Amsterdam Conference Recap - Day 3

Thursday, December 6th, Day Three, Keynotes & Breakout Tracks

Our keynote speakers were the perfect way start the last of out three pricing-filled days in Amsterdam.  Our first keynote, by Dr. Georg Tacke, CEO of Simon-Kucker & Partners, shared his recommendations for future pricing strategies and identified the most important challenges in the coming years.

Dr. Tacke highlighted the facts resulting from the 2012 Global Pricing Study conducted by Simon-Kucher &Partners in cooperation with PPS. He stated “Those Companies that have a professional pricing organization do much, much better than those who don’t” This fact-based statement brings great expectations for all of us involved in pricing. There’s a lot of work to do, lots of room for improvement and the need for professional pricers continues to increase.

We also heard from Laura Preslan, general manager of strategic practices for Microsoft, who allowed us to learn from her painful mistakes by sharing her strategies that worked, and those that did not.

Dr. Frederic Jallat from ESCP Europe shared with us compelling study results that explain why online price dispersion and price instability not only persist but have even increased over time.

Miguel Serrano, Director Global Pricing Strategy for Medtronic, Inc., told everyone in the room to become a pricing evangelist, to move, flight and talk to stakeholders in every country where your company has presence at. He also told the crowd how to achieve a long-lasting cultural change [on pricing] within the organization, which guarantees both the sustainability, as well as the returns on investment from creating a Price Management / Value Selling culture and practice.

After refueling energies the afternoon was packed with 12 breakout track options, lots of activity, learning and networking among the best in pricing in Europe and the World!

We shared some fun and laughs with all our exhibiting sponsors while they handed out fun and valuable prizes to the lucky winners, many walked out with iPad Minis, 3D Cameras, Vintage Champagne, and several other great prices.

We thank all our speakers for sharing such valuable pricing strategy knowledge.

Amsterdam Conference Recap - Day 2

Wednesday, 5th December 2012,
Day Two, Pricing Workshops and 4th Annual Global Pricing for Executives Summit

Nothing makes us happier than seeing hundreds of international pricing practitioners and executives gather together and share industry knowledge and lessons learned. Our Pricing for Executives Summit was a big hit, and participants walked away with practical, easy-to-use tips to improve their pricing strategies, like:

·         How to eliminate the discounting habit in sales people

·         Why pricing is the great opportunity of the recession

·         How to gather information needed to accurately price products

Participants also shared with us that the Summit’s format makes it very dynamic and engaging with 5 different speakers and closing with a presenter’s panel where their questions were addressed with tailored answers to their specific industries.

Stephen Martin led an enlightening workshop about Channel Pricing where he addressed the methodologies, tools and key issues about this complex and ever evolving field.

Paul Hunt and Fernando Ventureira had a massive workshop titled “Building a High Impact Pricing Strategy” they also added the effects of globalization, established markets vs. emerging economies and participants arrived to helpful conclusions about creating solid and enduring pricing strategies that are effective both locally and globally.

James Brown and Hong-May Cheng finished their 2-day workshop on Core Pricing Skills; this is a staple workshop that always draws great attendance in all PPS Conferences. The world of pricing keeps growing, PPS keeps attracting those new to Pricing and Core Pricing Skills is a must for anyone getting started in this fascinating and rewarding field.

The day started with a warm and cozy breakfast at the Sponsors Hall and ended at the same place with a lively networking reception sponsored by PROS, some cocktails and good food are always a good reward after a full-day of pricing training!

Check back with us tomorrow to read about the four great keynotes and twelve breakout tracks we have lined up for the last day of our conference.

Amsterdam Conference Recap – Day 1

Tuesday, 4th December 2012, Day one, first day of Pricing Workshops

We kicked off the first day of our European Pricing Conference with four information-packed workshops led by senior pricing experts from around the world – such a terrific way to celebrate Pricing Society’s 4000th member milestone as well.

We learned 17 different economic, behavioral and psychological influences to customer price perception from Tim Smith, PhD and managing principal of Wiglaf Pricing.

The workshop conducted by Daniel Soto-Zeevaert and Frank Korf was quite revealing about the depths and importance of using good data and the right balance between facts vs. experience to produce effective pricing decisions based on more reliable pricing analytics.

Speakers from Simon-Kucher & Partners were in charge of two workshops today covering the fundamentals of pricing during a 2-day workshop and also sharing their experience about B2B pricing where attendees learned about the impact of pricing decisions in oligopolistic markets and had a chance to deal with price elasticity before experiencing it the hard way in real market scenarios.

The sessions progressed just like the day outside, by mid-morning it was warmer and lively; a great array of food, tea, coffee and sweets kept everyone going strong until the end of the day, it doesn’t get better than that when it comes to learning about pricing! 

We’re looking forward to day two, and especially excited for our 3rd Annual Global Pricing for Executives Summit.