How do you know when to stop asking questions about value? Couldn’t this go forever, asking “Why? Why? Why?” until we end up in a philosophical discussion? You want to ask questions until you no longer get meaningfully different answers. … Read More
competitive pricing
Does this sound like your price negotiations?
Sadly, this will seem awfully familiar to some businesses we’ve seen.
Better, Not Cheaper: Red Velvet Events
In a previous post, called Be Better, Not Cheaper , I talked about how important it is to differentiate elements of your offering other than just your price. Here’s a great example of executing that strategy from Austin and San … Read More
10 Maxims for Improving Profit through Better Pricing
Your price ceiling is limited by the Perceived Differential Value of your offering. Customers determine this, but you can help them along the way. Your price floor is limited by your costs. If your floor and ceiling are the same … Read More
In Apple Comparison, Dell Leans on Price
Dell has launched a new back-to-school campaign highlighting the lower prices of of Dell laptops compared to Apple. At a high level, this is a great idea. Apple has regained a (the?) leadership position in the educational market, which is … Read More
The best 5 minutes of TV for sales
If you haven’t already, check out Gerhard Gschwandtner interviewing Ron Hubsher from the Sales Optimization Group on the sales negotiation process. Ron looks at the sales process with the same philosophy I do– namely, selling value instead of price, and … Read More
Value is what the customer is buying– not what you’re selling
In a previous post (Be Better, Not Cheaper) I talked about the importance of differentiated value. I have conversations about value almost as often as I have conversations about pricing, because a lot of pricing confusion is really value confusion. … Read More
Be Better, Not Cheaper
Who doesn’t love a bargain? We all do, and we know our customers do, too. But that doesn’t mean price is the only thing that’s important. It becomes the only thing that’s important if everything else is the same. Many … Read More
Pricing and the Placebo Effect
This summer, Steve Silberman over at Wired wrote a great article called “Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.” While the implications for pricing in the pharmaceutical industry are obvious, there are also important analogies to … Read More
The exponential benefits of differential value
I wrote a couple weeks ago about Value, Scarcity and Pricing in the Age of Superabundance. Now there’s a timely report about the concentration of profits among cell phone makers from Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi. Sacconaghi estimated that while … Read More