What a Pricing Strategy Partner Does & How Can They Help You

Pricing is arguably the important strategic factor to consider in running your business. Your profit and losses are dependent on your pricing strategy. More than growing sales or decreasing expenses, optimizing your pricing by as little as even as 1% can increase your company’s profitability by an enormous amount.

______________________________________________________

Learn More Here How a Small Percentage Can Make a Pricing Difference & Unlock Profit 

______________________________________________________

But maybe you don’t have the expertise in your company, or the resources to develop a pricing strategy that will help you unlock the Power of 1% for your company? Sounds like it is time for your organization to consider the services of a pricing strategy partner for your pricing journey. Join us in this article as we explain what a pricing strategy partner does and how they can help your business. 

At Pricefx, for more than a decade now we have been empowering hundreds of businesses just like yours to discover their unique pricing pathways to profit with the latest in pricing software technology. Along the way, we have matched our customers with our ecosystem of pricing industry consultants including strategy partners that have assisted them in bringing their business goals to life, setting a winning pricing strategy and achieving return-on-investment (ROI) ASAP. 

So, let’s dive into the detail what a pricing strategy partner does and the unique ways that they can boost your company’s goals, business aims and ambitions. 

What Does a Pricing Strategy Partner Do?

Pricing Strategy Partners are one of the 4 major types of pricing software partners that work together with pricing software vendors to help organizations realize the business outcomes they are seeking.  

In addition to the important work that pricing strategy partners do in advising and implementing a successful  pricing strategy, organizations also work with ISV (Independent Software Vendors)/Technology Partners, System Integrators and Value-Added Resellers (VARs). 

For the purpose of this article, we will be taking a deeper dive for those of you that are interested in how pricing strategy partners can help you get the most out of your pricing software solution and align that with your business objectives.

However, for those looking for a general snapshot and explanation of the complete range of pricing software partner types, please refer to the link directly below. 

How a Pricing Strategy Partner Can Assist You 

Pricing strategy consultants/partners are usually companies independent of pricing software vendors that can advise your business in the development, implementation, and eventual go-live pricing strategies. Usually, a pricing strategy partner will introduce a business organization to specific pricing software that best fits their specific requirements and aligns with what they are trying to achieve.  

Often, pricing strategy partners choose to remain in their specialized strategy field and not become involved in the implementation of the pricing software.  

On the flip side, in the last few years, smaller boutique pricing strategy partners have begun partnering with smaller businesses. Those boutique partners are becoming involved in helping with pricing software implementations and integrations to ‘value-add’ to their customer’s experience who may not have those implementation skill sets or who simply prefer the convenience of a ‘one-stop pricing consultant’ shop. 

Why Use a Pricing Strategy Partner for your Business? 

Long story short, the more complex your business (and usually the larger it is – take note large-scale enterprise companies) is in terms of the number of products and diverse customer types and combinations of them, then the greater need exists to stay on top of your pricing strategy. Left neglected, your pricing can unravel very quickly, and margin erosion can sneak its way into your organization rapidly if the pricing strategy is overlooked. 

The complexity level of your company may determine that independently keeping track of all the factors of your business yourself is a challenge. Is your company pricing aligned across all your diverse sales channels (Face-to-face vs Ecommerce sales, retail stores, mobile sales etc.), not to mention documenting and analyzing how your products arrive in the marketplace, and how/who they sell to once they have arrived. 

A Global pricing strategy partner can assist in keeping you up-to-date and informed of what you need to and across all the different laws and requirements of the diverse jurisdictions and regions you operate in.  

For example, if you do business across all 50 US states and different countries in Europe (some EU/some not) then there will be a host of different tax, data, delivery and environmental laws you may need to consider when setting up a pricing strategy. A pricing strategy partner with a global perspective can check up on all the local laws for you, so you do not have to spend precious time and resources on it, not to mention incorporate the differences into your global pricing strategy. 

What’s more, a pricing strategy partner with knowledge of your chosen pricing software vendor can help you to stay ahead of your competitors.  

While many of your rivals may merely add a margin to their expenses, using a strategy partner, you will be able to benefit from a comprehensive pricing strategy. 

 

You will be able to provide targeted discounts based on consumer categories and vary the profit margins by customer and product segmentation, and geographies.

This will deliver you a significant competitive edge since you will be proactive on price rather than simply passively watching on. 

What Types of Companies Should Use a Pricing Strategy Partner? 

Potentially, any business will gain value from using a pricing strategy partner in their pricing journey. Even if your company has a great pricing department and the latest and greatest pricing software in the business, it always pays to bounce your ideas off an experienced pricing strategy head. There is also something your team may not know about or new features of your pricing software that you may have not yet unearthed. 

As noted above, however, the larger and more complex the business, the more benefit there is to be gained in terms of advanced customer and product segmentation.  

The pricing of your products may reveal a lot about their placement in comparison to your competitors and can be a major factor in a customer’s buying decisions. 

 

With segmented pricing, you may better spot your products in connection to your target clients, improving their view of your brand, explaining why certain brands are empowered to consistently charge higher prices to some clients than others.

When you work together with a pricing strategy partner, your partner can also assist you by developing a pricing strategy that will be easily implemented with the unique features that exist in your pricing software of choice.  

Can A Pricing Strategy Partner Save You Time? 

Yes. A quality pricing strategy partner will be able to save you time by understanding your challenges and implementing the appropriate solutions due to their expertise and experience with your pricing software. 

You will also avoid monopolizing your pricing team’s time on any technical issues if they don’t have the essential skills to implement your desired strategy. You will also be able to better utilize your own internal resources and increase your business efficiency as a result. 

What Companies are NOT a Good Fit for Pricing Strategy Partners? 

Generally, smaller companies that are less complex than others, that do business in fewer regions and have their own internal resources that can easily perform the fewer number of tasks they have and even perform them manually in Excel for example, have less to gain from the use of a pricing strategy partner. 

Similarly, even if you are a larger company but only boast a few products that are priced identically across different regions, you may not have any requirement for a pricing strategy partner either (or even pricing software for that matter). 

How to Choose the Best Pricing Strategy Partner for Your Business 

Before starting work with a pricing strategy partner, you should ensure that the chosen partner will be made aware of and therefore aligned to your organization’s strategy, business goals, processes, and culture.  

Check the following points off your selection criteria wish list that you may need to consider of a potential new pricing strategy partner;  

• Deliver Value – If you plan to implement pricing software after working with a pricing strategy partner, be sure to check if they can deliver value with their technology. The expertise of your partner, their understanding of your strategy and experience in working together with your pricing software provider will make the strategy implementation process much smoother. 
• Industry Experience – Does your pricing strategy partner have experience in your specific industry? For example, if you are a manufacturing business, then a strategist with only airline industry experience and expertise may not provide the perfect fit that you are looking for. Ask questions of your proposed pricing strategy partner such as what type of clients have they worked with in the past and have they helped solve problems like what your business is facing.  
• Diverse Range of Industry Expertise – If you are business that works across industries (such as a distributor for example), having a broad pricing industry perspective built across a range of different industries can also be quality that you might seek in a pricing strategy partner. Partners that can translate learnings across different sectors and break them down to focus on your specific industry can be fruitful long-term pricing partners.
• Migration Expertise – If you have found a pricing strategy partner with Excel or first-generation/legacy provider migration knowledge, it is a wonderful bonus ‘nice to have.’ 

Bring Expertise & Value with a Pricing Strategy Partner 

Now you know what a pricing strategy partner is, the jobs that they can do for business and the added value that they can provide to your company’s bottom line. Working on pricing strategy as specialists 24/7/365, they know how to apply the functionality of your chosen pricing software to bear faster and as you want it. In fact, partners generally do a better job of ‘client customization’ of software, than pricing software vendors can possibly do themselves.  

If you are a business that is on the lookout for a pricing software solution with a strong pricing strategy consultant partnership component, then learning more about the Advantage Pricefx Partner Network and the pricing strategy partners available should be your first port of call. 

Check out the article link below to learn about the general benefits of working with a pricing software partner; 

On the flip side, if you would like more about implementing a pricing strategy, check out the handy article below;