Alex Costa is a Specialist in Strategic Pricing, statistical analysis, market intelligence, sales finance (P&L) statistical analysis, acting as a Sales Business Partner to guide the best pricing strategies, which increases revenues and margins (EBITDA).

In this episode, Alex discusses the importance of both hard and soft skills in achieving success. He also highlights three of the eleven essential skills for pricing professionals and shares his insights on value-based pricing, emphasizing its comprehensive impact on the value process.

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Find the optimal skills to prioritize as a pricing professional
• Discover effective techniques for engaging with salespeople in a manner that fosters collaboration instead of resistance
• Learn how to share information and knowledge within the company to foster a collaborative effort towards achieving shared objectives

"Hard skills and soft skills play a huge impact for you to be effective in your career in pricing."

- Alex Costa

Topics Covered:

01:04 - How Alex pursued pricing

01:54 - Pricing is more than margin

02:47 - What he thinks is the best skill pricing professionals should have

04:16 - Why one has to think logically as a pricing professional

05:05 - Consultative versus reactive when engaging with sales 

07:02 - How to invite collaboration rather than resistance from salespeople 

08:55 - Discussing on the idea of sharing knowledge and information inside the organization

11:16 - Why emotional control matters

16:22 - What he thinks of value-based pricing

18:16 - Who should take the role of training sales teams for them to understand your product's value

19:26 - Looking at value not just of the product's attribute but the whole chain of it

21:53 - How you can get a hold of Alex's paper with this 11 skills

22:29 - Alex's best pricing advice

Key Takeaways:

"I think the most important thing to us as pricing professionals is to engage with sales objectives, to understand what the goals of sales teams are. But of course, align with the goals of the organization." - Alex Costa

"If you don't control your emotions, your emotions will control your career and your project." - Alex Costa

"When you look for the satisfaction from the customer, what their perspective of the value that they will take from your product or services, you can position your pricing better." - Alex Costa

"Sometimes they think, value comes just from the aspects of the product, the attributes of the product. But for me, the value in the mind of the consumer and the customers comes from the entire chain of value of the company." - Alex Costa

Connect with Alex Costa:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrecostaoliveira/

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: mark@impactpricing.com