Aug 10, 2020
Why you have to check out today’s podcast:
- Find out the key characteristics of a pricing person which is important in order to communicate complex matters breaking them into simpler concepts for easier pricing decision-making
- Learn the pricing expert’s role in sales and project management
- Look into the crucial role of a pricing person in the organization’s profitability
Yann Gaucher is a results-driven technology business leader experienced in pricing, licensing, as well as delivering initiatives that impact revenue, market growth, customer acquisition, and product expansion for global software companies.
He believes that success is based upon keen business acumen; a deep understanding of the business infrastructures’ sales needs to sell products and services; a compelling ‘get the job done’ work style and an uncompromising belief in offering the best possible solution to the customer.
In this episode, Yann walks us through what a pricing person’s role looks like, the responsibilities that go with it. And how he rose from the ranks to become the VP of Pricing.
“The ability to drive and drive insight into the data and be comfortable to put oneself out there, I think is what will drive recognition and visibility in someone's career.”
- Yann Gaucher
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Topics Covered:
01:26 - What got Yann into a career in Pricing
02:13 - Yann’s thoughts on product managers not focusing enough on price
03:37 - How Yann’s roles as a business analyst and product manager helped in the
07:11 - Finding a middle ground between empathy for the salesforce and fulfilling company-wide objective and profitability
09:05 - Being comfortable with data and knows how to understand data and not necessarily being an analyst
11:50 - What is an important characteristic of a Pricing person
14:56 - How sponsorship help influence pricing decisions in an organization
16:42 - The benefits of having mentors
18:28 - How important is managing people
20:16 - Describing his role as VP of Pricing
21:38 - Does Yann’s team set the prices
22:51 - How much product managers know about a product’s value
Key Takeaways:
“The [pricing] role we are in is difficult. We have to have that empathy in helping the salesforce promote the product at the same time you have those company-wide objective and profitability aspects that you also have to go and champion and find the right middle ground. sometimes it's not easy to please everybody in that room.” - Yann Gaucher
“You have to understand what will help you create that opportunity and when it comes down to pricing, be able to interpret the data, and extract insight from it is crucial.” - Yann Gaucher
“The understanding of the data is very key because it will be always a function of how a given organization is structured.” - Yann Gaucher
“Drive and leadership are key characteristics of a good pricing person. In that space, people will really come to you and tell you what to do and when they want. You have to be able to be proactive about what to look for and what needs attention and be able to make the case and especially communicate complex concepts simply. - Yann Gaucher
“Pricing is one of the functions, I think, where it's very easy to drown in data and in analysis paralysis, and you need someone that can break up that breadth.” - Yann Gaucher
“I had the chance to have a couple of mentors that I was able to rely on. They were mentors more in the sense of growing up as a person, as a manager more than just pricing.”- Yann Gaucher
Connect with Yann Gaucher:
Connect with Mark Stiving:
- Email: mark@impactpricing.com