1. Client Overview

• Industry: Roll-formed steel building products – roofing, walling, structural steel, and accessories
• Business Size: National operations across Australia, supplying builders, distributors, and project contractors
• Client Context:
  Stramit operates in a complex and margin-sensitive market where price-based competition, internal pricing inconsistency, and outdated sales habits were causing significant EBIT erosion. The company faced major challenges around discount leakage, quote variability, cost recovery, and pricing execution discipline—despite having a strong product portfolio and distribution reach.

2. Challenge / Problem

• Symptoms Observed:
  
  • Branch-level autonomy with no structured pricing controls—override behaviour prevalent and culturally accepted
  • Sales teams relying on gut feel and local judgement, resulting in wide variance in customer pricing for similar products and volumes
  • Flat, arbitrary price increases pushed through without category-specific margin evaluation
  • No central framework for capturing, tracking, or defending customer value delivered (lead time, reliability, credit terms, etc.)
  • Technical pricing skills across teams were weak—most staff unable to accurately calculate margin loss from a 5% discount
• Strategic Impact:
  
  • Margin erosion estimated at 150–250 basis points on addressable product categories
  • Competitive responses often reactive rather than strategic, weakening long-term price positioning
  • Poor alignment between sales, marketing, and finance on pricing goals, language, and discipline
• Internal Commentary:

“We’re too often discounting before understanding what the customer really values—or what they’re willing to pay for it. Everyone prices differently. There’s no clear line.”

3. Objectives of the Engagement

• Benchmark pricing maturity and expose root causes of pricing and margin leakage
• Identify high-impact quick wins in discounting, cost recovery, and sales execution discipline
• Build cross-functional alignment on pricing strategy and margin priorities
• Upskill sales, marketing, and pricing teams on the fundamentals of pricing and price defence
• Lay the groundwork for a structured value-based pricing framework and centralised governance

4. Our Approach

• Phase 1: Diagnostic Assessment
  
  • Delivered pricing diagnostic surveys and technical capability quizzes to Stramit’s sales, finance, marketing, and operations teams
  • Mapped performance across the three core pillars: Value, People, and Structure
  • Scored 9 pricing domains to identify functional gaps, misalignment, and high-risk practices
• Phase 2: Strategy Workshops & Priority Planning
  
  • Facilitated pricing strategy workshops with leadership and frontline teams
  • Used Pricing Insight’s diagnostic canvas to visualise pricing risks, gaps in capability, and short-term recovery actions
  • Created initiative planning matrix for immediate execution and medium-term pricing model redesign
• Phase 3: Enablement & Capability Building
  
  • Developed pricing playbooks, override control logic, and discount escalation workflows
  • Introduced pricing maths training modules and internal tools for cost-plus vs value-based margin simulations
  • Defined project roadmap for centralised pricing policy and customer value framework rollout

5. Key Actions Taken

6. Results Achieved (Within 8–12 Weeks)

7. Client Feedback

“Pricing was the elephant in the room. Everyone knew we had margin issues, but until this program, we didn’t have a structured way to tackle it. Now we’re aligned, educated, and ready to move with purpose.”
— Head of Sales & Marketing, Stramit

8. What This Means for Similar Companies

Industrial manufacturers and building materials suppliers often struggle with branch-level pricing inconsistency, over-discounting, and under-investment in pricing capability. The Stramit case demonstrates how even without system overhauls, significant EBIT uplift can be unlocked through pricing discipline, team alignment, and targeted training. When every rep prices differently, margin disappears. When pricing is structured and strategic, earnings recover.

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