Back in 1989, Stephen R. Covey first published The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In the more than 30 years since, the book has been a long-time bestseller, with more than 40 million copies sold around the world.
If you’ve never read this book, we recommend it highly. But with all respect to Covey, we’d like to suggest our own set of seven habits that highly effective pricing people share:
- Flexible Tenacity — The ability to keep pushing even when you run into hurdles or others provide pushback. People with this mindset persevere and remain open to new approaches when they face a setback. (See From Tactical to Strategic Pricing.)
- Results Orientation —Realizing that the analysis isn’t the objective, it’s a means to an end. When you have this outlook, you focus on the bigger picture. (See The Fundamentals of Effective Pricing Analysis.)
- Change Management — A strong ability to drive change within the organization, understanding that pricing results are often at the mercy of other teams and departments. It’s not enough to figure out what to do; you need to be able to get others in the company to actually do it. (See Making Change Happen.)
- Diagnostic Thinking — The skills to dig deeper into finding the real root causes of issues and problems, not simply stopping at the surface level answers. You need to be willing to not only figure out the true problem, but also to determine the changes that need to be made to fix it in the long term. (See Diagnosing Pricing Problems.)
- Effective Communication — Conveying your message to other people in a way that compels them to take action. Being able to communicate pricing and numbers to other pricing people isn’t ever enough; you must be able to get those concepts across in understandable terms to non-pricing folks in a way that’s relatable and compelling.< See Communicating Pricing Concepts.)
- Scenario Analysis — The ability to determine potential outcomes and calculate the ramifications of pricing actions. An effective pricer doesn’t simply trust their gut; they work the numbers to determine which action is the best. (See Pricing Pilot Programs.)
- Diplomacy and Tact — Being able to build rapport and effective relationships with many other people and departments. Sometimes you need to tear down typical walls of animosity that can exist, especially between sales and pricing. (See Promoting the Power of Pricing.)
And if you make it through all those resources, we have one more to tie it all together. Advancing Your Career in Pricing offers tested and proven strategies for getting ahead. It might not be quite the bestseller that The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has become, but we would humbly suggest that it offers some highly practical advice gleaned from other B2B pricing practitioners.
From Tactical to Strategic Pricing
Some teams are so mired in tactical grunt work and daily firefights that they never make progress on strategic pursuits. How have other pricing teams transitioned into more strategic functions? What steps did they take?
The Fundamentals of Effective Pricing Analysis
In this on-demand training webinar, we share the fundamental concepts and principles behind effective pricing analysis, expose the critical building blocks that need to be in-place, and walk through a basic pricing analysis example to pull everything together.
Making Change Happen
How do you get executives to recognize a need for change? How do you get an organization to move away from the status quo and actually embrace doing things differently? How do you foster true adoption, as opposed to merely forced compliance?
Diagnosing Pricing Problems
When companies stop at a default diagnosis of, “Something’s wrong with the pricing,” they never identify and fix the true root-causes of the issues. In this on-demand webinar, learn how to identify the real root-causes behind pricing performance issues.
Communicating Pricing Concepts
In this session, we discuss a variety of strategies, tactics, techniques for helping others in your organization understand "enough" about crucial pricing principles and practices so that you can do what needs to be done.
Pricing Pilot Programs
How do you get your company to accept new pricing approaches while maximizing your odd of success? In this session, learn how to leverage pilot programs and in-market trials to accelerate your progress.
Promoting the Power of Pricing
In B2B, there are many other people affecting pricing outcomes, directly or indirectly. So how do you gain and maintain the organizational attention, support, and participation you need to drive improvement over time? It's easier than you may think!
Advancing Your Career in Pricing
There's never been a better time to be a B2B pricing professional. But when it comes to your career, you can’t just hope that good things will happen in the future. In this on-demand webinar, learn how to take charge and make good things happen.
