The Role of Leadership in Shaping Pricing Strategies with Adrienne Gordon

With over 25 years of experience in pricing strategy, analytics, and customer relationship management, Adrienne Gordon is passionate about empowering businesses to leverage pricing as a long-term strategic advantage and a path to self-actualization.

In this episode, Adrienne delves into the profound impact of CEO decisions on overall company pricing. She explores the concept of 'value killers' such as the 'Bob Factor',  the 'Lester Factor,' and ‘Cheryl factor’ illustrating how individual actions and outdated models can undermine pricing policies. Additionally, she discusses the importance of setting clear pricing goals, understanding price distribution and variance, and leveraging pricing processes to maximize profitability.

 

Why you have to check out today’s podcast:

• Delve into the crucial role of leadership in effective pricing and value delivery within a company
• Find out common pitfalls and strategies in pricing that will help you understand how internal processes and individual actions can impact a company's pricing power and profitability
• Discover actionable advice for immediate impact enhancing your company's pricing approach and proactive value creation

 

"If you look at pricing as a process, you will self-actualize as a company."

- Adrienne Gordon

 

Topics Covered:

00:51 - How she found herself in pricing

02:26 - How her role in product management helped her develop valuable skills in product segmentation and customer insights

03:55 - Differentiating these two companies she manages, Pricing Empowered and Price Space

06:36 - The role of leadership, specifically CEOs, in pricing strategy

09:09 - Explaining the concept of "value killers" using the metaphor of "Bob"

11:40 - The negative impact of allowing CEOs to negotiate prices and discussing the concept of parameters of empowerment

14:29 - Another value killer: The Lester factor

16:55 - What makes ‘'Cheryl factor' a value killer and the extent of profit leaks this causes

20:15 - Three key actions leaders should take to drive pricing in their companies

24:19 - Differentiating between intentional and unintentional price variance

25:14 - Adrienne's best pricing advice

 

Key Takeaways:

“If the CEO doesn't believe that you can proactively price and influence markets with your pricing, then the company has no faith in it either.” - Adrienne Gordon

"Parameters of empowerment: to me sometimes actually retracting some permission and then testing your value proposition, pushing pricing a little bit so that the organization can see the worth doesn't fall apart when you do that. And releasing that empowerment back, I think, actually, can help companies evolve." - Adrienne Gordon

"I often make recommendations, do not put on your parameters of empowerment 5, 10, and 15. Put on 4.72. Somebody's going to have to do the hard work to figure out what 4.72% discount is. And that's a good thing." - Adrienne Gordon

 

People/Resources Mentioned:

• McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com

 

Connect with Adrienne Gordon:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-gordon-0a93129/
• Website: https://www.pricespace.com/

 

Connect with Mark Stiving:

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