Global economic volatility increasingly puts pricing authority in the hands of sales and marketing says Pricing Excellence and 2024 Outlook from Vendavo and Copperberg
Swift, seamless price changes are increasingly necessary as organizations pivot through persistent economic volatility. How they are accomplishing such agility is detailed in the Pricing Excellence Report and 2024 Outlook released today from Vendavo, a global market leader in B2B pricing, selling, and rebate solutions and research partner, Copperberg.
The need for agile business practices has accelerated the importance and scope of the B2B pricing function. For organizations to manage revenue goals and evolving customer expectations, they have shifted pricing authority to sales and marketing (56%) – up 11 percentage points from 2022. The move removes pricing responsibilities from line of business (14%) and finance (7%) – down a combined 5 percentage points over 2022.
“Sales and marketing teams are very close to customer expectations so shifting pricing responsibilities to them is good, but could also be a double-edged sword if the organization isn’t careful with goal-setting,” said Mitch Lee, Pricing Evangelist, Vendavo. “If your sales and marketing team is focused only on more deals, that could come at the expense of company profitability.”
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For sales and marketing teams to maximize the power of right price, at the right time, for the right product, thereby winning more deals profitably, the Pricing Excellence Report and 2024 Outlook also looked at which skill sets were in demand, what pricing models they were using, and whether or not AI will support pricing efforts. Specifically, the report found:
- Most valued skill. Pricing requires data-driven decision-making. Analytics is the most sought-after skill (75%).
- Preferred pricing strategy. A value-based pricing model (weighing customer willingness to pay) is most common (28%).
- AI is coming. While 49% say AI is not used in pricing, 51% report using it to some degree or have plans to implement it in the next 12 months.
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“One reason behind the shift in pricing strategies is the availability of more data and analytic tools,” said Lisa Hellqvist, Managing Director at Copperberg. “In their quest for agility, organizations have been intent on digitally transforming their business. That effort has resulted in more high quality data that can fuel more strategic decision making.”