Manufacturing.net and PROS’ Doug Fuehne, VP, Professional Services of PROS Pricing Software Solutions talk about how manufacturers can improve their pricing strategies and come out ahead as the economy turns around.

To get right to it, the five pricing strategies Fuehne suggests will help you come out ahead in the economic recovery:

1. Identify underperformers.
2. Proactively forecast future performance.
3. Increase organizational agility.
4. Focus on customer satisfaction to keep the customers you DO have.
5. Provide sales force with optimized prices and other highly relevant information in a timely manner.

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True, leading-edge companies already have this figured out as they are investing in pricing for the long-haul. They are looking at the support mechanisms, training programs, and business policies that must be enacted in order to have a successful pricing initiative. This is not simple and it takes various business units agreeing to change for the mutual benefit of the company. After all, if it were simple, the company would have already figured it out and pricing would not have the immense returns that we have seen time and time again.

Have you considered how performance management and price optimization are related? Performance management is a technique used by many executives to manage both behaviors and results. Pricing has behavioral implications for your customers and your sales managers. The changes in behavior resulting from pricing policies, internal and external, can have a large impact on your bottom line if managed properly.

PROS is an active member of the Professional Pricing Society and Doug Fuehne, VP, PROS, will be presenting a live webinar on this topic in cooperation with PPS on October 6th at 12:00 noon EST.  For more information check the PROS webinar calendar: http://www.prospricing.com/webinars/

Webinars are for PPS members only, however Pricing Leadership blog readers can use the below special registration to attend the webinar even if you are not a PPS member: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/900702721

One more thing…did you ever take a PROS Pricing Excellence Certification Course? If you did, you now have the opportunity to transfer these credits to the Certified Pricing Professional program from the Professional Pricing Society. Contact PROS at info@prospricing.com to request a credit transfer.

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Houston, Texas – August 13, 2009 — PROS (NYSE: PRO), the world leader in B2B pricing and revenue optimization science and software, today announced that it has received a “Positive” rating in Gartner’s 2009 MarketScope for Price Optimization and Management Software for B2B.  PROS has the largest full-time staff and greatest total annual revenue in the industry, making PROS the clear leader in the pricing software space.

“Where many of our competitors have reduced full-time headcount over the last year, PROS remained consistently strong,” said Andres Reiner, EVP, PROS.  “PROS has the advantage given our industry leading commitment to R&D at 25% of annual revenue, our proven ability to successfully deploy pricing software in N. America, Europe, and Asia, and the largest pricing science team in the industry.  PROS is well positioned to capitalize on our track record as the only publicly traded and profitable pricing software company and leader in B2B manufacturing, distribution, and services price optimization.” 

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Houston, Texas – August 11, 2009 — MSC Industrial Direct Co. Inc, one of the nation’s largest providers of industrial supplies and equipment, has selected PROS, the world leader in pricing and revenue optimization science and software, for an enterprise-wide deployment of PROS’ Price Optimization Software.  MSC’s deployment across their 96 branch network includes PROS Scientific Segmentation, PROS Pricing Guidance, PROS Scientific Analytics, PROS Price Optimizer, and PROS Deal Optimizer.

“After an extensive review of all pricing software tools, PROS was selected based on their ease of use, demonstrated speed and success of their implementations, and strong financial track record,” said Charlie Bonomo, CIO, MSC Industrial Direct.  “PROS is the best solution for MSC because PROS could meet our current and long-term needs based on their frequent product releases, ease of upgrade, and the industry’s largest commitment to pricing technology R&D which will deliver improved margins at MSC for many years to come.”

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Seth Godin’s blog post, Priming the Pump of Efficiency, reminded me of a presentation I recently attended by Cameron Davies, Sr. Director, Business Insights & Analytics, at the Walt Disney Company.  If you ever have a chance to see him speak, make sure you take it – he is excellent.

Amazon.com describes Seth as a best-selling author, entrepreneur and agent of change.  I’ve read several of his books, starting with Free Prize Inside, but what interested me on his post falls into the area of change management.

Seth basically says that change is disruptive and therefore many companies choose not to innovate because in the short term the disruption (pain) outweighs the long-term benefit (gain) of innovation.  In short, executives fear change.  However, he goes on to say that the organizations that choose to make strategic investments (change) tend to be the ones who are either market leaders, or the ones who leapfrog the market leaders (major gain).  These are the kind of companies we find that are implementing price optimization solutions.

Connecting to Cameron’s presentation – in his conclusion he has 5 immutable laws of change.  Two of these key laws, simple and powerful, are the following:

• Change drives value
• Change is essential for survival

Where Seth indicates that change is disruptive and can be costly in the short run, PROS has demonstrated the ability to generate millions in profit improvement in 30 days.  This turns this part of Seth’s post on its head in that PROS rewards you for your efforts right away.

Getting back to Cameron, his presentation outlines that industry adoption is not a zero sum game, but the sooner you start, the better off you will be.  For the innovators and first movers, Cameron projects revenue gains up to 20%, and even if the entire industry adopts pricing technology, there are still 4% to 8% gains across the board.  Cameron also presented the scenario for non-adopters.  In that case revenue declines up to 12% are possible and bad systems are equally negative.  His presentation footnotes these numbers are based on simulations done by a group at MIT managed by one of PROS’ Science Advisory Board Members.

Going back to Seth, yes, change is hard and can be disruptive.  But as Cameron says, change drives value.  Change is essential for survival.  The value of price optimization systems can be significant.  The advantage is to the innovators who choose the right tools and right partner.  Successful companies embrace the opportunity of change.

Manufacturing, distribution, and services leaders learn to improve margins & emerge stronger  

Houston, Texas – May 19, 2009 — PROS (NYSE: PRO), the world leader in pricing and revenue optimization science and software, today announced the success of the New York stop on the PROS Global Price Optimization Leadership Seminar Series, held onsite at the New York Stock Exchange.  Seminar keynote speakers Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT) reinforced their commitment to supporting PROS to deliver advanced pricing science and scalable software with the fastest time to value and lowest total cost of ownership.  Clearly illustrating the message of rapid and high return on investment, delegates heard how a B2B company recently replaced their pricing system, turning to PROS to identify millions of dollars in actionable revenue improvement in fewer than 30 days.

“PROS customers have compelling stories to tell about how their businesses have changed the game with PROS pricing solutions,” said Jeff Robinson, SVP, PROS.  “Over 100 companies have chosen PROS as their partner to achieve the powerful benefits of pricing and margin improvement, and an event like this allows our customers to share those stories with companies just starting the journey – today we heard some very powerful stories.”

Executives have asked for timely and targeted updates on price optimization innovation and industry leading pricing science.  In today’s challenging environment, only PROS is positioned to provide B2B leaders a price-based competitive advantage to manage current challenges and emerge stronger.

“The fact that we are the only publically traded price optimization software vendor with no debt and 10 consecutive years of profitability clearly demonstrates the unique credibility PROS brings to the table when speaking to B2B companies about best practices in price and margin optimization,” said Jeff Robinson, SVP, PROS.  “In addition to being one of the most important criteria for vendor selection, our strong financial viability allows PROS to invest in pricing science and technology to innovate and provide long-term value to our customers at a rate that is unmatched in the pricing software space.”

Upcoming PROS Pricing Leadership Seminars are scheduled for June 9, 2009 in Huntington Beach, CA and June 11, 2009 in Santa Clara, CA.  In addition, registration is now open for the PROS European Price Optimization Forum in Frankfurt, Germany on September 28-29, 2009.