Pricing Masterclass (12-Week Program)
A 12-week program that builds pricing skills across your sales, finance and pricing teams: 12 online lessons, a skills test before and after, and a register of margin ideas your team puts into practice.
Is your pricing strategy a competitive advantage or a hidden weakness?
Find where margin is being lost, and how to take back control.
What is the Pricing Masterclass?
The Pricing Masterclass is a 12-week pricing capability program for the people who set, quote and negotiate price: sales, finance, marketing and pricing teams. It runs as 12 online lessons, one a week, with a skills test at the start and the end, and a register of margin ideas that your team builds and puts into practice during the program.
- Duration
- 12 weeks, one lesson a week, self-paced online
- Suited to
- Executives, sales leaders, account managers, pricing analysts, finance and customer service teams in B2B manufacturing, distribution and services
- Method
- 12 lessons built on the Value, People and Structure pillars of the 9PE canvas, with optional workshops on your own accounts
- Outputs
- Skills scores before and after for each person and team, a Margin Ideas register with owners and dates, and a governance plan to hold the gains
- Measured by
- Skills test results, ideas implemented, and margin delivered against an agreed baseline
- Where
- Online, for teams across Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, India and the United States
Written and led by Ron Wood, founder of Pricing Insight: 30 years in pricing, more than 160 clients and more than 5,000 executives trained.
Why does your team need pricing training?
Pricing is rarely taught. Finance, operations and marketing have degrees and qualifications; pricing is learned on the job, from whoever sat in the chair before. So most businesses price from cost-plus formulas and habit, discount to close the deal, and struggle to pass on cost increases.
The gap shows up as soon as it is tested. Before training, commercial teams typically average under 50% on our pricing skills test. Many staff could not work out the margin lost on a 5% discount.
Pricing skills move from under half marks to above target
Average score on Pricing Insight’s pricing skills test, before and after the program, in three B2B businesses.
A discount looks small on the invoice and large in the profit. The chart below is the single most useful thing a sales team learns: how much extra volume it takes to pay for a discount.
A 5% discount needs 20% more volume just to stand still
Extra sales volume needed to earn the same gross profit after a discount, at three gross margins.
What does weak pricing capability cost?
Weak pricing rarely shows up as a line in the accounts. It shows up as margin that slips a little every month. We see the same eight causes in almost every business, and each lesson in the Masterclass targets one or more of them.
Eight causes of margin erosion, and the lesson that fixes each
Each cause is a habit or a gap in skills, structure or governance. Each is taught, practised and measured in the program.
The return comes from price realisation: small, repeated improvements in the price your team actually achieves.
What a small lift in realised price is worth
Annual EBIT gain per A$100m of revenue, for a business earning a 10% EBIT margin, with no change in volume.
What approach does the Masterclass take?
The 12 lessons follow the three pillars of the 9PE canvas, the same framework used in our pricing diagnostics. Each pillar answers one question for the business.
Twelve lessons across three pillars
Lessons grouped by the 9PE pillar they build. Numbers show the order in which they are taught.
Value
Do we know what our offer is worth, and do we capture it?
- 1Value-based pricing
- 4Pricing decision frameworks
- 10Pricing strategy and market positioning
People
Do our people price, negotiate and hold price well?
- 2Managing margin erosion
- 7Cost recovery and price increases
- 9Price negotiation and commercial strategy
- 12Sustaining pricing excellence
Structure
Do our price lists, rules and data support good decisions?
- 3Pricing capability maturity model
- 5List price and discount architecture
- 6Rebate and incentive strategies
- 8Price analytics for profit optimisation
- 11Pricing operations and process efficiency
How does the 12-week program run?
The program runs in three phases. It starts with a baseline, runs one lesson a week, and finishes with a measured result and a plan to keep the gains.
A typical 12-week program
One lesson a week. Ideas start in week 2, and the first approved ideas reach the market before the program ends.
- Enrol and set the baseline. Agree the business units and teams taking part, a program sponsor and a program lead. Every participant sits the pricing skills test, and the margin baseline is agreed with finance.
- Learn and generate ideas. Teams complete one lesson a week. Each lesson ends with a practical task on your own business, and participants submit margin improvement ideas as they go.
- Implement and embed. The best ideas are approved, given an owner and a date, and put into practice. Pricing governance is set up so the gains hold, and the final skills test measures what changed.
How do margin ideas become margin?
Every participant contributes ideas from their own customers, products and quotes. The Margin Ideas register takes each idea from a suggestion to a measured result.
From idea to measured margin, in six steps
Each idea in the register carries a value, an owner, a due date and a status, reviewed by your sponsor.
What are the benefits for each part of the business?
A business that prices on value
A shared pricing language from the leadership team to the front line, and a culture that holds price instead of giving it away.
Margin you can measure
A baseline agreed at the start, a register of ideas with A$ values, and margin delivered reported against it.
Fewer discounts, better deals
Teams that can price to a target margin, prepare for procurement and trade concessions for something in return.
Confidence in the conversation
Value arguments, negotiation tactics and the maths to know when to hold and when to walk away.
Better structures and data
Price lists, discount bands, rebates and analytics that support the decisions the sales team makes.
Capability that stays
Skills and governance that stay in the business after the program, with internal pricing champions to carry them.
What will your team learn?
Value-based pricing
- Move from cost-plus to value-based pricing
- Find and use each customer’s willingness to pay
Managing margin erosion
- The eight causes of margin erosion
- Controls that stop revenue leakage
Pricing capability maturity
- Assess your pricing maturity
- Build a roadmap to improve it
Pricing decision frameworks
- Make price decisions from data
- Know your sources of pricing power
List price and discount architecture
- Set structured price lists and discount bands
- Stop needless price compression
Rebate and incentive strategies
- Design rebates that reward profitable behaviour
- Avoid common rebate traps
Cost recovery and price increases
- Pass cost increases through to customers
- Avoid the mistakes that compress margin
Price analytics for profit
- Price band and elasticity analysis
- Find under- and over-priced products
Price negotiation
- Tactics for sales and procurement negotiations
- The psychology of how people buy
Pricing strategy and positioning
- Set a pricing strategy that fits your goals
- Respond to competitor price pressure
Pricing operations
- Streamline pricing workflows
- Reduce pricing errors and delays
Sustaining pricing excellence
- Set up pricing governance
- Develop internal pricing champions
What do participants say?
Pricing Insight has trained more than 5,000 executives. Recent participants from building materials, distribution and retail businesses:
“Hands down the most relevant, insightful training I have done to date… I highly recommend this course to any business wanting to improve their profitability.” Scott McFarlane, Branch Manager, Fletcher Insulation
“An excellent course and plenty for everyone in terms of learning and reminders… the timing could not be better.” Tim Broxham, General Manager, Stramit
“This is a level of price training that has not been offered in this business before… gives a great understanding as to why this business has implemented pricing tools and strategies.” Luke Newcombe, Big River Timber
“Clear, concise, action-oriented course that is a good reference point and provides a reset.” Alastair Wilson, Laminex
“I would highly recommend this course to my ASM’s and BM’s… understanding how their customers think when purchasing and the levers they could pull.” Nathan Bihun, Tradelink
“I would describe it as a comprehensive, strategic and practical approach that has valuable concepts for all levels. The program highlights the importance of reviewing and challenging the way we do things.” D. McGee, Super Retail Group
“Very insightful… I enjoyed the psychological area of why people buy… The course is very detailed, has a lot of information and is very beneficial.” Jamelle Moussa, Oliveri
Case studies: Laminex · Stramit · Fletcher Insulation
Who should take part?
- Executives and general managers who set pricing strategy and decision rights.
- Sales leaders, account managers and branch managers who quote and negotiate.
- Pricing, finance and commercial analysts who build price lists, rebates and reports.
- Marketing, product and customer service teams who shape value and handle price queries.
Teams get the most from the program when a senior sponsor takes part and a program lead keeps the Margin Ideas register moving.
Frequently asked questions
How much time does it take each week?
One lesson a week over 12 weeks, self-paced online, so participants fit it around their roles. Each lesson ends with a short practical task on your own business.
How do we know it worked?
Three measures: skills test scores before and after for each person and team, the number and value of margin ideas approved and implemented, and margin delivered against the baseline agreed with your finance team at enrolment.
Is it generic training, or about our business?
The lessons teach proven frameworks, and every lesson task is applied to your own customers, products and quotes. Workshops on your own key accounts can be added.
Can it run alongside a pricing diagnostic or Project Blackbird?
Yes. The 9PE Pricing Diagnostic finds where margin is being lost; Project Blackbird sets the optimised price for every SKU and customer; the Masterclass gives your people the skills to hold those prices in negotiation.
Can we run it for a large team?
Yes. Larger groups run in cohorts by role or business unit, so executives, sales and finance each learn in context while sharing one pricing language.
What happens after week 12?
You receive a results report with skills scores, the Margin Ideas register and a governance plan. Internal pricing champions keep the register and governance going, with support from Pricing Insight if you want it.
How much margin could your team hold on to?
Book an executive briefing with Ron Wood. We will outline how the Masterclass would run in your business, who should take part and how the result would be measured.
Related: 9PE Pricing Diagnostic · Project Blackbird price optimisation · White paper: Value Pricing and Selling Concepts
Let’s work together
Whether you're ready to optimise your pricing or want to explore what's possible, we'd love to hear from you.