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Pricing and Profitability Management. A practical guide for business leaders. Meehan, Simonetto, Montan & Goodin. 2011. ISBN 9780470825273.   I chatted to Michael Simonetto a few months back while doing pricing strategy research. He  sent along this recent Deloitte‘s publication and I am very glad he did. My research was already indicating the multi-layered needs in a company when looking at strategic pricing . This book carries that thought through into a very comprehensive analysis and several work plans.  The case studies are very appropriate and reflect what happens in the marketplace.

Among several great quotes;

• ”  Pricing strategies simply cannot, and should not, be developed without obtaining direct and meaningful input from customers.”
• “Fix the process first, than add technology,”

The authors have a good emphasis on sales execution and how that one needs to very competent in this area well before making any changes to pricing.

This is not a book for the trivial reader,yet it should be read by every CEO and the leaders of Sales, Marketing, Finance and Customer Service.

Related articles

• Value-Based Pricing. Harry MacDivitt & Mike Wilinson. (regnordman.com)
• Value-Added Selling. How to sell more profitably, confidently and professionally by competing on value not price. Tom Reilly (regnordman.com)
• The Art of Pricing: How to find the hidden profits in your business. Rafi Mohammed. (regnordman.com)
• Six Steps to Creating a Profit. A guide for the small and mid-sized service-based businesses. Patricia Sigmon (regnordman.com)

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Value-Added Selling. How to sell more profitably, confidently and professionally by competing on value not price. Tom Reilly. 3rd ed. 2011. ISBN 9780071702683.  This is the complete sales book for anyone who wants to break out of the zero sum game of selling on price.  Great point in the book- when asked, a majority of B2B customers see that 25% of the value of the products they buy comes from the salesman himself. Ask yourself, what have you done to deserve to take the meeting with the high value prospect? have you done the work to bring value yourself?

This is a  very current salesman’s bible.  Plus its a  very practical easy to read guide to getting the job done whether you are a part of a huge well supported multinational team or a single sales guy in a start up.  He starts where you need to and has lots of guidance for the sales person who has been forced into a price only style but wants to move to selling value ( the smarter way).  A must have for a sales manager and a salesperson who wants to be a high earner.

If selling on price has you or your organization trapped in a cycle of tightening of margins and unrelenting price pressure then this book is essential to your sales team and will be  a very valuable resource for you.

Related articles

• Accelerate the sale. Kick start your personal selling style to close more sales, faster. Mark Roberts. (regnordman.com)
• Implementing a Value Based Sales Approach – part 3 of 4. What sales must do. (regnordman.com)

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Value-Based Pricing. Harry MacDivitt & Mike Wilkinson.2012. ISBN 9780071761680.  This is one of the best texts on this topic I have run up against so far.  First the descriptions of pricing and how it is arrived at is succinct, clear and bang on the money.  Second this is the first pricing book that really identifies how many objections that sale can find with changing the pricing strategy  as well as the huge obstacle that sales is to implementation.  Then they do show you how to capture customer value in order to extract the price you deserve. The case studies at the end of the book are a bonus for those serious about implementing value based pricing. This is a must have reference for sales and marketing organizations as well as CEO’s.  Plus with both authors from the UK, they do not waste a word- it is all clear and valuable.

Related articles

• LinkedIn Poll – Where does pricing have the most impact in the sales funnel? (leveragepoint.com)
• Webinar – Improving the Value Proposition for New Products with Dick Braun of Parker Hannifin (leveragepoint.com)
• Implementing a Value Based Sales Approach. Part 2 of 4. Marketing (regnordman.com)
• The Art of Pricing: How to find the hidden profits in your business. Rafi Mohammed. (regnordman.com)

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Accelerate the sale. Kick start your personal selling style to close more sales, faster. Mark Roberts. 2011. ISBN 9780071760409. This is the right stuff for selling.  Well organizer, very readable with good sidebars from in the field.  This is a short pithy collection of best practices in sales at every stage of your development.  I always find something useful in every sales book and this one is chock full of great ideas, statements and responses. Worth reading all of it and then keep it as a reference. You will use it.

Related articles

• Strengths Based Selling. Tony Rutigliano & Brian Brim. (regnordman.com)

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Social Media Analytics. Effective tools for building, interpreting 7 using metrics. Marshall Sponder.2012. ISBN 9780071768290.  This is not a trivial book. It cuts right through the hype and shows the marketing professional how to extract metrics to demonstrate the usefulness of social media. It is chock full of current tools and where they are useful and where not.  The book follows two cycles. The basics and the advanced.  The advanced is deep and well described. Like any other practice to do this well requires  hard thoughtful work. I defy the 20 something flash in the pan social experts to get their heads around this stuff.

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• Social Media Club Newsletter (9/1/11) (socialmediaclub.org)
• #measurePR with Marshall Sponder (Part II) (waxingunlyrical.com)
• Tracking the KPIs of Social Media (seomoz.org)
• Are You Measuring the Right Metrics for Online Marketing? (verticalmeasures.com)
• The ROI in Social Media? (verigentllc.wordpress.com)

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The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success. Wayne Breitbarth. 2011. ISBN 9781608320936.  This is a true how to do book, with enough why attached that the reader can understand the power of this tool.  A comment I picked up on was:  ignoring LinkedIn now  is like 10 years ago ignoring email. There is only one way to learn to find out how useful it can be.  He  splits the book in two, first making yourself easy to find ( fill in a proper profile)  and then how to find and approach others on LinkedIn.  Every person in any business can make good use of this book.  Buy it, read it and use it. Well written and a quick read.

Related articles

• How To Formulate an Effective LinkedIn Strategy (tosachamber.org)
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• LinkedIn to Offer Marketers More Value via ‘Follow Company’ Feature (hubspot.com)
• Pleasant Hill Chamber to Host Social Media – LinkedIn Business Building Workshop August 10 (prweb.com)
• L4B 5: 6 More Ways to Power Lead Generation via LinkedIn (blogs4bytes.wordpress.com)
• How to Get More Leads With LinkedIn By Using My Simple Learn, Lurk and Link Strategy (customerthink.com)
• How Many LinkedIn Connections Should I Have (edenchanges.wordpress.com)
• L4B 6: 7 Step Approach to Generate Leads via LinkedIn (blogs4bytes.wordpress.com)
• Do the Work! Overcome resistance and get out of your own way. Steven Pressfield. (regnordman.com)