B2B pricing perspectives with special guest Rafe VanDenBerg

In the latest edition of Power to the Pricing People, host Cath Brands is joined by Rafe VanDenBerg, a veteran of B2B pricing, sales and marketing.

Rafe is both Founder and Editor in Chief of Pricing Brew Journal, an educational and best practice portal aimed at B2B pricing pros.

Rafe joins Cath to discuss the big issues impacting B2B pricing, from the Red Sea Crisis to pricing conflicts.

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Troubled waters: the Red Sea Crisis

It’s been a long time since we’ve had real stability in the world of pricing, but the ongoing Red Sea shipping crisis is causing sharp shocks, with exporters reporting up to a 300% price rise for container hire as a direct result.

As this crisis continues to disrupt supply chains, driving up costs globally, Rafe suggests this type of volatility really underscores the need for businesses to develop a pricing intelligence capability. With this in place, B2B organizations can better understand what factors both upstream and downstream on the supply chain will impact them so they can take proactive pricing action before they even feel the effects in the marketplace.

A bitter pill: pharmaceutical pricing tensions

In this episode, we also explore the mounting pricing tensions across the consumer and retail industries as supermarkets continue to come under fire for price gouging. While these industries are long-term frenemies, tensions are now spilling over into the B2B space like never before.

In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, CNN reported earlier this year that pharma CEOs are pointing the finger at ‘the middlemen’ as the cause of high prices, referring to pharmacy benefit managers who work as intermediaries between insurers, drug companies and retailers. According to Rafe, the most effective way to navigate potential pricing tensions like this as a B2B company is through clear communication. That means having a sales team that fully understands and can articulate the reasons behind price rises so that customers can have full visibility and don’t feel blindsided by changes.

The pricing lever

Finally, Rafe discusses the value of pricing as the most influential lever within a business, exploring its impact on all aspects of a company, from marketing to product management to sales.

Get in touch today to find out how Flintfox can help your business pull that lever and accelerate profitability.