Nothing. There isn’t anything else. All of a sudden you don’t measure how well – or more likely, how badly – one of your key business drivers, pricing, is performing. Unless that’s what you intended.
Why do you need list prices?
– To be the basis of your competitive price analysis. If you don’t compare list prices with the competition, what exactly are you going to compare∠(That’s a rhetorical question.)
– To form a price positioning strategy: what else would you use to discuss value relative to the competition internally and externally? or sustainable competitive advantageâˆ
– It is the top of your pricing waterfall.
– It is the pivot point of your channel pricing framework: your list price should be positioned correctly v your competition, as should your channel buy-price(s). Your list price in conjunction with your contractual discount are the only ways to set and fine tune both.
– It is what you measure your discounting performance against. That’s probably why those who don’t think list prices are necessary don’t want them. I get it.
– It is what you should be measuring your sales compensation against: comp should include a discount performance component, and discounts should be measured v list price.
If there are more, please pipe up and I’ll add them to the list.
More to follow!
