Impact Pricing

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 29, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/nobody-wants-to-buy-ai/ 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/

Danilo Zatta is the author of The Pricing Model Revolution, The 10 Rules of Highly Effective Pricing, and the new book Revenue Growth Management. He is recognized as one of LinkedIn's Top 5 Pricing Thought Leaders and brings decades of consulting experience from Accenture, Simon-Kucher, and BCG. His work is anchored in one simple insight: pricing is the "sunny side" of consulting. He shares real examples of companies that increased profit by cutting ineffective promotions and by detecting thousands of spare-part pricing outliers with AI. This episode explores pricing leadership, the CEO's role, the difference between pricing truth and framework preference, and why democratized pricing knowledge makes talent the true competitive advantage.   Why You Have to Check Out This Episode: Learn how AI spots hidden pricing outliers across hundreds of thousands of SKUs and turns them into instant profit. Discover why FMCG companies burn cash on promotions and how smart RGM frameworks finally fix it. Understand the real "truth" behind pricing frameworks and why people, not methodology, drive pricing success.   "Start the AI pricing journey—not by boiling the ocean—but by finding a use case that works, proves value, and then expand it." – Danilo Zatta   Topics Covered: 01:27 - How Dan Got Into Pricing. His shift from cost-cutting to pricing and why he calls it the "sunny side" of consulting. 06:57 - Freedom in Consulting Choices. Comparing Accenture, Simon-Kucher, and BCG—and why team chemistry matters most. 09:11 - Revenue Growth Management. How FMCG brands optimize trade terms, promos, and price architecture for profit. 11:55 - FMCG as B2B. Why FMCG selling to retailers is a pure B2B relationship with limited price control. 17:22 - Implicit Collusion in Airlines. How industries use public price signaling to influence competitor behavior. 19:13 - AI in Spare Parts Pricing. How AI identified major pricing outliers and delivered over €1M in quick wins. 24:42 - Why AI Beats Excel. AI's advantage in scale, complexity, and instant alerts across massive SKU sets. 27:15 - Starting Your AI Pricing Journey. Begin with one use case, prove it works, then expand—no perfect data needed.   Key Takeaways: "Pricing used to be specialized knowledge. Today it's democratized—so what differentiates you is the team, not the tools." – Danilo Zatta "If you're the market leader, you must act first. Smaller players can't reduce promotions until you do." – Danilo Zatta "Pricing is never boring because every industry has its own logic, levers, and constraints." – Danilo Zatta   Books by Danilo Zatta: The Pricing Model Revolution: https://www.amazon.it/Pricing-revolution-pricing-cambier%C3%A0-comprare/dp/8836010547/ The 10 Rules of Highly Effective Pricing: https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Highly-Effective-Pricing-Management/dp/1394195761 Revenue Growth Management: https://www.amazon.it/Revenue-Management-Manufacturing-Application-Industry/dp/3319807595/   Connect with Danilo Zatta: Website: https://www.danilozatta.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danilo-zatta  Books: https://www.danilozatta.com/books/    Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 22, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/pricing-ai-pricing-metrics/ 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/

Ed Arnold, founder and managing partner at The Valorizer, brings decades of hands-on experience building customer value models, teaching value conversations, and guiding companies toward value-based pricing. After working directly with Tom Nagle at Monitor Group and leading value initiatives at LeveragePoint, Forrester, and Ibbaka, Ed has become one of the most respected practitioners of Economic Value Estimation (EVE) in B2B. In this episode, Ed and Mark dive deep into what "value" actually means, why B2B buyers define it differently than sellers, and how to quantify economic outcomes in a way that withstands scrutiny. They debate value vs. willingness to pay, unpack why value stories outperform case studies, and explore how real conversations—not spreadsheets—unlock premium pricing.   Why You Have to Check Out Today's Episode: Master the real meaning of "value" in B2B—and why most companies still get it wrong. Discover how to run a value conversation that reveals economic impact and customer priorities. Learn how to turn EVE models into persuasive value stories your buyers can resell internally.   "You need to quantify the value of the product you're selling—and you need to talk to customers about that to understand it and write their value story."  — Ed Arnold   Topics Covered: 05:09 – Value Perception in B2B: Why Customers Decide with Both Logic and Emotion 08:34 – Value vs. Willingness to Pay: The Debate Begins 12:06 – Why Willingness to Pay Is Not Value (And What It Actually Measures) 19:04 – Value Perception in B2B Sales: Influence, Trust, and Risk 20:41 – Value Is Always Relative (And Why Alternative Choices Change Everything) 24:26 – Value-Based vs. Competitor Pricing: Why They Aren't the Same Thing 28:03 – Value Story vs. Case Study: What Buyers Actually Need to Make Decisions 32:47– Quantifying Product Value: How to Build a Story Buyers Can Take to Their Executives   Key Takeaways: "Value comes from use, not purchase." — Ed Arnold "Willingness to pay is not value, if it were, we'd never talk about leaving money on the table." — Ed Arnold "In B2B, value is 80% logic, 20% emotion." — Ed Arnold "A value story is customized. A case study is generic." — Ed Arnold "You can't build a value story without having a value conversation first." — Ed Arnold "Sometimes the value model reveals there simply isn't a differentiated advantage—and you have to accept that." — Ed Arnold    People and Resources Mentioned: Tom Nagle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-tom-nagle LeveragePoint: https://www.leveragepoint.com/  Reed Holden: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reed-holden-913ab69/    Connect with Ed Arnold: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edarnold1/  Newsletter: https://edarnold1.substack.com/    Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 15, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/why-buyers-really-buy/ 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/

Matt Knaggs, Senior Business Value Lead at Zilliant, brings a decade of pricing insight shaped by an unexpected leap from industrial safety into commercial excellence. Known for blending analytics, AI, and practical sales enablement, he now helps B2B companies make smarter, more confident pricing decisions by pairing data science with human judgment. In this episode, Matt and Mark dive straight into the real-world intersection of pricing and AI, where deterministic models still set prices, GenAI fills in missing context, and messy CRM data finally becomes usable.  Matt shares how he built a custom GPT that builds other GPTs, why "pricer in the loop" is essential, and how AI can elevate pricing teams without replacing them. They unpack the future of pricing, the danger of outsourcing expertise, and why curiosity beats perfection in an AI-driven world.   Why You Have to Check Out Today's Episode: Learn how AI can enhance pricing (without setting prices for you) - including specific use cases where GenAI adds context, fills data gaps, and boosts pricer effectiveness. Discover the "Pricer in the Loop" model and why Matt believes humans will remain essential for trust, validation, nuance, and internal adoption. See how to use AI as a thought partner - to generate buyer problems, value drivers, competitive alternatives, and messaging frameworks that accelerate value-based pricing.   "Don't hide from all of the advancements in AI. It can be scary and intimidating, but try what you can. AI won't tattle on you for asking dumb questions." - Matt Knaggs   Topics Covered: 03:30 – How Matt Went From Safety to Pricing—and Why the Discipline Hooked Him 04:22 – The Reality of AI in Pricing: What Matt Sees Working (and Failing) Inside Companies 11:58 – Matt Reacts to Mark's Approach: Using AI to Map Buyer Context 15:34 – When a Pricing Expert Builds AI That Builds AI: Matt's Custom GPT Story 19:01– The Messy Data Problem Every Pricer Knows… and How Matt Uses AI to Fix It 24:09– Matt's Honest Take on the Future: Why AI Won't Replace Pricers Anytime Soon 27:34 – The Threat to Expertise: Matt and Mark Explore What Happens When People Outsource Thinking 31:53 – What AI Can Do for Pricing Strategy (If You Use It Intelligently) 33:15 – Matt's Final Challenge to Pricers   Key Takeaways: "AI is probabilistic, not deterministic. You can give it the same inputs and get different outputs. That's why I'm not ready for GenAI to set prices." - Matt Knaggs "You don't need to learn AI to protect your job. But if you ignore it, the person who learns how to use AI might take your job." - Matt Knaggs "The future pricer isn't replaced—it's the translator. The one who explains the 'why' behind what AI suggests." - Matt Knaggs "You can't outsource judgment. You need the pricer in the loop to validate hallucinations, nuance, and context." - Matt Knaggs "AI can scan markets, pull competitor moves, and hand-wave at things you should consider—things deterministic models miss." - Matt Knaggs   People & Resources Mentioned: Zilliant: Pricing optimization & management platform where Matt leads value initiatives Stephan Liozu: Pricing author referenced for value-based pricing frameworks Salesforce + OpenAI / Claude Connectors: For CRM automation   Connect with Matt Knaggs: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewknaggs/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stiving Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 8, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/pricing-ai-the-value-of-packaging/ 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/

Bill Diggons, managing partner at Qittitut Consulting (yes, named after a fast-growing, healthy Inuit bear), shares 24 years of pricing wisdom earned across 182 projects in 57 countries. A disciple of pricing legend Tom Nagle and former oil industry marketer at Schlumberger and Halliburton, Bill reveals why single-column bids are leaving 3-5 margin points on the table and how tiering transforms B2B pricing. From Wagyu beef pricing psychology to semiconductor de-specification strategies, Bill and Mark debate whether prices should be easy or hard to compare, why "Boss Hog" beats techno-nerd names, and the counterintuitive power of ending prices in odd numbers instead of zeros. Plus, why Bill charges $5,000 extra just to read client contracts.   Why you have to check out today's podcast: Discover why tiering consistently delivers 3-5 margin points minimum—and how three-column bids with strategic naming force buyers to make trade-offs instead of price comparisons. Learn the "no zeros" pricing rule that generated $8 million in three months by making prices look carefully calculated rather than negotiable. Master the art of non-compliant RFP responses with alternatives that disrupt tender processes and win on value instead of lowest price.   "Not profound, but no zeros on the quote. It's so often that we can get half a margin point just out of stuff like that. And then beyond that, try some naming and tiering because it's going to work for you." – Bill Diggons   Topics Covered: 02:09 - The Qittitut Origin Story: Why a Dancing Bear Beat "Bill & Bob's Consulting". 05:39 - What is Tiering? Moving Beyond Single-Column Bids. 10:07 - The Restaurant Menu Masterclass and Boss Hog's Emotional Appeal - How to Decide What Features Go in What Tiers. 19:02 - Responding to RFPs with Tiered Alternatives and Non-Compliant Bids. 20:02 - The Power of "Networking Best Practices Meeting" vs. "Presentation". 26:23 - Final Advice: No Zeros on the Quote (And Why It Generated $8 Million). 28:12 - Contacting Bill and Why He Charges $5,000 to Read Contracts.   Key Takeaways: "Tiering to me is having at least a three-column bid, naming the columns, and then having some names on the products or services to imply added value. Whenever we've introduced this, it always results in three to five margin points minimum." - Bill Diggons "I demand the right to segment that price to the outcome, the value the buyer gets. Even though the variable cost of the motor is identical, I want to be able to sell it at an economy price in a benign environment and at a premium price in an extreme environment because I put billions of dollars into creating this thing." - Bill Diggons   People / Resources Mentioned: Tom Nagle: Author of "Strategy and Tactics of Pricing" - pricing authority who transformed Bill's approach in oil and gas. Schlumberger: Oil company where Bill worked in marketing. Halliburton: Oil company in Bill's background. QSales: Where Bill was practice leader for 20 years. A.T. Kearney, McKinsey, Deloitte: Consulting firms mentioned in the RFP rejection story where Bill's price was "too low". Starbucks: Referenced for tall, grande, venti tiering strategy. iPhone/Apple: Used as two examples - 99-cent pricing psychology AND customers not comparing to Huawei when upgrading. Huawei: Mentioned as iPhone competitor that iPhone users ignore when upgrading.   Connect with Bill Diggons: Company: https://www.qittitut.com/  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billdiggons/  Email: bill@qittitut.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 1, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/packaging-ai-structuring-features-and-placing-ai-in-offers/ 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/

Sarah Williams, founder and CEO of Leading Culture and former director at GAP Consulting for 23 years, brings her accounting background and business growth strategy expertise to a spirited debate about ROI, value-based pricing, and why companies leave money on the table.  From her home in New Zealand (Mark's second favorite country), Sarah challenges conventional pricing wisdom—arguing that ROI applies to both B2B and B2C, that we should ignore competitors when determining value, and that the antidote to the curse of knowledge is thinking with a beginner's mind.  Mark pushes back on opportunity costs, explains why competitor pricing matters, and uses everything from vests to Louis Vuitton handbags to make his points in this engaging conversation about helping customers understand the true value of what they're buying.   Why You Have to Check Out Today's Podcast: Understand why teaching customers to think in ROI is the fastest way to eliminate buyer's remorse, increase prices, and differentiate from competitors who focus on features. Discover the beginner's mind approach that prevents the #1 mistake pricing experts make—assuming customers know what seems "obvious" to you. Master vulnerability-based trust by inviting customers to ask questions without fear—the counterintuitive sales technique that accelerates deals faster than "looking professional".   "Think in terms of value from the customer's perspective." – Sarah Williams   Topics Covered: 03:01 - Why ROI Should Be Everyone's Decision-Making Framework 06:10 - Helping Customers Think in ROI Terms: Your Job as the Provider 08:12 - Utility in Economics: The B2C Alternative to Monetary ROI 20:00 - The Opportunity Cost Debate: Pricing vs. Budgeting Decisions 25:19 - Differentiation Value: Starting with Competitor's Price, Then Adding 27:57 - Louis Vuitton vs. $40 Handbags: Conspicuous Consumption and What People Really Buy 32:31 - Starting with a Blank Slate: Thinking Myopically About Customer Value 35:32 - Final Advice: Think in Terms of Value from the Customer's Perspective   Key Takeaways: ROI on its own can be a decision-making framework. From the point of view of maybe even making a personal decision, I can think about, well, what's the return on investment? And that might even be an investment of my time." - Sarah Williams "We're doing our customers a disservice if we're not helping them to think in terms of ROI. Like, what really am I getting? Because buyer's remorse is really, really prevalent. People make split-second decisions now and then live to regret it 24 hours later." - Sarah Williams "In economics, there's this concept called utility, right? So, I think in terms of when you're thinking B2C, now you're shifting the conversation a little bit more towards the utility angle in economics." - Sarah Williams   People / Resources Mentioned: Jim Collins: Author of "Good to Great" Chip and Dan Heath: Authors of "Made to Stick" and the concept of the curse of knowledge Patrick Lencioni: Leadership expert who popularized vulnerability-based trust and predictive trust concepts GAP Consulting: Where Sarah served as director for 23 years Complete Learning Solutions: Where Sarah was Chief Inspiration Officer Louis Vuitton: Used as example of luxury pricing vs. commodity pricing iPhone: Example of blue ocean differentiation where customers don't compare competitor prices Huawei: Mentioned as iPhone alternative that iPhone users don't consider when upgrading   Connect with Sarah Williams: Email: sarah@leadingculture.co.nz Website: https://www.leadingculture.co.nz/home  AI Summit Link: https://www.leadingculture.co.nz/ai-summit-registration-page   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 25, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/pricing-ai-market-segmentation-matters/ 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/

Lindsay Maurer is Pricing Intervention Manager at BP. With 14 years of experience in product management and pricing, she reveals how she achieved a 13% profit gain despite a 16% revenue drop, and why she believes "the dumbest guy in the market sets the price." In this episode, Lindsay and Mark Stiving discuss regional pricing strategies, ethical competitive intelligence, and the power of price signals in the market. They explore what defines a pricing leader versus a follower, why clean data matters more than fancy tools, and why AI can't fix bad pricing fundamentals. Whether you work in pricing, lead a team, or simply want to understand how pricing shapes business strategy, this episode offers practical, real-world insights you can use right away.   Why You Have to Check Out Today's Podcast: Learn how to build regional pricing strategies that adapt to local competition and customer behavior. Discover smart, ethical ways to track competitors using tools like Circana data and web scraping. Understand why clean data and efficient processes matter more than any pricing technology.   "It doesn't matter how much technology you throw at bad data — it's not going to fix your pricing strategy." – Lindsay Maurer   Topics Covered: 02:50 - Getting into Pricing: How Lindsay's career began and what got her hooked on pricing strategy. 06:10 - Inside the Role: What a Pricing Intervention Manager does - from fixing revenue leaks to supporting teams across the Americas. 12:15 - Market Dynamics: Why "the dumbest guy in the market sets the price" and how smart companies protect their margins. 15:08 - Retail Pricing: How retailers test price floors and ceilings, monitor competitors, and manage customer perceptions. 17:31 - Price Leadership: What makes a company a price leader versus a follower, and how market factors like tariffs shape decisions. 20:17 - Competitor Insights: How often to track prices in different industries and how to ethically gather market data. 25:01 - Strengthening Pricing Teams: Why efficient tools, clean data, and solid processes matter more than fancy systems. 28:25 - AI in Pricing: Where AI fits today, what it can and can't do, and how to use it for smarter market insights. 29:57 - Pricing Community: Lindsay's call for collaboration - connecting with other pricing professionals and sharing tools.   Key Takeaways: "The dumbest guy in the market sets the price. If you have someone that has products that they can go and sell for half the price of yours, well, you're also taking out half the price of everyone's margin, but also your own." - Lindsay Maurer "Make sure you've got great information coming in. Make sure that you're doing anything you can do with it as efficiently as possible so that when you do get those quotes and you do get those quick turnaround requests for sales that you can price quickly and you don't lose business due to inefficiency." - Lindsay Maurer   People / Resources Mentioned: Al Beck: Al Beck: Pricing Director at Standard Motor Products https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderkbeck/  Circana (formerly NPD): https://www.circana.com Ficstar: https://www.ficstar.com/  Import.io: https://www.import.io/  SVP Recruiting: Organizer of Pricing Week conference https://svpricing.com/pricing-week    Connect with Lindsay Maurer: Website: https://www.bp.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaymaurer/    Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 18, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/pricing-ai-are-you-selling-a-platform-or-a-solution/ 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/

Bill Wilson, CEO and founder of Pace Pricing and official pricing advisor for the government of New Zealand, takes Mark on a deep dive into Jobs to be Done methodology and its connection to value-based pricing. From his origins as a software developer building productized services to coaching hundreds of companies through SaaS Academy, Bill reveals why pricing isn't just about the number—it's about understanding the progress customers are trying to make.  In this episode, Mark and Bill dive into why the Jobs to Be Done framework offers a more effective lens than traditional problem-and-results approaches, leading to insights about value realization, emotional jobs, and why the biggest pricing advice might be the simplest: just raise your prices.   Why You Have to Check Out Today's Podcast: Learn the critical role of value realization and how to effectively package products to help customers achieve desired outcomes quickly and sustainably. Understand the Jobs to Be Done framework, how it differs from traditional problem-solving approaches, and why it's vital for grasping true customer motivations. Discover practical pricing strategies, including overcoming fears around raising prices and how thoughtful price increases positively impact a company's bottom line.   "Without being too on the nose about it, you probably should raise your prices." – Bill Wilson   Topics Covered: 01:32 - Bill's journey from technical founder in 2007 to productizing services, escaping hourly billing, and discovering that pricing is everyone's delicate secret. 06:59 - The Product-Pricing-Positioning Triangle Why these three cannot be separated: value delivery (product), value perception (positioning), and value capture (pricing). 09:33 - What is Jobs to be Done? Bill's definition: statements describing the progress customers are trying to make, with specific ways to measure that value. 14:17 - The Trigger Moment: Status Quo Change Why the sandwich shop example illustrates how triggers create jobs people are willing to pay to solve, unlike generic problems. 20:11 - Context-Driven Pricing Meets Jobs to be Done Mark's framework of foundational problems, problem scope, and situational context—and how it maps to Bill's JTBD structure. 21:56 - System 1 vs. System 2: Emotion vs. Value Separating intuitive, emotional buying (System 1) from deliberative value calculation (System 2)—and why B2B sellers must address both. 26:39 - The Three Phases of Value Value perception (positioning), value realization (first aha moment), and value adoption (features driving continuous use). 30:08 - The Product-Pricing-Positioning Connection in Practice: Why Bill sometimes produces product requirements documents during pricing engagements—because time-to-value affects pricing success. 30:28 - Final Advice: Raise Your Prices The simplest, most powerful advice that everyone fears—and why money from price increases falls directly to the bottom line.   Key Takeaways: "A job to be done inherently has monetization built into it because there are a lot of problems that I'm not willing to pay to be solved. But a job in and of itself is something I'm actively trying to achieve." - Bill Wilson "Recurring revenue lives in value adoption, not in value realization. I can get anybody to realize value pretty quickly and they'll never buy my product more than once." - Bill Wilson "Everybody's scared to death to raise their prices. But if you haven't raised your prices in a couple of years, you're probably safe to raise your prices. And all that money that you raise it by, whatever percentage that is, is going to fall directly to the bottom line." - Bill Wilson   People / Resources Mentioned: April Dunford: Positioning expert, author of "Obviously Awesome" and "Sales Pitch" Anthony Ulwick: Outcome-Driven Innovation approach to Jobs to be Done Clayton Christensen: Jobs to be Done theory pioneer Danny Kahneman: System 1 and System 2 thinking framework SaaS Academy: Where Bill coaches companies on pricing Volta: Coaching organization Bill works with   Connect with Bill Wilson: Pace Pricing: https://www.pacepricing.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wdrwilson/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 11, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/pricing-ai-do-costs-finally-matter-in-pricing/ 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/

Emanuel Martonca, founder of Soft Fight, reveals how agentic AI is solving one of the biggest challenges in IT services: coordinating pricing decisions across hundreds of people in decentralized organizations.  After his career journey from product management to sales management to discovering pricing at a Simon Kucher workshop, Emanuel shares how his bootstrapped company evolved from traditional consulting to building AI-powered pricing agents that act as an ever-present pricing manager- coaching teams, improving proposals, and recommending pricing models without sending a single byte of data outside the client's infrastructure. In this episode,  learn why AI should augment rather than replace pricing teams, why deterministic calculations still matter, and how to quantify value in IT services without universal quality standards.   Why You Have to Check Out Today's Podcast: Discover how AI solves coordination problems in large IT services companies where hundreds of people make pricing decisions without pricing expertise. Learn why AI should augment pricing teams, not replace them, and why deterministic calculations still matter more than probabilistic AI outputs. Understand how to quantify value in IT services using measurable quality attributes instead of universally accepted standards.   "Pricing is leverage. It allows you to have an impact with very few actions, with little effort."  – Emanuel Martonca   Topics Covered: 01:32 -Emanuel's transformational discovery of pricing at a Belgian retail bank workshop that revealed a world he didn't know existed—launching 18 years of pricing-focused work. 02:37 - Why pricing is the ultimate leverage tool, especially in B2B tech where "it's just communication"—what you write in Excel, on websites, and in proposals. 03:28 - How the pandemic transformed Emanuel from a globe-trotting sales manager into a pricing consultant, then bootstrapped Soft Fight to solve the value extraction gap in tech companies. 04:41 - How large IT companies lose money when hundreds of non-experts across five functions (finance, marketing, sales, delivery, executives) make pricing decisions on every custom project. 06:59 - The evolution from deterministic SaaS pricing rules to AI-augmented agents installed in client infrastructure—solving pricing problems in hours instead of years without sending data externally. 08:00 - Why new deals lack technical depth and renewals lack value articulation—and how AI coordinates knowledge without restructuring organizations. 11:00 - Eight AI agents (four for understanding, four for justifying) with access to all systems but zero external communication—no security or privacy risks. 13:00 - All pricing calculations remain deterministic because AI makes too many mistakes—it's used only for reading RFPs, emails, and meeting notes to improve value communication. 14:17 - How AI acts as a coach recommending pricing models with ready-made arguments, eliminating months of change management—with email as the main interface. 16:17 - Why determining "how long will this take?" is unpredictable and varies by person and timing—and how AI solves the costliest unknown in custom projects. 18:00 - Mark's perspective on why costs matter less than value, and why companies avoid alternative pricing models despite knowing hourly billing hurts both sides. 21:00 - When AI tools cut development time, hourly pricing becomes self-defeating: "You're cutting your own revenue"—forcing the industry to finally sell value, not time. 21:56 - Starting with measurable quality attributes on invented scales that competitors can't compare—getting 80% of the way just by having the quantification discussion. 23:00 - Mark's framework for B2B value and why results translate to economic impact through customer KPIs like reduced complaints, not abstract "quality" metrics. 25:00 - Unlike automotive suppliers with nanometer specs, IT services vendors can define their own quality metrics—putting them two steps ahead of alternatives. 26:00 - The necessity of industry knowledge for value conversations (increase revenue, reduce costs, mitigate risk) and how AI enables understanding of new sectors that would've taken years. 27:30 - Final Advice: AI as Your Pricing Force Multiplier Using AI for research, analysis, and domain understanding when teams are too small or mandates unclear—plus how to connect with Emanuel on LinkedIn.   Key Takeaways: "AI is a huge multiplier for pricing experts—not for calculating prices, I agree with you on that, it's not there yet. But for everything else around pricing, whether we want to call it product management, analysis, or research, it can help us overcome typical challenges." - Emanuel Martonca "Pricing is a change management problem. It can be done, it'll take months, sometimes years, and they have to experiment and they have to make mistakes." - Emanuel Martonca   Resources Mentioned: Simon-Kucher: https://www.simon-kucher.com/en    Connect with Emanuel Martonca: Website: https://www.softfight.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emartonca/    Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 4, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/pricing-ai-buyers-buy-inherent-and-relative-value/ 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/  

Whether you've been with us since the beginning or you just discovered Impact Pricing last week, this episode is for you. If you're one of our longtime listeners, you know Mark's voice, you've heard his insights, and maybe you've even implemented some of his strategies in your own business. But have you ever wondered what drives him to keep showing up week after week, year after year? If you're new here, welcome. You're about to meet the person behind the podcast—not just as a pricing expert, but as someone who genuinely loves teaching and believes that understanding value can transform your business and your career. Mark Stiving is the host of Impact Pricing and founder of Impact Pricing LLC. But before he was a pricing expert, he was a teacher—of scuba diving, kayaking, and marketing. That passion for helping people learn never left him. Even after retiring in 2019, Mark couldn't stop sharing what he knows about pricing and value. In this heartfelt solo episode, Mark pulls back the curtain on his journey. He shares why he chose to dedicate his post-retirement life to pricing education, what keeps him energized after blogging every week since 2010, and the two critical topics that consume his attention right now. This isn't just another pricing lesson—it's an invitation to understand the "why" behind everything we do here at Impact Pricing. For our loyal listeners: Thank you for being part of this community. This episode is Mark's way of reconnecting with you and reaffirming his commitment to your success. For our new listeners: This is the perfect place to start. You'll understand not just what we teach, but why it matters so deeply to the person teaching it.   Why you have to check out today's podcast: Discover why teaching and sharing pricing knowledge became Mark's post-retirement mission and driving passion. Learn about the two critical topics dominating modern pricing strategy: AI pricing and context-driven pricing. Understand how value impacts decisions across sales, marketing, product development, and packaging—not just pricing.   "Probably my single most favorite thing is when I share something with someone and it has an impact on their life. I absolutely love that." - Mark Stiving   Topics Covered: 00:30 - Mark's Retirement and Continued Mission. Why Mark retired in 2019 but couldn't stop sharing pricing knowledge, and how his blogging streak since 2010 kept him connected to his passion. 01:15 - The Joy of Teaching. Mark's history as an instructor across multiple disciplines—from scuba diving and kayaking to university-level marketing—and why teaching is his core passion. 02:00 - The Pricing Knowledge Gap. Why pricing and value are critical business topics that remain poorly understood, and Mark's mission to change that. 02:45 - Working with Different Organizations. How Mark's work differs between large enterprises (focusing on sales teams) versus small and mid-sized businesses (focusing on executive teams). 03:30 - Two Current Focus Areas. Deep dive into Mark's concentration on AI pricing and context-driven pricing, including the concept of value architecture. 04:45 - Context-Driven Pricing Framework. How buying contexts differ for every purchase and how companies can structure their product portfolios to deliver and capture more value.   Key Takeaways: "Pricing and value are such important topics in all of business and so few people understand it. And that's almost my mission now is just to see how many people I can get to have a better understanding." - Mark Stiving "All buying is contextual. Every purchase that's made is made in a different way than any other purchase has ever been made." - Mark Stiving "When we start thinking through context-driven pricing, that drives me to something I call a value architecture, which is how do you structure the way you think, the way you built your product portfolio, the way you have packaged your greatest features?" - Mark Stiving   Resources Mentioned: Impact Pricing Blog (since 2010): https://impactpricing.com/blog/ Mark's Substack newsletter Impact Pricing monthly newsletter   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com Website: https://impactpricing.com

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 28, 2025, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/pricing-ai-a-practical-guide-for-a-hype-filled-world/ 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/

Ryan Doran is a Partner in Lead Creative and Head of UI/UX for Turkois, with over 17 years of experience in monetization strategy, payments, and scaling technology businesses.  Danny Smith is a Solution Architect at Stripe, working on AI-driven commerce innovations and partnering with AWS. In this episode, Ryan and Danny explore the critical intersection of pricing strategy and payment infrastructure, discussing how AI is transforming both the mechanics of pricing implementation and the challenge of pricing AI products themselves.   Why you have to check out today's podcast: Understand the difference between billing systems and payment systems and how they work together. Learn why flexible technical infrastructure is essential for modern pricing strategies. Discover how AI is enabling hyper-personalized shopping experiences with built-in guardrails.   "Your pricing strategy is only as good as the background tech that you have to operationalize it. If you have a legacy monolithic stack and you can come up with these great strategies, but it takes you six months to implement that strategy, then you've probably been left behind already." – Danny Smith   Topics Covered: 02:15 - How Ryan got into pricing through product development and payment flows. 04:30 - Danny's journey from cloud architecture to payments infrastructure. 06:45 - The difference between billing systems and payment systems. 10:20 - Why new billing companies continue to emerge despite established players. 14:15 - How AI is accelerating data utilization in pricing decisions. 17:30 - The dual challenge: using AI for pricing vs. pricing AI products. 19:45 - Hyper-personalized shopping with AI agents and built-in guardrails. 23:10 - The ethical concerns of "sleazy price segmentation" and AI pricing. 28:40 - Agent-to-agent negotiations and policy engines. 31:20 - How AI products are changing pricing models: tokens, credits, and hybrid approaches. 35:15 - Creating "action units" to translate technical complexity into business value.   Key Takeaways: "Data is basically the new margin. What you can do with it is only gaining in value." - Ryan Doran "We've implemented API level technology that will create a budget... and it will create a virtual debit card on the backend for that exact amount, tied to today as an expiration date, tied to that particular transaction." - Danny Smith   People / Resources Mentioned: Turkois: https://turkois.io/ Vanilla POS: https://vanillapos.io/ Stripe: https://stripe.com Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/ OpenAI: https://openai.com/ Chargebee, Chargeify, Zora: Alternative billing platforms MCP Server: Technology enabling AI agents to interact with Stripe for dynamic pricing   Connect with Ryan Doran: Website: https://turkois.io/ Email: ryan@turkois.io   Connect with Danny Smith: Contact through Ryan Doran   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com