Let's Talk Pricing Podcast

In this episode of Let’s Talk Pricing, PPS President Kevin Mitchell sits down with Matthew Knaggs, Senior Business Value Lead at Zilliant, to explore the evolving relationship between AI and human expertise in pricing.As AI continues to reshape pricing strategies, where do human pricers fit in? Matt shares insights on how strategic thinking and interpersonal skills can enhance AI-driven decisions, real-world examples where human intuition outperforms algorithms, and how to build trust in AI across cross-functional teams.📌 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:How AI is transforming modern pricing strategies—and why human expertise is still essentialReal-life examples where human insight fills AI’s blind spotsPractical steps to align AI outputs with broader business goalsHow to foster confidence in AI tools across your organization💡 Want to dive deeper? Matt will be leading a workshop at PPS profitABLE: Dallas called “Pricers Assemble! Defending Humanity in a World of AI.” Don’t miss your chance to learn directly from him and other industry leaders—register today at pricingsociety.com/ppsdallas25.

Pricing power isn’t just about the numbers—it’s about execution. And when it comes to defending value and preventing unnecessary discounts, your pricing strategy is only as strong as your sales team’s ability to uphold it.In this episode of Let’s Talk Pricing, PPS President Kevin Mitchell is joined by Lori Rybaski and Travis Umpleby of Holden Advisors to explore how companies can equip their sales teams with the right tools, structures, and confidence to maintain pricing integrity.Tune in as they discuss:🔹 The biggest roadblocks to aligning pricing and sales teams🔹 Common causes of price leakage—and how to prevent it🔹 Strategies for designing pricing structures that support sales🔹 How sales training and negotiation skills impact pricing powerPlus, don’t miss Lori and Travis live at PPS profitABLE: Dallas for their workshop, Equipping Sales Teams to Build Pricing Power. Register now at ⁠pricingsociety.com/ppsdallas25⁠.🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Let’s Talk Pricing!

Lydia M Di Liello, CEO and founder (with more than 25 years of business leadership, supply chain and global pricing expertise) delivers exceptional results through Strategy, Process, and Technology. Leveraging a career at General Motors and b to b manufacturing in Supply Chain and Pricing management, client profitability typically increases from 15%-300% in as little as six months. Client engagements range from global Fortune 500 to smaller privately held firms. Brooks Hamilton is the founder of Hamilton AI Strategy Advisors, an Austin-based consultancy specializing in crafting AI strategies for Fortune Global 1000 companies, family owned businesses, and high-growth startups. With a deep understanding of both AI technology and business operations, Brooks and his team enable organizations to successfully navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape. A seasoned veteran in the tech industry, Brooks spent 17 years at Zilliant, where he held pivotal roles in Professional Services and Product Management, including Vice President of the Professional Services team. His tenure was marked by ground-breaking work in AI-driven price optimization and sales effectiveness in B2B companies. Brooks also spearheaded Product Management at several Austin-based startups.

Stephanie Yee, a Partner at Bain & Company with a focus on pricing and profitability, dives into the real-world applications of Generative AI in pricing strategies. She discusses how to leverage unstructured data for better pricing decisions and highlights the role of AI in enhancing content automation and chatbot engagement. Stephanie emphasizes the importance of effective organizational change and prioritization in innovation efforts to truly harness the potential of Generative AI for improved efficiency and communication.

Segmenting customers then differentially treating and/or pricing them is a critical aspect of driving both growth and profits. Yet, it’s easier said then done. This workshop provides practical approaches and best practices for avoiding the hidden pitfalls and challenges. Joanne Smith, President of Price to Profits Consulting, is the author of The Pricing and Profit Playbook, The Price Negotiation Playbook and Pricing in a Crisis. She is the former DuPont Corporate Head of Marketing, Pricing and Customer loyalty. With more than 20 years of global business, marketing and pricing expertise, she now works with global companies in chemical and industrial industries to help them develop world class pricing and profit strategies, pricing transformations, pricing improvements and pricing skills.

When growth is stagnant, companies often adjust prices for more revenue. Without a strong understanding of pricing power relative to market alternatives, this can result in the opposite effect: customer churn. In this session, we’ll walk through drivers of pricing power, how to assess them, and strategies to employ before your next price increase.  Attendees will learn: - How to assess your pricing power relative to market alternatives - The 3 most important levers for building and protecting your pricing power - Top go-to-market tactics under each lever to improve price realization

Pricing is not only about money charged but also about how customers perceive the value a product, which changes over time. In today's connected and competitive world, effective pricing requires flexibility, strategy, and a scientific approach. By using technology to gather insights about customers and develop data-driven pricing strategies, businesses can enhance the customer experience, improve vendor management, keep an eye on competitors, and ensure market efficiency.

Let's be real. It's much easier to defend and raise your prices when strong marketing has your back. But often times, marketing and revenue growth teams work in silos. How can you as pricers deliver informed marketing feedback or suggestions for forward momentum to support your pricing initiatives, collaboratively? E.V.A.L.U.A.T.E. Angie Jackson joined PPS as the Director of Marketing, Communications, and Key Accounts in 2021. Angie has nearly 20 years experience in sales, marketing, education, and project management both locally and internationally. Prior to joining PPS, Angie served as a positioning strategist with CRANE Atlanta specializing in analyzing audience trends, managing creative teams, collaborating with clients, and developing innovative and integrated marketing strategies to distill clients’ unique value propositions.

In this conversation, John Moss, Chief Executive Officer of Flintfox International, discusses the challenges of the current business landscape and how intelligent pricing solutions can help businesses to shore up their bottom line amid volatility. John is the CEO of Flintfox International, the intelligent pricing software provider with world-class IP in pricing and revenue management. An Engineering graduate from Oxford University, John went on to become an Economist in the energy industry before moving into the tech space where he has held a series of senior leadership roles. John is also trained to use explosive and radioactive devices. With almost four decades of experience, spanning 35 industries and 130 countries, Flintfox provides businesses with a smarter way to manage, streamline and automate their pricing.  By consolidating pricing, settlements, claims, deductions and more into one automated, accurate and easy-to-use solution, Flintfox helps businesses protect their margins and maximize revenue.  Flintfox is a powerful pricing engine and straightforward application, capable of processing huge data sets at blistering speeds and supercharging ERPs.  The era of spreadsheets and their costly errors is officially over. Turn complexity into opportunity with the Flintfox effect – delivering a 20% increase in rebate revenue cash flow and more than a 50% reduction in deduction leakage.   

The topic of pricing can be complex, abstract, quantitative, and dry. That makes it difficult to write about, especially when you are trying to persuade someone to adopt a new strategy or take specific actions. This podcast will look at several ways that pricing practitioners can improve their writing and tell persuasive pricing stories. Frank Luby has over 25 years of experience in pricing and over 40 years as a writer. After an 8yr run as partner at Simon-Kucher and Partners, he co-founded Present Tense LLC in 2014 to help business professionals improve their communication. He has served as a writing partner on award-winning and best-selling books, including Game Changer and The Invisible Game. He is co-author, together with Hermann Simon and Frank Bilstein, of the book Manage for Profit, Not for Market Share. Frank also will be at our fall conference in Las Vegas, Frank will conduct his highly rated writing workshop once again.