Many organizations assume growth comes from bidding more often. More opportunities. More proposals. More shots on goal. In reality, disciplined growth comes from competing where value is clear, measurable, and economically meaningful. A maintenance services provider offers a useful example. The company sold preventive and corrective maintenance contracts across multiple industries. Its capabilities were strong: predictive diagnostics, certified technicians, rapid response, an

Inflation puts operators in a difficult position. Input costs are rising. Suppliers are pushing through increases. Labor markets are tight. Freight and energy remain volatile. At the same time, customer relationships matter. Competitive dynamics are real. No one wants to trigger unnecessary churn. The result is often hesitation. Price increases are delayed, softened, or selectively applied. The risk is not just short-term margin compression. The larger risk is allowing econom

In subscription-heavy, asset-based businesses, discounting is not a marketing afterthought. It is a structural economic decision. Car washes, fitness clubs, oil change chains, and similar models operate with: High fixed costs Low marginal cost per incremental visit Membership revenue as the stabilizing force Discounting can increase utilization and accelerate growth. It can also compress lifetime value and weaken pricing architecture. The difference is not intuition, but disc

Most service businesses that introduce subscriptions believe they’re upgrading their model. Suddenly they offer: One-time purchases  (pay-per-use) Unlimited monthly memberships  (recurring) A Good / Better / Best ladder  (segmented value) Regular promotions  (discounts, “first month free,” bundles, etc.) It feels modern. It looks scalable. It sounds like revenue optimization. In reality, this combination often produces margin chaos – not because any one lever is wrong, but b

In most businesses, pricing is about monetization. In marketplaces, pricing is about control. A marketplace is a coordinated system of buyers and sellers whose behaviors are interdependent. The way you charge each side determines who joins, who stays active, how quickly transactions happen, and whether the platform reaches meaningful scale. Scale is not optional. Without sufficient buyer demand and seller supply, liquidity collapses. Pricing is one of the few levers that dire

Middle market industrial manufacturers occupy a difficult commercial middle ground. They are too complex for simple cost-plus pricing, yet they do not have the scale, systems, or pricing teams of global players. Most compete on responsiveness, engineering know-how, and customer relationships. Commercially, however, many still operate with legacy price lists, manual quoting spreadsheets, and highly autonomous sales behavior. The result is inconsistent margins, uneven cost pass

In industrial services, time and materials is the default pricing model. And in many cases, it's the right approach. When scope is uncertain, asset condition is unclear, and surprises are likely once work begins, time and materials protects the provider. If a turnaround uncovers unexpected corrosion or a maintenance job runs longer because of access constraints, the contractor is compensated for the additional effort. In volatile environments, time and materials is a risk man

At its best, SaaS packaging creates a value ladder  — a structured progression where each tier clearly corresponds to: A different customer maturity level A broader or deeper use case A higher level of value delivered Lower tiers enable entry and adoption. Higher tiers drive performance, efficiency, or strategic outcomes. This ladder should feel inevitable: as customers grow, moving up becomes the logical choice. FIGURE 1 – SaaS Value Ladder Illustrates the progression from e

Tech-enabled services companies operate between SaaS and traditional services. They do not sell pure software. They do not bill purely for labor. They deliver ongoing outcomes powered by technology, data, and domain expertise. It is a strong model. It is also commercially complex. Most start focused. Over time they add modules, analytics layers, managed services, and acquisitions. Revenue grows, but pricing logic fragments. Similar customers pay very different rates. High-val

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping commercial decision-making, but in B2B industrial sectors — manufacturing, distribution, and engineered products — the path to value looks very different than in digital-native industries. Industrial businesses operate in environments defined by high SKU complexity, customer-specific pricing, contract nuance, and relationship-driven sales. In this context, AI is often not a plug-and-play solution. It delivers impact when introduced

Many manufacturers and B2B suppliers reach for the same lever when they want more from a channel: “let’s give them a bigger discount.” It’s simple, familiar, and easy to approve. It’s also one of the fastest ways to burn money without changing behavior, damaging price integrity and training partners to ask for ever more. Well-designed partner rewards and incentive programs do something very different: they align economics and experiences so both you and your partners win over

Manufacturers increasingly live or die by what happens in someone else’s price file. You can set list prices and programs, but in most channels you don’t control the final price the customer sees. That creates real risk: overly aggressive discounting erodes your brand and margins, while undisciplined underpricing by some partners can poison the well for everyone. The good news is that manufacturers have more levers than they often realize to influence reseller prices—if they

For many middle-market private equity groups investing in industrial businesses, the deal thesis is familiar – strong products, defensible niches, but an underdeveloped commercial engine. Pricing is often ad hoc, sales is relationship-driven rather than process-driven, and the company lacks the tools and talent to fully monetize its position. The opportunity is significant. The challenge is sequencing and institutionalizing the work so it drives measurable EBITDA and valuatio

For decades, “per seat” pricing has been the default for SaaS and many technology products: count the users, multiply by a license fee, and you have a simple, predictable revenue model. That logic made sense when software value mapped closely to the number of humans logging in. AI is breaking that link. As AI agents automate work that humans used to do, seat-based pricing risks shrinking revenue just as your product’s value and cost-to-serve go up. Token-based pricing offers

Many companies think they have a pricing problem when they really have a value proposition problem. What shows up as “we’re too expensive” or “we’re underpriced” is often a sign customers don’t clearly see, believe, or experience the value behind the price. This article explores how value and price interact, where value propositions break down, and how to diagnose and fix the real issue before rewriting your price list. Price complaints usually signal a value problem When lea

Revenue Growth Management (RGM) is a critical lever CPG leaders can pull to protect margins and fuel growth in an environment of inflation, retailer consolidation, and rapidly shifting consumer behavior. Yet many RGM teams are stuck in "analysis and decks," struggling to convert insights into consistent, in-market impact. This article outlines what RGM is, the core capabilities world-class CPG RGM teams build, and the people, tool, and process gaps that most often hold them b