Finn Helmo Hansen is the CEO and Co-founder of Price Beam and Stratinis, helping businesses use pricing and revenue growth to win. In this episode, Finn discusses the two companies he founded - Stratinis and Price Beam - and their significant contributions to the field of market research in pricing. He also sheds light on effective pricing optimization strategies.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Find out how Price Beam does market research for optimizing pricing using a cloud-based technology Discover what advantages and capabilities conjoint analysis have over other market research techniques Learn insights into the pricing optimization frontiers that are on the rise   "It's not about communicating once you've launched the price increase or even the day before, it's a continuous communication. And if you as a pricing team think that you're communicating enough, then double it." - Finn Hansen   Topics Covered: 01:13 - What paved his route to pricing 02:29 - Is there truth to wine quality equals higher price? 03:24 - What prevent wineries from raising wine price 05:02 - How do these companies he created, Price Beam and Stratinis differ from each other and why he created these two 07:17 - What specifically does each of these companies do? 09:25 - More in-depth discussion of the business structure of each company 11:09 - How does Price Beam and Stratinis relates to or differs from Conjointly [the process of gathering data up to analysis] 13:59 - The way AI [called Tool Plus] works in the whole process of data research and analysis 15:30 - What more can conjoint research method unpack that historical can't? 21:43 - Distilling the concept of shrinkflation 24:56 - Finn's comments on companies increasing prices by way of package machinations 27:37 - The next frontier in price optimization 29:41 - Testing different promotional alternatives 30:47 - Finn's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "The next frontier in price optimization is going to be around promotion optimization, especially in CPG, because there's a lot of money there." - Finn Hansen "You need to communicate as much as possible, talk about the value." - Finn Hansen "Communicate about prices all over the year and sell internally." - Finn Hansen "Pricing communication is key." - Finn Hansen   People/Resources Mentioned: Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com Momentum Now: https://www.themomentum.com/momentum-now Conjointly: https://conjointly.com Carrefour: https://www.carrefour.com/en/group/stores   Connect with Finn Hansen: Email: finn@pricebeam.com / finn.hansen@pricebeam.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnhelmohansen   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on October 26, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/the-5-hows/ 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 Jack of Spades from the Impact Pricing card deck. Many companies use cost-plus pricing and that's understandable because it's easy. It guarantees they're going to make a profit for every sale they make. I get it. When we shift to value-based pricing, we start thinking about what's a buyer willing to pay us. And now, think about what a buyer is willing to pay and that value that they place on our product actually has nothing to do with the cost of us manufacturing it.  In fact, if you're used to buying something, whatever it happens to be. Let's say you're buying your favorite shirt and you buy five of these shirts every single year, and you just love it. And one year the cost of materials goes up. And the manufacturer says, okay, we're going to double our price because our costs went up. You don't really care that the costs went up. What you care about is, do I still want to pay that much? Or do I want to pay twice as much to get the shirt that I really like or not? So you're not thinking, what's the cost?  Now, oftentimes companies use costs to justify price increases. And we do that because our customers often think price is related to costs and it makes them feel a little bit better. It makes it feel like we're not just trying to raise prices and gouge them. But in truth, the value they get, the decision they're making, am I going to buy this product or not, has nothing to do with your costs. And everything to do with how they perceive the value of your product. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our playing cards, pick a card, read the saying, then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  

Julie Scanlon is a D&I Leader 2023 (D&I Leaders: dileaders.com). She enables organizations to enhance diversity and inclusion by providing consultancy, bespoke training solutions and interventions. Supporting individuals and organizations with executive coaching, professional development and career change coaching. In this episode, Julie highlights the challenges women face when it comes to negotiating higher pay, placing them at a disadvantage compared to men. UK studies reveal the significant disparity in earnings between genders. Julie's primary focus is on addressing cultural and structural inequalities, and she offers insights on empowering women to strive for equal treatment.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Understanding the gender pay gap that exists between men and women and the necessary approach to bring about change Learn techniques to effectively mentor women entrepreneurs and businesses led by women, while avoiding gender bias Find ways to promote the recognition of women's worth and empower them to confidently price their value   "Take the risk and ask for it." - Julie Scanlon   Topics Covered: 01:44 - What makes her drawn to the topic about women and men entrepreneurs and their attitudes towards pricing 02:50 - Julie's thoughts on Mark's statement that women are less confident than men about their pricing and business 05:48 - What could be the reason for gender pay gap in women if it is not about one’s confidence in question here 09:40 - Her thoughts on Mark's comment that the problem is with women not asking for pay in reference to a situation raised by Julie 11:14 - A case of 'who knows and who asks' 12:50 - Understanding why there's a bit of a problem for women getting a no for an answer 14:39 - The best approach to coaching women entrepreneurs and those women running companies 17:07 - Julie's suggested strategies for coaching women and the necessary shift in approach 20:39 - Julie's reply to Mark's question if there is the same study made in the US about the gender pay difference 21:58 - Her reaction to Mark's desire to help women get that 43% raise in pay 23:02 - Julie's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "It is not that we're not asking in the same way that men are, but it might also be that there's different kinds of biases that are going on in the world that mean sometimes we don't get what we ask for." - Julie Scanlon "It is actually being aware, raising awareness of the potential gender differentials. You are saying here as a kind of person sitting in front of me that you like to treat people equitably. The thing is, the world doesn't do that. So recognizing the world doesn't do that and thinking, okay, what can I do to mitigate against some of that unequal treatment by the world? So that might then help you adapt the way that you coach the individual that's in front of you." - Julie Scanlon "The ‘being coachable’ question is absolutely vital regardless of gender. Absolutely, you need to be ready for it and you need to be open to it and not defensive." - Julie Scanlon   People/Resources Mentioned: Sky News: https://news.sky.com IPSE: https://www.ipse.co.uk   Connect with Julie Scanlon: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-julie-scanlon/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on October 19, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/we-have-room-for-negotiation/ 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 Queen of Clubs from the Impact Pricing card deck. Value-based pricing is truly a goal or an attitude, but it's never finished because we can't be perfect. We can't read a customer's mind. I define value-based pricing as charge what a customer is willing to pay, but if you can't read a customer's mind, you don't know what that customer is willing to pay. And in fact, all customers are different. And so, we constantly tweak and test new techniques. We add new price segmentations. We think about different market segments. We test our pricing and price increases with certain customers. So, we're never done with our value-based pricing.  We always want to be thinking about how is it that our customers are getting value from our products? How might they be using it differently? What was the value of the feature capability we just added to them? Value-based pricing is an ongoing process so I truly think of it as an attitude or a goal. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our playing cards, pick a card, read the saying, then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. Oh, and you can play card games. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

Neil Fitzgerald is an experienced, driven, and accomplished pricing and revenue professional, with a wealth of experience while working for leading, high-profile companies. Proven in exceeding all bottom-line expectations. Experienced in cruise, hotel and vacation rental industries.  In this episode, Neil shares the crucial role of pricing in the travel industry and its impact on the bottom line success. He emphasizes that achieving pricing goals is not solely reliant on AI, highlighting the importance of collaboration and building relationships with other stakeholders in the company.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Explore effective pricing strategies for one-time opportunities in the travel industry to optimize revenue Learn to strike a balance between short-term gains and long-term profitability, ensuring your pricing decisions don't compromise future success Discover the importance of guiding customers on a journey, expediting their consideration of revenue and pricing management   "Don't assume that everyone else in your business understands what you're doing. So, take the time to listen to other people, and take the time to communicate and collaborate with the other people in your teams and the other stakeholders in your business, and take them on the journey." - Neil Fitzgerald   Topics Covered: 01:20 - How Neil get into pricing 03:02 - How does pricing for travel differ from any other pricing? 04:51 - The challenge that comes with pricing the travel industry 07:37 - Pricing strategies in other industries that can work best in the travel industry 09:53 - Neil's thoughts on Mark's suggested limited time pricing offer for a cruise ship basing it from Chipotle's food pricing 11:59 - Discussion about one pricing strategy that Disney implemented and had to be discontinued 13:42 - Pricing insights from crowded airport lounges nowadays gleaned from Mark's experience 16:11 - How does he get people sold to the idea of revenue management 18:35 - Talking about AI and pricing algorithms 20:50 - Neil's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "It is interesting in travel, when you do try and do those one-off opportunities to get a higher price point, you've got to be careful that it really, really is exclusive and it isn't so broad because then you can create too much demand." - Neil Fitzgerald "It's an interesting business case for pricing managers about how Disney built out this fantastic product for the Star Wars hotel, charged thousands of dollars a night, and then has had to close it in a very short time period because they couldn't get the revenues that they were expecting." - Neil Fitzgerald "I always think when it comes to pricing, even when you're more on the revenue management side and you are looking at your supply and demand patterns, you do have to have an awareness of the overall cost basis as well, because it can be quite easy if you're not careful to overprice." - Neil Fitzgerald "It's going to be an interesting case about how airlines effectively raise, find ways of charging guests more so that they're reducing the demand without upsetting the most low guests." - Neil Fitzgerald "We can't produce demand out of thin air and we can't produce higher margins out of thin air. We have to take people on the journey." - Neil Fitzgerald   People/Resources Mentioned: Chipotle: https://www.chipotle.com/home Virgin Voyages: https://www.virginvoyages.com Green Bay Packers: https://www.packers.com   Connect with Neil Fitzgerald: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-fitzgerald-55122591/ Email: neilf@expeditions.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on October 12, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/lessons-from-amazons-nessie/ 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 Queen of Diamonds from the Impact Pricing card deck.  We often talk about how we want products that are different from our competitors. And if we think about what we want to build, we want to build products that are better, that are somehow differentiated. And when we do that, we've truly built value for our customers because our products are better than our competitor's products. However, sometimes our customers don't know that our products are better. And if they don't know our products are better and they've never used our product before, then we're not going to get paid more because our products are better. And so, that's a customer's perception. We need to make sure that our customers perceive our products to be better. In the ideal world, we build products that are better. We communicate that ideal differentiation to our customers. And our customers then choose to buy our product because they've perceived that value.   Now, it's possible that we can communicate value that may not be true, or we could communicate value that may not be differentiated.  One of my favorite papers I read when I was a doctoral student was titled something like, Meaningful Differentiation from Irrelevant Attributes.   The example they like to use was Folgers Mountain Grown Coffee. I mean, it turns out all coffee is grown in mountains, so Folgers isn't differentiated with that. But the fact that they tout it, the fact that they talk about it and communicate it, almost makes it feel like they're differentiated. So, you could think of that as perceived value, even if it isn't real value.   So, our job really should be, let's create products that are better than our competitors and let's communicate that to our customers. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our playing cards, pick a card, read the saying, then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. And, you can play card games. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com. Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

Mark Chussil is the founder of Advanced Competitive Strategies, Inc. He is an expert in qualitative and quantitative business war games, custom strategy simulators, executive education and management development programs. Highly rated speaker, published books and dozens of articles on business and competitive strategy. In this episode, Mark shares how simulating pricing strategies before actually implementing them can do away with costly outcomes thereby improving one's bottom line.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover the essence of the Top Pricer Tournament Enhance your pricing strategy by utilizing simulation techniques to mitigate potential risks and minimize losses Find out fascinating insights and findings from the 'Top Pricer Tournament' and learn what to expect when participating in this exciting event   "If we choose a good strategy that turns out to be bad, what we have actually encountered is a false positive. And what we need to do a whole lot better in business is to be able to distinguish the false positives from the true positives. And that's what these simulations are about." - Mark Chussil   Topics Covered: 02:59 - Differentiating decision rules versus decisions 05:31 - Mark Chussil agreeing to what Mark Stiving says in reference to Axelrod's 'tit for tat' and 'tit for tat with forgiveness' 07:16 - Drawing inspiration from Axelrod's work, Mark describes his own contribution 09:51 - Mark Chussil's perspective on Mark Stiving's assertion that companies prioritizing profit outperform those aiming for market share 11:15 - Findings about 'tit for tat' on why it doesn't work 12:17 - What is 'Top Pricer Tournament' and how it relates to or differ from 'Prisoner's Dilemma' 16:07 - Surprising findings from his own 'Top Pricer Tournament' 21:37 - Things to expect when you join Top Pricer Tournament 24:58 - Mark's best pricing advice 27:12 - Relating strategy to a decision   Key Takeaways: "Strategy is a bet." - Mark Chussil "In the Top Pricer Tournaments, and in life in general, we have situations where we can make great decisions, but somebody else has made a better decision or somebody else has come up with something that we didn't think about." - Mark Chussil "I have seen people come up with strategies that I know I never would have thought of. And there's also a few that are in the Top Pricer Tournament that no human has selected yet, and that would outperform any of the ones that humans have selected so far." - Mark Chussil   People /Resources Mentioned: The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod: https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Cooperation-Revised-Robert-Axelrod/dp/0465005640   Connect with Mark Chussil: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markchussil/ Email: mchussil@competing.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com