1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:01,960 All right. And hello and thank you all so 2 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:04,400 much for tuning into another episode of the Professional 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,560 Pricing Society podcast. My name is Terence, and today's 4 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,920 discussion is with a very, very special guest to the Pricing 5 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,920 Society. We have Mr. Kevin Mitchell, he's 6 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,520 the President of PPS and he's with us today. 7 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,000 And we'll be discussing the latest hot topics in pricing 8 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,840 that's expected to take over in 2024. 9 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:25,840 Kevin, good Sir. How you doing today? 10 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,200 Terrence, thank you so much. I'm doing very well. 11 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:33,240 Always good to talk with you and looking forward to our 12 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:35,640 discussion here. But yeah, thanks so much to you 13 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,480 for the great production work and everything that you do for 14 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:42,800 our organization as well. So very much appreciate it, Sir. 15 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:44,640 Of course, of course, absolutely. 16 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,160 Thank you for that. Now you, you are somebody who is 17 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,440 fairly plugged into a lot of different pricing professionals 18 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,360 and somebody who facilitates these type of conferences. 19 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,240 There's a lot of different type of topics that may run across 20 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,440 your table as far as what people want to talk about in breakout 21 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,760 sessions, workshops or keynote presentations. 22 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:07,480 So what do you think? Are some of the hot topics kind 23 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,440 of starting out in the new year? Yeah, that's a very good 24 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,920 question. And in a lot of ways, you're 25 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:15,680 correct. I mean, my knowledge and our 26 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,960 company's knowledge, we're often a mile wide, but sometimes only 27 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:22,720 a few inches deep because we talk with everyone, but 28 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,080 sometimes we don't get really, really in depth with a lot of 29 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,120 people. But we are in a position where 30 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:32,160 we get a good overview of what people are talking about and 31 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,680 some of the things that I'm hearing PPS members worldwide 32 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,320 talk about. One would certainly be we still 33 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:43,200 have continued economic uncertainty where we don't know 34 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,240 what's going to happen from a global macroeconomic 35 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,040 perspective. We are still depending on your 36 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,320 geography and your industry, still perhaps fearing inflation, 37 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,920 hybrid inflation, deflation, depending on your inputs and 38 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,200 where you are. And basically there are a lot of 39 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,200 things going on with your leading towards a lot of 40 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,280 uncertainty from an economic perspective. 41 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,039 So that's one thing as pricing people that we have to deal 42 00:02:10,039 --> 00:02:12,720 with. Another one is that we have all 43 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,280 discovered that we have huge amounts of data whether or not 44 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,200 it's perfect or imperfect or somewhere in between. 45 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:24,680 And so data analysis would be another big topic on how we can 46 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,600 take advantage of the information that we do have to 47 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,720 set strategies and tactics going forward. 48 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:35,080 And of course, when we talk pricing, a lot of that boils 49 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,000 down to monetization. Our companies put forth a lot of 50 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,720 energy and a lot of effort in developing our products, our 51 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,200 goods, our services and so on and so forth. 52 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:51,000 And often the big issue is how we can take this work and how we 53 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:56,920 can actually get it into dollars and EUR and yen and 1:00 and all 54 00:02:56,920 --> 00:02:59,280 the other economies that we deal with out there. 55 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:04,400 So really monetization is always a big effort and also a couple 56 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:09,840 new topics that we're hearing more and more about in 2024. 57 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,080 One would be around sustainability. 58 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,320 It could be around green efforts, around ecological 59 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:21,160 efforts, around ESG, environmental, social, social 60 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,480 and governance and other issues around that with looking at new 61 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,840 ways of doing business and some of the new initiatives that are 62 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:33,160 out there. And I like to warn people when I 63 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,280 talk with our members across the globe and if you're not familiar 64 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:42,440 with ESG, with green and with sustainability, you will be soon 65 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:46,160 because these initiatives are coming your way as well. 66 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,920 Depending on your, again, depending on your geography, 67 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:52,240 your industry, it might be ancient history, it might be 68 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,640 current, but and it might be coming, but it definitely is 69 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,360 coming in one way or another. And Terrence, I think one more 70 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,840 hot topic that everyone is talking about now would be 71 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,920 artificial intelligence overlapping with machine 72 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:11,440 learning and some of the latest really interesting tools that 73 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,760 are out there as far as AI and what it can do for business 74 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:19,680 people and what it can do for pricing, revenue management 75 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,240 professionals as a whole. So really we have a lot of 76 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,120 interesting things that are going on now. 77 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:29,760 There is a lot that is new and of course with our members, your 78 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:35,080 mileage may vary depending again on where you are in the line of 79 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,960 business that you're in. But what I hear from PPS member 80 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:43,240 companies globally, these I would say would be the biggest 81 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,360 five or six hot topics that people are talking about right 82 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:47,840 now. But great question. 83 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,480 And hey, there's a lot going on right now, definitely. 84 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:53,920 It sounds, it sounds like it's a lot going on right now and it 85 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,960 sounds like also it's it's it varies based on the region like 86 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,000 you mentioned before. But yeah, you're completely 87 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,880 right. Monetization is debatably the 88 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,800 biggest topic because everyone's trying to figure out how to 89 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,720 multiply their revenue. Data analysis, sustainability. 90 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,720 AI is going to be, you know, the topic of the of the, I say of 91 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,520 the future, but it's it's the topic now in preparation for the 92 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:16,960 future. So I'm glad you made mention of 93 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:18,480 those. You know when you think about 94 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,600 it, a lot of these topics have a lot to do with team 95 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,640 collaboration and and departments coming together to 96 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,960 make things grow and and multiply and just be more 97 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,440 efficient. Let me ask you this, good Sir. 98 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,520 How can pricing and revenue growth management teams work 99 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,640 more effectively with other departments to maybe achieve 100 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:41,960 their goals or to reach new milestones? 101 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:44,600 Yeah. That's a great question because 102 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:50,040 often there is a little bit of healthy butting of heads and 103 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,680 sometimes there are conflicting goals between revenue growth 104 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,400 management or pricing departments and sales or 105 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,720 marketing or finance or product management. 106 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:06,200 Sometimes our goals as pricing professionals may be on centered 107 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,000 on margin dollars or on effective price realization or 108 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,240 something like that. But your sales people, their 109 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:16,960 goals may be purely on volume or primarily on top line growth or 110 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,480 something like that. And those two, there can be a 111 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,320 little bit of healthy conflict. At least we hope it's healthy 112 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:25,720 conflict between goals like that. 113 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,800 And so when faced with issues like that, when we have to work 114 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:35,480 effectively with other departments, I try to remind our 115 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,720 member companies and our contacts that really we have to 116 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,440 use our empathy and our sympathy. 117 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,480 We have to talk with people on their terms and we have to 118 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,080 remember that their goals and their strategies may be a little 119 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,800 bit different than our goals and our strategies. 120 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,040 And those in turn also might be different than the corporation's 121 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,200 overall overall goals and strategies. 122 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:04,960 And also in addition to use of utilizing these so-called soft 123 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,000 skills, same things from other people's viewpoints, talking 124 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,280 with them on their own terms, understanding how they're 125 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,880 challenged, how they're compensated, what their goals 126 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:19,640 are, what they're trying to do. We also have to remember that we 127 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:25,120 have to present data, our thoughts, our strategies in a 128 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:30,880 way that matches up with what our counterparts are ready to 129 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:35,360 deal with. For example, if you have a 25 130 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:40,280 year sales veteran on one hand and a brand new MBA who's a 131 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,720 hotshot financial analyst on the other hand, you probably can't 132 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,200 talk about your pricing data, your RGM revenue growth 133 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,440 management data in the same way to both of those parties. 134 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,240 They have completely different backgrounds, completely 135 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,880 different goals, different experiences and so on and so 136 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:00,840 forth. There ideally we do want to tie 137 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,840 all of our strategies to the corporation's overall goals and 138 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:06,840 strategies. But of course there can be some 139 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:12,200 differences they're in. So always remember that your 140 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:16,160 sales people know your their products and their sales 141 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:18,680 stories, their sales territories, I'm sorry, and 142 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,960 their markets far better than you can. 143 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,200 And product managers probably know their product attributes 144 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,720 far better than you do. But as pricing and revenue 145 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:35,280 management professionals, we have the job of knowing about 146 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:38,840 all of the supply chain, all of the market conditions, what the 147 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,000 competition is going to do. We have to be familiar with all 148 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,920 of the data and we have to reach a common ground with them where 149 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:51,200 we describe why certain things should take place, describe why 150 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:56,520 we feel that certain deals are great or are not great or 151 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,640 somewhere in between. And we also have to remember 152 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,480 that when we come from these different perspectives, we all 153 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:08,240 have our own viewpoints, and all viewpoints can be correct from 154 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,840 the beholder's perspective. And really, that's when we use 155 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:16,560 our partnership, our arts and our sciences, our data skills, 156 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:22,080 but also our negotiation skills to reach decisions that are best 157 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,720 for everyone as best we can. And we also have to keep in 158 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,520 mind, even though we would never say this publicly, but sometimes 159 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,280 we all have the pleasure of dealing with advanced senior 160 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:38,240 sales people who have 25 years of history, but sometimes that 161 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,600 25 years of history is one year of history that's repeated 25 162 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,720 times over and over again. We should be in the position 163 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:50,280 where we have broad data, a lot of market insights, a lot of 164 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,080 knowledge of what might happen next. 165 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,520 And also we have to be in a position to put all this 166 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,080 information together in a way that our different counterparts 167 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,160 can understand it, that we can negotiate with them internally 168 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,760 and externally. And hopefully we can all reach 169 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,440 agreements where we're doing the best things for our company, our 170 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:14,800 employer, moving forward. So we all stay happy and healthy 171 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,960 from a business perspective. That's good. 172 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,840 That's, that's really good. You know that and that's also a 173 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,360 great point presenting data in a certain way that our 174 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:26,200 counterparts can receive it well. 175 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,240 And how I present data, I mean to my colleague may be 176 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,520 completely and how they receive it may be completely different 177 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:34,320 depending on how I receive that same data. 178 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,440 So that makes a lot of sense. And then you also mentioned 179 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,800 trust as well. Well, indirectly, I guess I 180 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,400 suppose trusting that whoever we're speaking with as far as 181 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:46,720 different departments that they actually do have that skill set 182 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:49,880 and that knowledge to to be able to contribute to the 183 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,080 conversation. And it's in a way that we can 184 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:55,280 kind of find some sort of common ground that also highlights all 185 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:57,680 of our strengths, if that makes sense, if I'm saying that 186 00:10:57,680 --> 00:10:59,320 correctly. Definitely. 187 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:00,800 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 188 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:06,400 It is all of our jobs to make sure that our company continues 189 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,600 to generate good profitable growth because that's how we get 190 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:15,240 to reinvest in our company and all of our salaries and bonuses 191 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,800 in our product development going forward and in all of our other 192 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,560 efforts there. So from a big corporate 193 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,440 perspective, hopefully we can all see that we should be on the 194 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:29,320 same team moving forward. Sometimes there is an amount of 195 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,480 stress with conflicting goals there, but we have to be human, 196 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:36,400 we have to be artists and scientists, and we have to move 197 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:38,360 forward and be the best team members that we can. 198 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:41,640 That's the goal at least ideally. 199 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,960 Now let me ask you this as well. You know, when it comes to our 200 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:51,480 PPS members and the people who subscribe to these knowledgeable 201 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,040 professionals and and really experts in the field, how can 202 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,520 PPS members prepare for something like economic 203 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,640 uncertainty? That's a very tough issue. 204 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:05,880 And yes, you're correct. That's one thing that we hear a 205 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,440 lot about because we really don't know what's going to 206 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,960 happen next. And I would say the first step 207 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,480 is always don't panic, take a deep breath. 208 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:23,160 And the second step is once again, don't panic again and 209 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,280 think about it. We've had economic uncertainty 210 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:29,000 before. We'll have it again and again, 211 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,000 depending on your business and where you are. 212 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,480 It may have been recently, the last time we had situations like 213 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:36,880 that. It may have been a long time 214 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,600 ago, but others have faced it and have been able to recover, 215 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:47,080 survive and thrive and move on. And I always think in situations 216 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,360 like this, there are a few things that we can do. 217 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:54,840 One is that we can all use our contacts inside and outside of 218 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,440 our company to find people who have dealt with this before. 219 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:03,080 And by that, for example, I mean that during the pandemic, we 220 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:08,280 really feared hyperinflation and increasing inflation really 221 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:12,040 across the globe. And for those of us in North 222 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,920 America, Western Europe, a lot of us hit the panic button and 223 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:21,040 started really, really being very, very concerned about that 224 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,600 to a huge degree where it may have prevented good calm thought 225 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,880 in a lot of cases. And we also have to remember 226 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:34,600 that what was a crisis for us, if you are from Argentina or 227 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,120 elsewhere in Latin America or Turkey or various places in 228 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:43,320 Africa, hyperinflation, they would have called that Tuesday. 229 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:45,400 It would have been no big deal for them because they're 230 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:47,040 familiar with it and they've done it before. 231 00:13:47,560 --> 00:13:51,360 So they're always people who have faced your issues before. 232 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,320 So seek them out. Get knowledge, network, 233 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,320 benchmark, take a deep breath, think of all the scenarios, get 234 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,840 a range of scenarios. Remember that we have to be game 235 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:02,800 theorists. We don't do anything in a 236 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,640 vacuum. If we make a move, our markets, 237 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:11,040 our competitors may make moves also and we have to take that 238 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,240 into account as well. When dealing with economic 239 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:18,000 uncertainty, we can plan for a number of scenarios. 240 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:20,800 It's very interesting because in a way we have to be 241 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,600 forward-looking and backward looking at the same time. 242 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:30,000 And I remember talking with a few very, very smart people at 243 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,840 one of our events, Terrence. And at the height of the 244 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,280 pandemic, when everyone was talking about inflation, I 245 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:40,040 remember talking with a group who said right now we need to 246 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:45,720 put plans in place for potential stagnation or deflation because 247 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,840 the inflation was already here and things can be cyclical at a 248 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:51,760 certain level. And so you've got to consider 249 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,280 all of the opportunities there. And you don't want to panic, but 250 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,800 you also don't don't want to be very late to the party. 251 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:04,160 You want to be able to move with agility, with forethought and 252 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,800 also with the knowledge that our moves do not happen in a vacuum. 253 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,800 Any move we take, there may be a competitive response, a market 254 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,080 response, and we have to take that into account and be willing 255 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,680 to adjust our plans based on that as well. 256 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,200 So we have interesting challenges. 257 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:24,400 We have some great opportunities there, but we have survived 258 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:29,040 economic uncertainty before. We will survive it again and 259 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:31,760 seek out people who have knowledge about it. 260 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,000 Remember your game plans, remember your corporate goals, 261 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:40,680 and remember to be able to plan for a few different scenarios 262 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,800 along a spectrum there. And also again the game theory. 263 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,760 Remember that your move may generate another move from 264 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:49,680 somebody else and so on and so forth. 265 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:55,240 And we don't want a big domino effect leading to basically a 266 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,520 price war or anything like that because our whole industry may 267 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:04,000 lose in a situation like that. So don't panic, think, seek out 268 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,960 knowledge, think about the competitive response and act 269 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,520 accordingly. Act quickly, but not in a 270 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:14,000 panicked fashion. I think that's probably the best 271 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,880 way that we can all deal with uncertainty and remember the 272 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,840 lessons from before and take that into account as we move 273 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:21,600 forward as well. That's. 274 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:25,160 That's good. You know that that can almost 275 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,360 translate just to life advice. Yeah. 276 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:31,960 Don't, don't. Pirates is, you know, pricing 277 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,840 his life in a lot of ways. Price. 278 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,440 We're telling you. Quotes, but yeah, there are some 279 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,360 parallels there. Mm hmm. 280 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,760 OK, that's good. Now, now Speaking of, you know, 281 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,920 something like uncertainty or economic uncertainty, there's 282 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,200 this little thing that's starting to take over called 283 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:54,120 artificial intelligence. Now my question is, in your 284 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,960 opinion, what effects will AI have on people's jobs moving 285 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:00,920 forward? Because it is starting to kind 286 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:06,040 of take over and it's, you know, just like the we had machines 287 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,520 that started to build a car is a lot quicker than the assembly 288 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,000 line. So a lot of people in the 289 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,599 assembly line that worked those jobs didn't have a job anymore. 290 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:16,040 Same thing with I guess the keyboard and the typewriter or 291 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,000 whatever the case is. So now it's artificial 292 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,440 intelligence and now you see across the board a lot of these 293 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,680 companies are starting to lay off a lot of these tech roles 294 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,760 and things of that nature. What you know or just generally 295 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,280 in pricing, how will it have an effect on people's jobs moving 296 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,120 forward? Yeah, it's a very interesting 297 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:35,760 topic. And AI is a tool, so we have to 298 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:40,200 remember that. And in a lot of cases, if you've 299 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,680 been around for a little while, as I have, as you can tell by 300 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:48,200 the three Gray hairs that I have, we've heard kind of over 301 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:54,800 and over again how certain new tools, new things, new machines 302 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,240 and so on and so forth are just going to wipe out large amounts 303 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:02,040 of jobs. And really kind of what happens 304 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:07,000 is they usually involve a shipping of jobs but not really 305 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,960 wiping out jobs. Of course, no one is building 306 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,160 Model T's anymore. But when the Model T came out, 307 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,120 people were like, oh, that's just going to kill entire 308 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:21,600 industries. And it really means for a shift, 309 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:27,240 you know, if you are in one of these areas where a new tool 310 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:32,400 basically means a huge change, then you have to become familiar 311 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:35,680 with the tool, of course, and think about what's next. 312 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:41,840 And jobs will change. There are some jobs that will go 313 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,720 away with every new, with every new tool, with every new 314 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,240 advancement. But really, if you look about it 315 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,240 from a holistic perspective, really it means a shifting of 316 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,840 those jobs more than the whole type of job going away. 317 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:05,760 We are still basically looking at things where if a lot of 318 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,720 manufacturing is done with robotics and with machinery, we 319 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:11,920 still have jobs there. They're just a lot different 320 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,880 than they are. We don't have people actually on 321 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,240 assembly lines in various parts of the world like we used to, 322 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:21,600 but we still have jobs for those people. 323 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:27,720 They just may be different jobs. So a healthy amount of concern 324 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,120 is definitely valid. Jobs will change. 325 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:36,120 I do believe that from a big picture perspective, this will 326 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,680 be like any other tool that will advances from a business 327 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:41,600 perspective, from a human perspective. 328 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,360 But there are those shifts that can happen along the way. 329 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,040 I remember hearing that when the Internet was taking off, it was 330 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:51,400 just going to kill all of our jobs. 331 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,080 We were going to work 4 hours a week. 332 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,160 All the information would be right there. 333 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,520 There would be no need for people to do research or 334 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,640 anything like that. And of course that. 335 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,240 Did not, was not the case. I'm sure if you're from a 336 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,680 generation when personal computers and typewriters came 337 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,520 about, well, yeah, for stenographers or for people who 338 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:14,760 wrote in longhand, that job went away. 339 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,960 But basically, if they were able to train and able to work with 340 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:21,040 computers, the job was still there, it was just in a 341 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:22,520 different function using the tool. 342 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,760 And I remember hearing from a few people at our events, I 343 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,560 think it was Kavia. I can't remember Kavia's last 344 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,520 name, but others had said no, AI. 345 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:37,720 AI won't replace us directly as pricing people, but an 346 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:42,480 individual who is familiar with AI and who uses AI and these 347 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,960 other tools in machine learning may have a big advantage over 348 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,120 someone who is not familiar with the tools. 349 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:53,520 So I've also heard people say that you can think of AI right 350 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:57,480 now as a bright but impressionable teenager. 351 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,960 It knows a lot about what's going on today. 352 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,320 It may come up with some great pie in the sky, plans for 353 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,000 tomorrow. It may hallucinate. 354 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,000 It may have these hallucinations. 355 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,840 Whether or not there's a bug or a feature probably depends on 356 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:16,680 your job function. But AI itself has not LED your 357 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:18,520 company through a tough negotiation. 358 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,760 It hasn't had the to manage the internal challenges. 359 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:26,600 It hasn't had to deal with a sales vice president when you're 360 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:29,200 bumping heads up against a quota or anything like that. 361 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,640 But we as pricing professionals and we still have that 362 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,320 experience. So AI is the tool. 363 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,680 Jobs can and probably will change. 364 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:43,000 We need to be familiar with AI, know its limitations, know its 365 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:47,040 strengths, know how to use it, be familiar with it and make it 366 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:51,240 a good strategic partner. As we have with computers and 367 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,960 the Internet and all of these other advancements and robotic 368 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:56,800 assembly lines and so on and so forth. 369 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:02,720 The jobs may see a shift, but as far as the total number of jobs, 370 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,000 that will not go away, I believe at least. 371 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,320 Anyway, we're not going to be fully replaced by AI or 372 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:12,200 machines. There's still going to be a 373 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,800 great need for human intuition and a lot of cases I think and 374 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:22,760 hope that AI can be a great advantage in that it will take 375 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:28,160 care of a lot of the grunt work around some of our jobs and free 376 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,800 us up for a higher level strategic thinking. 377 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,600 So we need to be prepared for that as well. 378 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:40,760 We are in the midst of an AI revolution and there are a lot 379 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:42,960 of different theories on what's going to happen with it. 380 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,640 So we are living in interesting times there. 381 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:51,400 As far as total number of jobs, I personally don't have a fear 382 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,520 that we're not going to lose a total number of jobs. 383 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,320 There are specific industries that will have these big shifts 384 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,600 where the job that you perhaps thought you were going to have 385 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,160 five years from now or next year may not exist in the current 386 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,680 format. But there will be another, 387 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,160 hopefully higher level, hopefully more strategic, 388 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,240 hopefully more managerial job or jobs that replace those 389 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,080 interesting times though, definitely. 390 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:20,160 Interesting times to say the least. 391 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,640 That's a great and a great explanation of of it as well. 392 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,320 As you know it's more so of a shift in in your words than a 393 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,840 complete annihilation as it as it people kind of deem it to be 394 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,040 at the moment. At least now I want to kind of 395 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,000 steer in a different direction with this conversation and ask 396 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,920 you one last question that's not too hopefully not too strenuous 397 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:44,040 of a thought process. What is new with PPS, What's 398 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:48,480 going on around the the walls of of the PPS building and the the 399 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,680 team and everything going on this new year what what would 400 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:53,440 you say is kind of new with the team and everybody? 401 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,640 Oh yeah, definitely. Thanks for asking that, Terence. 402 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:01,080 Appreciate that. Also, I hear from a lot of 403 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,240 members around the globe and we're lucky in that we do 404 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,600 business basically everywhere and we are so lucky. 405 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,600 First of all, that PPS has a great team, yourself and our 406 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,760 team members included of course. And we always have a lot of new 407 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:19,920 things that are going on with us. 408 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,200 Some of the things that are brand new for us is we are 409 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,560 continuing expanding our online training courses. 410 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:32,080 I think we have 55 now and maybe 56 or 57, I'm not sure, but we 411 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,680 add them all the time. And of course, we work closely 412 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:40,480 with our big member companies to discuss the challenges that they 413 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,400 are facing right now and rebuild our programs based on everyone's 414 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:47,400 feedback in order to meet their needs as well. 415 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,800 So I want to make sure that PPS members keep an eye on our new 416 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,880 offerings that are coming up because we've got some great new 417 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,640 online training courses for you and for your team. 418 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,960 And also of course we are continuing to expand our 419 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,640 certifications for those who want to do a lot of in depth 420 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,840 learning around revenue management, around pricing, 421 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,280 around sales enablement and a lot of related fields there. 422 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:17,880 We are continuing to build and expand on the CPE as an Edward 423 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,840 program. The certificate of profitability 424 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:27,400 education really is designed for people who have pricing as part 425 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,200 of their jobs but may not even know it or know how much of it 426 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:32,960 there is. They may be in sales or 427 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,160 marketing or finance or operations, they may make 428 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,560 pricing decisions and and they need to know something about 429 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,800 that so that they're not using a gut instinct or something like 430 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,760 that. So we have a a certification 431 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,480 really that's not for people who have pricing or revenue or 432 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:54,280 margin or customer in their job title, but for people who have 433 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,000 sales or product management or marketing or finance and their 434 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,280 title as well. And we think that this is a 435 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,520 great way to address some of the things that we talked about 436 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,080 earlier and that is the collaboration, the teamwork. 437 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,280 When we have to deal with other departments, we think not only 438 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,920 is it great if we know what they're talking about, but we 439 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,160 have a way for them to know what we're talking about as well. 440 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:20,200 And basically the CPE for your team members. 441 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:25,160 It's a great way for people who really don't know anything about 442 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:29,800 pricing to learn about what we beautiful we are those who are 443 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,480 in pricing do on a daily basis, so we can build a common 444 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:39,080 language there, OK. Also as we speak, Terrance, we 445 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,600 just received the brochure in the program for the next great 446 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:44,080 PPS. Event we did. 447 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:48,440 So our, yeah, our 35th annual conference is in April, April 448 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,560 23rd through 26th in Chicago, our second home, the city where 449 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,560 we've had far more events than any other city on the planet. 450 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,560 And we've got two new breakout tracks. 451 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:03,040 One is around practical pricing, so things that you and your team 452 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,040 can take back to your office immediately and work on. 453 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,440 And the other one's entitled Data science pricing from A to 454 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,880 I, some of the things that we were talking about earlier as 455 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,280 well around some of the scientific advancements in AI 456 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,240 and machine learning and how you can use those tools for your 457 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,680 teams. So yeah, make sure to keep an an 458 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:26,400 eye out for emails from Terrence and from me and from our team on 459 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,200 our new programs there. And of course you can always 460 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,800 check our website pricingsociety.com to register 461 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,480 and to check out more information for that. 462 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:39,280 And later this year, we're going to go back to Las Vegas, your 463 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:45,480 favorite city and Berlin for our fall conference and our 19th 464 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,720 annual European and Global conference there. 465 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:52,440 So a great program of advance, a lot of online offerings, a lot 466 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,000 of ways for you and your team to get information through our 467 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,640 podcasts and webinars, expanding that, expanding our social media 468 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,000 offerings. And really a lot of ways for you 469 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,600 and your team to work on your training, to network, to 470 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,480 benchmark, to hear the latest and greatest strategies and 471 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,560 tactics and really get the information that you need in 472 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:16,360 order to continue doing your job as best you can, to do great 473 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:18,760 things to your company, to exceed your goals and to move 474 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:22,400 forward there. So yeah, we're very thankful and 475 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,880 that in these interesting times, we have a lot of new initiatives 476 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,440 for pricing professionals worldwide. 477 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,400 So we are going to have a wonderful year and definitely 478 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,680 look forward to connecting with everyone around all of these 479 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:37,880 offerings and around all of these great topics as well. 480 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:41,960 Mr. Kevin Mitchell, President of the Professional Pricing 481 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,640 Society, it has been a pleasure to speak with you today. 482 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:46,120 I want to thank you so much for your time. 483 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,360 If you wouldn't mind sharing with us very quickly where you 484 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:55,560 know interested party members can learn more about you or PPS 485 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,920 or just the different resources we have to offer. 486 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,160 Yeah, absolutely. You can certainly find me on 487 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,920 LinkedIn if you search for Kevin Mitchell and include pricing in 488 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:06,480 there. I think you will find me there. 489 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:12,240 Of course, my e-mail address is simplykevin@pricingsociety.com 490 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,120 and you can also check our website. 491 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,120 We'll have hashtags for our events coming up. 492 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:25,880 So our Chicago conference will be hashtag, EPS, CHI 24, So make 493 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,560 sure to keep an eye out for that as well. 494 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,520 And you can find lots of information about our online 495 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:34,520 training, about our certifications, about our 496 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,480 membership offerings, about our conferences to come at 497 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,280 pricingsociety.com, or you can just reach out to me. 498 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:42,880 Sounds good. Thank you so much again for your 499 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,400 time. And like Kevin said, we do have 500 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,200 our upcoming spring conference happening in April. 501 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,800 To learn more and to register for that, you can visit 502 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,800 pricingsociety.com as well. Thank you so much for your time, 503 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,000 Kevin, and you all have a very safe day today. 504 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:56,640 Bye, bye.