiast and expert on all topics related to monetization, conversion, upselling, digital pricing, price management, and business and pricing history. In this episode, Alessandro highlights the importance of adopting a monetization-led growth approach for your business and emphasizes the need to start implementing this strategy early on in your business.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn to redefine growth in the sense of making it profitable and sustainable Discover the importance of a monetization-driven growth strategy for the long-term success and sustainability of your business Find the ideal pricing metric for your business to attain optimal product-pricing-market fit and achieve success   "Choosing the appropriate price metric seems to be probably one of these game-changing moments for your businesses." - Alessandro Monti   Topics Covered: 01:32 - What brought him to pricing and what made him choose SKP 02:43 - Why he believes in supply and demand 06:0

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on April 27, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/simplify-your-pricing/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  

This one is the 5 of Clubs from the Selling Value card deck. Most salespeople are paid on commission, and typically that commission is a percentage of the revenue. So, 2% of the revenue, 5% of the revenue, somewhere in that ballpark. The problem is, that incremental revenue, if I want to grow my revenue by 1%, the salesperson is only going to get 2%, or their commission rate, of the 1%. And it's a really, really tiny number. However, for the company, that 1% could be a really big number especially if your overall margins are relatively small, because that incremental 1% of revenue is a hundred percent profit. But we don't incentivize our salespeople to get that next 1% very much. Ideally, what we would do is, we would create a sales incentive structure so that covering costs, maybe they don't make anything, but anything from cost to list price, the amount of commission, the amount of incentive payment they get goes up for the higher the price they get.  I, typically, like to have a target price. I also have a

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 his strategy for value-based pricing negotiations to help you achieve the highest possible pricing for your product or service.   Why you have to check out today's podcast: Explore how you can present alternative options during negotiations by combining price and value selling strategies Discover one great technique for setting the stage and preparing the buyer's mindset for a pricing value conversation Uncover a more effective approach to pricing instead of simply relying on discounts   "Improve your prices and just get really good at customer conversations." - Andrew Bailey   Topics Covered: 01:14 - How he started in pricing 03:40 - Important consideration for negotiation 04:58 - Defining value for clients and questions to ask to understand the

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on April 20, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/nobody-cares-about-your-product/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  

This one is the 5 of Hearts from the Selling Value card deck. It's true, customers hate price increases. Heck, I get an annual price increase from Intuit for my QuickBooks, and I hate it. But there's nothing I can do about it. I just have to sit around and stew about the fact that I really despise that Intuit raises my price every year.  However, when we blame costs, then people hate us a little bit less. So, we know as pricing people, as salespeople, we know that our prices really have nothing to do with our costs. But our customers don't really know that, and our customers believe the cost drive pricing. So therefore, if we're going to raise prices, the only real reason customers accept is that our costs went up. Imagine if Intuit sent me that email every year, and instead of it said, 'Hey, we're raising your price by $8, $10,' whatever it happens to be. Instead they say, 'Hey, our costs have gone up this year. We need to pass that on. We're going to increase your price by $10.' sure, I still dislike it. Bu

Darlene Nordstrom is an accomplished pricing professional with experience in developing and implementing worldwide software pricing and licensing strategies spanning traditional on premise, cloud and software as a service (SaaS) offerings. Broad financial knowledge including revenue recognition, standalone selling price, return on investment, profit and loss statements and various analyses such as profitability, variance, impact, market and competitive analyses. In this episode, Darlene highlights the crucial role of interdepartmental collaboration in developing a robust pricing strategy. Additionally, she stresses the importance of having a designated pricing specialist to oversee the entire process.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Find out why interdepartmental cooperation makes a successful pricing strategy What added value does a pricing person bring to the table with departmental integration notwithstanding Learn why you should be discerning when creating short-term and long-term pricing ef