Happy Holidays!
We’ll be taking some time off and will be back after the first of the year. Enjoy the Holidays with your Family.
4 Ways manufacturers Can Gain Better Pricing Data Visualization
This post originally appeared on INSIGHT2PROFIT.com
Pricing data can be dense. If no one is reviewing it, managing it, comparing it or scrutinizing it, it’s likely your organization is missing price leaks you could otherwise put a stop to. From volume discounts to price overrides, profits are lost and margins are cut, but do you know by how much? Can you identify your true pocket price for your top selling products?
If not, you may have a data visualization problem. But like any problem, a solution exists, you just have to seek it out. Here are four ways to gain better visualization into your organization’s pricing data.
1. Establish Pricing Ownership:
In most manufacturing businesses, pricing is a responsibility divided amongst marketing, sales, finance, product teams and other executives. But whose job is it to see the big picture? If you can’t validate hiring a pricing manager, you can develop a Pricing Ownership Matrix.
In a decentralized customer environment where no pricing leader is appointed, you can define pricing area ownership. Consider catalog and list pricing, discounting, key accounts, geography and business divisions.
Then ensure these “area owners” meet often to talk about the big picture of pricing.
2. Search Out Discounting Visibility:
Do you know how many discounts your sales team is offering? How about your customer service team? From freight and volume discounts to rebates and “long-time customer” pricing, the hits to your margins add up.
Obtaining clear visibility to your discounting structure through a Pricing Waterfall is a powerful way to determine pricing leaks and non-value added discounts. Discover how to determine your true pocket price in the this 1-minute video.
3. Determine Product Value:
Your organization deserves to be paid for the value it creates. But do you know which products create the most value for your company?
Most businesses focus on getting the price they set for each product, but are often disappointed when customers won’t agree to it. More important than “getting the price” is balancing what the right price is.
Some products won’t create a lot of value for the brand—perhaps they are not differentiated enough when compared to the competition. Those products will fetch a lower margin. Other products may create a lot of value; they may be highly differentiated or solve a problem your competitors can’t. Higher margins can be sustained, bringing in higher revenues.
Once you determine and utilize this information, your pricing strategy can become far more sophisticated.
4. Utilize Technology:
If you are using an outdated ERP system or BI tool, you may not be seeing the entire pricing picture. While you can track list price and invoice price, what about analyzing pricing and mix analysis? Without actionable information from your tools, how will you identify outliers, see pricing variations among peer groups or be immediately alerted to pricing variances?
While there is power in your data, you must utilize the proper pricing application to discover that power. To truly visualize your pricing data in the most efficient manner, you need a pricing application that can stop price leaks before they become dangerous to your bottom line, predict customer churn and identify the root causes of profitability issues.
The Bottom Line
By establishing pricing ownership, seeking discount visibility, determining product value and utilizing technology, you can gain the pricing data visualization you truly need. In fact, one manufacturer worked with INSIGHT2PROFIT to gain better visualization and was able to realize an additional $2.3 million in revenue over 16 months. Learn more in our case study.
What’s Making Your Work Day Less Productive?
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
We’re all being pulled in too many directions at our jobs, and just when you think you’ve got your life under control, something else pops up to distract you.
A recent study conducted by eMarketer identified the major impediments of distracting us at work.
Some of these are pretty obvious, but wasteful meetings and excessive emails top the list. The study shows that the average daily time folks take to check their emails at work is 3.2 hours a day! It’s no wonder people can’t get any work done.
What’s your biggest challenge? I’m assuming it’s on this list.
Why Building an Internal Database is so Important
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
I know we all know “CONTENT IS KING” and we focus on putting out good stuff. But we should be just as focused on building the list to whom we’ll be sending all this valuable info. There are so many sources for gathering data from trade shows, PR and leads from advertising. We need to formulate a plan to separate them by market, industry or other criteria so specific targeted messages can be sent with a strong call to action.
Organically grown lists will give you better delivery and open rates. They will also help your conversion rates since the prospects are more likely to open email. With folks being inundated with emails this will become an even more important factor.
It’s a fact that if you have an engaged database of subscribers, you have a captive audience, not only for them to read, but to share. I read a post on problogger.net by James Penn entitled, 10 Ways to Get More Email Subscribers For Your Blog that I thought brought home some key points.
Among them are:
- Use multiple opt-in forms – have 3-4 in your newsletter template. The more you have, the better the chances of them signing up.
- Offer a freebie for signing up – Give them a report, industry trends or white paper for signing up.
- Use your most popular posts – They will continue to bring in traffic.
- Create special reports on industry issues – Use already existing content to create.
- Ask readers to join your email list – What better way to get people on board.
These are some great tips. What are you doing to increase your email lists?
Why B2B Content Marketing is Different than B2C
By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter
I think we’re all in agreement that Content Marketing is here to stay and is becoming a more integral part of overall marketing programs. Some of the reasons are that technology is broader, easier to use and more accessible. People are trying to do more in less time and are motivated to seek self-serve product information to reduce pre-purchase decisions.
Heidi Cohen recently wrote an excellent post on B2B vs. B2C Content Marketing: How They Differ that explains the differences. Here are some highlights:
The mistake most marketers make is not developing a content strategy, because the B-to-B objectives are going to be different from its B-to-C counterpart. That’s why you need a written plan. Make sure they include:
- Develop better content, not more
- Pick one problem to start
- Tie content to business goals
- Focus on the user experience
The top 3 tactics for B-to-B:
- Social media
- Case Studies
- Blogs
The top 3 effective tactics for B-to-B:
- In-person events
- Webinars
- Case Studies
The top 3 social media platforms for B-to-B:
The top 3 content marketing goals for B-to-B:
- Lead generation
- Sales
- Lead nurturing
The top 3 metrics to measure B-to-B metrics:
- Sales lead quality
- Sales
- Higher conversation rates
Industrial Reinvention
By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter
via Fabtech on Facebook
Fabtech Expo wrapped up another great show last month in Chicago. Presented by AWS, CCAI, FMA, SME and PMA, it truly lives up to its billing as the largest metal-forming, welding and finishing event in North America.
There are many great wrap ups of this show, including Fabtech’s own, but I want to share a few personal observations:
- Chicago is a great host city for any show, but especially this one, given its rich history of amazing architecture, manufacturing and Midwest hospitality
- There was an HUGE number of students and educators there, great news for the future of our industry
- In the North Hall, the “Big 3” welding companies each had impressive and expansive booths, each playing to their strengths, and full of new products
In fact, new products ruled the day in both halls. We truly are on the verge of a 4th industrial revolution. Every booth seemed to burst with new, and most importantly, integrated products, system and solutions. The buzz on the floor and in the seminars was that to survive and thrive, manufacturing needs to embrace new technology.
The common perception used to be that manufacturing wasn’t an “early adopter” and that the old ways were best. But the smart companies are now realizing that the two are not mutually exclusive. Look at products like WeldRevolution, where a little-out-of-the-box thinking has led to significant gains in productivity and quality. There are a hundred more examples from any given aisle, but the message was clear: the manufacturing floor of the future will put productivity first, and results will be seen in real-time, in the palm of your hand.
Make plans to attend the 2016 Fabtech in Las Vegas, it’s sure to dazzle.