Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: New Product Insanity (NPI)

New Product Insanity (NPI), n.

Thinking that your next New Product will fix all your business problems when it has never done so in the past. (Pssst. Why? Because you didn’t fix your historic pricing problems. New product, old pricing problems. You know it. But you’re shareholders don’t. Not yet. But they will find out. Sooner or later. One way or another.)

Previously from Paul’s Pricing Dictionary:

Bad Selling, adj.+gen. Bad Selling is somehow always absent as an option in Bid-Loss analysis. But if there ever was a Bid-Win analysis, I’m sure that Good Selling would somehow get 100% of the credit. Of this I feel absolutely sure.

Currency, n. 1) The first refuge of the scoundrel when there is the slightest adverse movement in exchange rates to excuse crap business performance. This is a phenomenon which miraculously disappears just as soon as there is a beneficial shift in exchange rates. 2) Usually a key ingredient in a cocktail beloved of CEOs called “The Perfect Storm” to explain away a quarter of exceptional – and to everyone except them – entirely predictable under-performance (recipe available under NDA) 3) The perfect excuse for a list price increase and just one of the many reasons why list prices matter.

Defuddle, vb. What your Pricing Team does for you if you are befuddled, particularly on matters of channel demarcation, deal registration and sincerity.

Happiness, n. A feeling of well-being which is directly proportional to your gross margin %.

Haste, n. Hurry, rush. Price in haste, re-price at leisure. (Adapt., William Congreve, The Old Batchelor, 1693)

Insight, n. What your Pricing Team should be providing you with. Insight from your Pricing Team should come in two distinct flavors:

Business Insight, n – into your business performance

Competitive Insight, n – into your competitors’ performance

Margin Recovery Plan, n. A work of complete fiction written by Sales in the hope that no-one else will read it and, most of all, the author will not be held to account for its contents. Ever.

Organizational Memory, n. The Pricing Team. The Pricing Team remembers what worked and what didn’t work. It has a longer data retention period than anyone other than Tax. And unlike Finance, well, let’s just say, they are unlike Finance. The Pricing Team just knows where the data (coll. n. s.) is and lots, lots more. I thought I would list how much more but it started getting creepy so I stopped. You’re welcome.

Panic, n. If your Pricing Team isn’t panicking, don’t panic. But before you totally relax, please have your Pricing Team’s Pricing Intelligence checked out because there is a reason why they might not be panicking. However if the Pricing Team is panicking, then you should really feel free to panic.

Price, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for wear and tear of conscience in demanding it. (qv, Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary)

Pricing Drag, n. When your history of bad pricing and your disinclination to fix it creates a incessant drag on your business performance, your ROIC & consequently your stock price.

Pricing Intelligence, n. The first thing you lose when you allow your Pricing Team to break up. The second thing? Well, you shouldn’t have allowed your Pricing Team to break-up, otherwise you would have known what that was. (Your Pricing Team would have briefed you).

Strategic Deal, n. deal struck at a massively negative gross margin by CxO or Executive Sponsor, usually without any hope of margin recovery. See Margin Recovery Plan.

Uncompetitive Products Costs, n.pl. The old lie 50% of the time; an uncomfortable truth for the other 50. But how can you tell whether your product costs are competitive or not? Your Pricing Team should be protecting Sales from uncompetitive product costs while defending the Product Group against false assertions from Sales that the products are not cost competitive, and, at the same time – who said this was going to be easy? – protect the corporation from bullshit excuses from both.

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Uncompetitive Product Costs

Uncompetitive Products Costs, n.pl. The old lie 50% of the time; an uncomfortable truth for the other 50.

But how can you tell whether your product costs are competitive or not? Your Pricing Team should be protecting Sales from uncompetitive product costs while defending the Product Group against false assertions from Sales that the products are not cost competitive, and, at the same time – who said this was going to be easy? – protect the corporation from bullshit excuses from both. If it doesn’t, better call Paul.

Previously from Paul’s Pricing Dictionary:

Bad Selling, adj.+gen. Bad Selling is somehow always absent as an option in Bid-Loss analysis. But if there ever was a Bid-Win analysis, I’m sure that Good Selling would somehow get 100% of the credit. Of this I feel absolutely sure.

Currency, n. 1) The first refuge of the scoundrel when there is the slightest adverse movement in exchange rates to excuse crap business performance. This is a phenomenon which miraculously disappears just as soon as there is a beneficial shift in exchange rates. 2) Usually a key ingredient in a cocktail beloved of CEOs called “The Perfect Storm” to explain away a quarter of exceptional – and to everyone except them – entirely predictable under-performance (recipe available under NDA) 3) The perfect excuse for a list price increase and just one of the many reasons why list prices matter.

Defuddle, vb. What your Pricing Team does for you if you are befuddled, particularly on matters of channel demarcation, deal registration and sincerity.

Happiness, n. A feeling of well-being which is directly proportional to your gross margin %.

Haste, n. Hurry, rush. Price in haste, re-price at leisure. (Adapt., William Congreve, The Old Batchelor, 1693)

Insight, n. What your Pricing Team should be providing you with. Insight from your Pricing Team should come in two distinct flavors:

Business Insight, n – into your business performance

Competitive Insight, n – into your competitors’ performance

Margin Recovery Plan, n. A work of complete fiction written by Sales in the hope that no-one else will read it and, most of all, the author will not be held to account for its contents. Ever.

Organizational Memory, n. The Pricing Team. The Pricing Team remembers what worked and what didn’t work. It has a longer data retention period than anyone other than Tax. And unlike Finance, well, let’s just say, they are unlike Finance. The Pricing Team just knows where the data (coll. n. s.) is and lots, lots more. I thought I would list how much more but it started getting creepy so I stopped. You’re welcome.

Panic, n. If your Pricing Team isn’t panicking, don’t panic. But before you totally relax, please have your Pricing Team’s Pricing Intelligence checked out because there is a reason why they might not be panicking. However if the Pricing Team is panicking, then you should really feel free to panic.

Price, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for wear and tear of conscience in demanding it. (qv, Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary)

Pricing Drag, n. When your history of bad pricing and your disinclination to fix it creates a incessant drag on your business performance, your ROIC & consequently your stock price.

Pricing Intelligence, n. The first thing you lose when you allow your Pricing Team to break up. The second thing? Well, you shouldn’t have allowed your Pricing Team to break-up, otherwise you would have known what that was. (Your Pricing Team would have briefed you).

Strategic Deal, n. deal struck at a massively negative gross margin by CxO or Executive Sponsor, usually without any hope of margin recovery. See Margin Recovery Plan.

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Defuddle

Defuddle, vb. What your Pricing Team does for you if you are befuddled, particularly on matters of channel demarcation, deal registration and sincerity.

Previously from Paul’s Pricing Dictionary:

Bad Selling, adj.+gen. Bad Selling is somehow always absent as an option in Bid-Loss analysis. But if there ever was a Bid-Win analysis, I’m sure that Good Selling would somehow get 100% of the credit. Of this I feel absolutely sure.

Currency, n. 1) The first refuge of the scoundrel when there is the slightest adverse movement in exchange rates to excuse crap business performance. This is a phenomenon which miraculously disappears just as soon as there is a beneficial shift in exchange rates. 2) Usually a key ingredient in a cocktail beloved of CEOs called “The Perfect Storm” to explain away a quarter of exceptional – and to everyone except them – entirely predictable under-performance (recipe available under NDA) 3) The perfect excuse for a list price increase and just one of the many reasons why list prices matter.

Happiness, n. A feeling of well-being which is directly proportional to your gross margin %.

Haste, n. Hurry, rush. Price in haste, re-price at leisure. (Adapt., William Congreve, The Old Batchelor, 1693)

Insight, n. What your Pricing Team should be providing you with. Insight from your Pricing Team should come in two distinct flavors:

Business Insight, n – into your business performance

Competitive Insight, n – into your competitors’ performance

Margin Recovery Plan, n. A work of complete fiction written by Sales in the hope that no-one else will read it and, most of all, the author will not be held to account for its contents. Ever.

Organizational Memory, n. The Pricing Team. The Pricing Team remembers what worked and what didn’t work. It has a longer data retention period than anyone other than Tax. And unlike Finance, well, let’s just say, they are unlike Finance. The Pricing Team just knows where the data (coll. n. s.) is and lots, lots more. I thought I would list how much more but it started getting creepy so I stopped. You’re welcome.

Panic, n. If your Pricing Team isn’t panicking, don’t panic. But before you totally relax, please have your Pricing Team’s Pricing Intelligence checked out because there is a reason why they might not be panicking. However if the Pricing Team is panicking, then you should really feel free to panic.

Price, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for wear and tear of conscience in demanding it. (qv, Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary)

Pricing Drag, n. When your history of bad pricing and your disinclination to fix it creates a incessant drag on your business performance, your ROIC & consequently your stock price.

Pricing Intelligence, n. The first thing you lose when you allow your Pricing Team to break up. The second thing? Well, you shouldn’t have allowed your Pricing Team to break-up, otherwise you would have known what that was. (Your Pricing Team would have briefed you).

Strategic Deal, n. deal struck at a massively negative gross margin by CxO or Executive Sponsor, usually without any hope of margin recovery. See Margin Recovery Plan.

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Pricing Drag

Is history holding your stock price back with investors? Or is it your ability to execute fully on your vision? Perhaps it is simpler than that. Pricing Drag, n. When your history of bad pricing and disinclination to fix it creates a incessant drag on your business performance, ROIC & stock price.

Previously from Paul’s Pricing Dictionary:

Bad Selling, adj.+gen. Bad Selling is somehow always absent as an option in Bid-Loss analysis. But if there ever was a Bid-Win analysis, I’m sure that Good Selling would somehow get 100% of the credit. Of this I feel absolutely sure.

Currency n. 1) The first refuge of the scoundrel when there is the slightest adverse movement in exchange rates to excuse crap business performance. This is a phenomenon which miraculously disappears just as soon as there is a beneficial shift in exchange rates. 2) Usually a key ingredient in a cocktail beloved of CEOs called “The Perfect Storm” to explain away a quarter of exceptional – and to everyone except them – entirely predictable under-performance (recipe available under NDA) 3) The perfect excuse for a list price increase and just one of the many reasons why list prices matter.

Happiness, n. A feeling of well-being which is directly proportional to your gross margin %.

Haste, n. Hurry, rush. Price in haste, re-price at leisure. (Adapt., William Congreve, The Old Batchelor, 1693)

Insight, n. What your Pricing Team should be providing you with. Insight from your Pricing Team should come in two distinct flavors:

Business Insight, n – into your business performance

Competitive Insight, n – into your competitors’ performance

Margin Recovery Plan, n. A work of complete fiction written by Sales in the hope that no-one else will read it and, most of all, the author will not be held to account for its contents. Ever.

Organizational Memory, n. The Pricing Team. The Pricing Team remembers what worked and what didn’t work. It has a longer data retention period than anyone other than Tax. And unlike Finance, well, let’s just say, they are unlike Finance. The Pricing Team just knows where the data (coll. n. s.) is and lots, lots more. I thought I would list how much more but it started getting creepy so I stopped. You’re welcome.

Panic, n. If your Pricing Team isn’t panicking, don’t panic. But before you totally relax, please have your Pricing Team’s Pricing Intelligence checked out because there is a reason why they might not be panicking. However if the Pricing Team is panicking, then you should really feel free to panic.

Price, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for wear and tear of conscience in demanding it. (qv, Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary)

Pricing Intelligence, n. The first thing you lose when you allow your Pricing Team to break up. The second thing? Well, you shouldn’t have allowed your Pricing Team to break-up, otherwise you would have known what that was. (Your Pricing Team would have briefed you).

Strategic Deal, n. deal struck at a massively negative gross margin by CxO or Executive Sponsor, usually without any hope of margin recovery. See Margin Recovery Plan.

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Panic


Panic, n. If your Pricing Team isn’t panicking, don’t panic. But before you totally relax, please have your Pricing Team’s Pricing Intelligence checked out because there is a reason why they might not be panicking. However if the Pricing Team is panicking, then you should really feel free to panic.

 

 

 

 

 

Previously from Paul’s Pricing Dictionary:

Bad Selling, adj.+gen. Bad Selling is somehow always absent as an option in Bid-Loss analysis. But if there ever was a Bid-Win analysis, I’m sure that Good Selling would somehow get 100% of the credit. Of this I feel absolutely sure.

Currency n. 1) The first refuge of the scoundrel when there is the slightest adverse movement in exchange rates to excuse crap business performance. This is a phenomenon which miraculously disappears just as soon as there is a beneficial shift in exchange rates. 2) Usually a key ingredient in a cocktail beloved of CEOs called “The Perfect Storm” to explain away a quarter of exceptional – and to everyone except them – entirely predictable under-performance (recipe available under NDA) 3) The perfect excuse for a list price increase and just one of the many reasons why list prices matter.

Happiness, n. A feeling of well-being which is directly proportional to your gross margin %.

Haste, n. Hurry, rush. Price in haste, re-price at leisure. (Adapt., William Congreve, The Old Batchelor, 1693)

Insight, n. What your Pricing Team should be providing you with. Insight from your Pricing Team should come in two distinct flavors:

Business Insight, n – into your business performance

Competitive Insight, n – into your competitors’ performance

Margin Recovery Plan, n. A work of complete fiction written by Sales in the hope that no-one else will read it and, most of all, the author will not be held to account for its contents. Ever.

Organizational Memory, n. The Pricing Team. The Pricing Team remembers what worked and what didn’t work. It has a longer data retention period than anyone other than Tax. And unlike Finance, well, let’s just say, they are unlike Finance. The Pricing Team just knows where the data (coll. n. s.) is and lots, lots more. I thought I would list how much more but it started getting creepy so I stopped. You’re welcome.

Price, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for wear and tear of conscience in demanding it. (qv, Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary)

Pricing Intelligence, n. The first thing you lose when you allow your Pricing Team to break up. The second thing? Well, you shouldn’t have allowed your Pricing Team to break-up, otherwise you would have known what that was. (Your Pricing Team would have briefed you).

Strategic Deal, n. deal struck at a massively negative gross margin by CxO or Executive Sponsor, usually without any hope of margin recovery. See Margin Recovery Plan.

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Happiness


Happiness, n. A feeling of well-being which is directly proportional to your gross margin %.

Previously from Paul’s Pricing Dictionary:

Price, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for wear and tear of conscience in demanding it. (qv, Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary)

Strategic Deal, n. deal struck at a massively negative gross margin by CxO or Executive Sponsor, usually without any hope of margin recovery.

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Strategic Deal


Strategic Deal, n. deal struck at a massively negative gross margin by CxO or Executive Sponsor, usually without any hope of margin recovery.

 

Previously from Paul’s Pricing Dictionary:

Price, n. Value, plus a reasonable sum for wear and tear of conscience in demanding it. (qv, Ambrose Bierce, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary)

“Do List Prices Matter?” has now been published by the Professional Pricing Society …


“Do List Prices Matter?” How many times have you heard that? It’s a rhetorical question which is making an oblique statement: “I don’t think list prices matter” and much more besides.

This article will explain why list prices do matter, and provide insight into some of the reasons why people ask this question in the first place.

This is the third article of Paul’s that the Professional Pricing Society has published.

Read the paper ….

Any questions, please contact paul.charlton@thepricingfactory.com

 

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Pricing Audit


 

Pricing Audit, n.

Internal Audit’s favorite choice of audit which they do as often as they can because it’s the most interesting thing they can find to audit. It’s an area of the business where they know they least, can learn the most, and it’s actually interesting.

Having said that, I’ve been totally underwhelmed by Pricing Audits either completely missing what’s important – such as critical business processes which weren’t being performed, key metrics not identified let alone measured, and incomplete pricing strategies etc – or avoiding difficult issues, like breaking up audit finds and spreading them across the organization because they didn’t want to appear to be “victimizing” one particularly delinquent group.

If you’re relying on a Pricing Audit by your Internal Audit to identify your pricing issues, don’t. Get someone in who knows something about pricing. Call 281-782-9821.

Paul’s Pricing Dictionary: Why You Might Not Have Uncompetitive Product Costs After All


 

Uncompetitive Product Costs, n.pl.

Have you ever thought that you might have competitive product costs after all, and that it’s your pricing that sucks? Just saying.

Maybe the way your bid team analyzes the deal is different to the competition? Maybe the scope of their analysis is different? Maybe their criteria for what is acceptable is different? Maybe they know how to structure deals better than you do?

Maybe you haven’t structured the deal correctly? Maybe you need to re-structure the deal.

How is sales comp impacting this? Sales management? Sales behavior?

Maybe you need to get a pricing expert in? Someone who can give you a better idea of whether you are cost uncompetitive or not.

Maybe.

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