How CFOs can infuse pricing strategy with agility

CFOs know that maintaining their companies' pricing power—the ability to set or raise prices without losing customers—is central to sustaining margins and strengthening their position in the market. Yet poor data quality, limited tools, and the absence of a strategic blueprint have hampered many organizations’ ability to respond effectively. Here are some strategic steps CFOs can consider to manage rising costs.

• Assemble a pricing team to make recommendations. Relatively few companies seem to have chief pricing officers or even standing pricing committees. Given the far-reaching impact of strategic pricing decisions within the business—ranging from sales and marketing to product development to finance—it may make sense to have a central organization that helps evaluate the data for decision making.
• Scour the business for operational inefficiencies. Consider looking to make cost reductions by optimizing process efficiencies throughout production and logistics. Cutting unnecessary expenses could position the business to absorb some of the additional cost burdens that can result from external factors like inflation and supply chain disruptions.
• Change service offerings. In the CFO Signals survey, 52% of surveyed finance leaders say they will make changes to service levels to address cost increases. Forty-seven percent report offering different warrantee terms.

The primary takeaway? CFOs who implement a proactive and agile pricing strategy stand the best chance of protecting margins and maintaining an advantage that sticks.

Check out our full article for more insights.