Jeff Robinson is the CEO at Revolution Pricing LLC and Author of Price for Growth!

In this episode, Jeff shares how pricing should be a strategic effort in driving a company's growth. He talks about how pricing executives should think in terms of long-term margin, having growth precedes profit.

Why you have to check out today's podcast:

• Find out why pricing people should be at the front and center in driving value conversations for strategizing a company's growth
• Learn how to look at the customers' value long-term and generating profit for life rather than looking out for profit for a year and ruining your long-term profit
• Discover the two macro goals of pricing so you think of it as a long-term profit-generating engine

"Think about the growth aspect of your business before you think about the profit aspect of your business. Think about the engine of growth before you think about harvesting profits." - Jeff Robinson

Topics Covered:

01:31 - How he started his pricing career

02:34 - Sharing his story of why he stayed with PROS for almost two decades

04:46 - What happens when salespeople have discount authority

06:20 - Different pricing models

07:36 - Are salespeople the best ones to determine pricing strategy?

10:18 - What he thinks of price differentiation

11:53 - Fairness in pricing - what it really means

15:19 - It's almost never really about pricing; it's about value

17:58 - Can pricing people make or add more value as an internal consultant?

20:40 - What he'd like to see happen at the level of Pricing Director

23:06 - Pricing's two different kinds of macro goals

26:14 - What growth strategy should look like

27:40 - Win, keep, grow - what does it refer to

29:42 - Jeff's pricing advice that can greatly impact one's business 

Key Takeaways:

"Price differentiation is not only fine, I think it's desirable. But I think you got to do it in a way that you can maintain a good customer experience across your customer base." - Jeff Robinson

"Customers hate that they're getting priced based on their willingness to agree. If it's not fair, you're going to get a lot of blowbacks. If it is fair, then they'll play along. Look at the airline industry; you have tons of differentiated pricing. But I think most people understand the game; they understand there's some objectivity behind where the pricing is coming from." - Jeff Robinson

"Pricing needs to be at the forefront. I think pricing should be integral to the entire growth strategy of the company. And the reason I say that is because I think they have the most data. And I think they theoretically have the capability to understand all these intersections, if that makes sense." - Jeff Robinson

"Can pricing people make or add more value as an internal consultant? Yeah, definitely. Because as an internal consultant, they can operate at a level where they can add a lot of value, and they don't have to go into every minute detail. They can go into the level of detail that's needed." - Jeff Robinson

"The whole idea is if you think about growth precedes profits, then from a pricing perspective, pricing leadership should be thinking about growth first, and then thinking about profits when the time's right." - Jeff Robinson

People/Resources Mentioned:

• Price For Growth by Jeff Robinson: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Growth-Revolutionary-Step-Step-ebook/dp/B08Z5YTGTZ

Connect with Jeff Robinson:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrobinson4/
• Email: [email protected]

Connect with Mark Stiving: 

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/