On a recent episode of Mastering Agility, I had the pleasure of joining Sander Dur and Jim Sammons to explore the complex interplay of price adjustments and their psychological impacts on the B2B software market. Our conversation covered customer behavior, the finesse required for effective value communication, and the crucial influence these elements have on a company’s financial wellness. We tackled the sophisticated strategies of smart pricing. In this domain, the persuasive arts converge with the analytics of pricing, where every detail—from anchoring effects to educating customers—is vital in steering a company’s course.
Key topics we covered in this episode:
- Insights on how price changes impact customer behavior.
- The role of intelligent communication during price rollouts.
- Pricing and packaging as key elements in the customer conversation.
- Understanding value in B2B software purchases.
Timestamped Outline
20:40 Value-based pricing is complex and requires support.
29:59 Challenges in communicating and implementing pricing changes.
36:48 Multiple client behaviors require intelligent communication strategies.
41:43 Packaging’s impact on pricing and customer behavior.
Potent Quotables
Pricing’s Place in the Executive Offsite:
“You had the most expensive meeting in your company for 3 full days, and you didn’t talk about one of the only three ways you can grow your business? That’s a mistake.”
— Dan Balcauski
Hidden Fees and Consumer Frustration:
“Whenever people have those unexpected surprise fees, it really reduces, what, what, they call transaction utility, which is I feel like I’m getting screwed here at the end of the deal.”
— Dan Balcauski
The Psychology of Money:
“We all have these habits, biases, emotions around money. And the fact that when we take a group of people who all have their, you know, whether you grew up rich or poor. Right? It doesn’t matter. You’ve got some weird skewed, non, reality-based relationship with money. We put them in a room together and call that group a company that all of a sudden we’re gonna get rational behavior out of that group is, I think, a myth.”
— Dan Balcauski