Hello everyone and thank you so much for joining us on another
episode of the Professional Pricing Society Podcast.
My name is Terrence and we have an amazing speaker with us
today, a very warm friend of PP S's.
Her name is Hilary Gretton and she was actually one of our
recent speakers at our Dallas conference this past spring.
Hilary Gretton is the Associate Director of Strategic Pricing
and Contracting for Jazz Pharmaceuticals and you had both
Luncheon and a workshop with us which both were phenomenal, both
had great reviews. So I'm going to go ahead and
just kind of jump into this conversation with you regarding
your experience with our our latest conference and also how
it ties into what you actually speaking about with us.
So what was your favorite part of getting to be in the middle
of all this regarding our conference?
Well, thanks, Terrence. I really appreciate getting a
talk with you today and sharing some of the insights about the
really fabulous PPS conference. And so I've actually been
attending PPS conferences for a long time.
And my favorite part? Has been.
It continues to be the people you know, you get to meet people
face to face and some for the first time or some people I've
only talked to virtually and I talk about LinkedIn and all the
great distribution groups there and actually getting a chance to
network, you know, and you can take a class on a computer or an
iPad. You can listen to a podcast
through your phone. But really getting to talk to
people live and hear about their pricing journey or you know, you
can ask questions about their industry or the role.
That's the real value. So instead of this prescription.
Productive list of things you can learn.
You know, attending this conference live provides us
really rich opportunity to bump into people in the hallway or an
elevator and you have these genuine ad hoc conversations.
So personally I enjoy getting to know that we struggle with very
similar situations and issues as pricing people and we can talk
through how we manage the stress and tension as pricers.
You know as well sometimes the lack of recognition for the
value that we contribute every day.
And we really fortify each other with the skills to go back to
the office on Monday fully refreshed and recharged And and
hey, there's really no better jokes and laughs than a bunch of
pricers with a drink after a long day of some serious
conversation. Sure, sure.
And you're right. And the Miss Conference was jam
packed with a lot of different amazing conversations that you
know took place during a lot of our networking opportunities
which may have been in the sessions, may have been you know
after hours, may have been during some of the coffee breaks
as well. Now given this was such a high
energy and impactful conference with many great conversations,
can you remind me of what your session was all about and tell
our listeners about the details of what you basically discussed?
Absolutely love to. So my topic was the curiosity of
pricing and this came about after I attended so many PPS
conferences. And I would feel ready to go
back to the office with my great idea notebook full of tips and
tricks and formulas. And then I really had difficulty
actualizing anything. And really, what's the value of
a great idea if you can't make it come to life?
So I started thinking back through not only when I
succeeded in my great ideas. But more importantly, when I
fell on my face or even when something couldn't happen due to
insufficient resources or just other pressing priorities.
So this allowed me to construct a session that I would have
wanted to have attended when I was a pricing analyst and what I
would have told myself years ago, you know?
And on that note, I wouldn't be where I am today if so many
other amazing pricing leaders hadn't shared their knowledge so
freely years ago. And you know, I really only hope
to share a little bit of what's brought me to my current place
with everybody else. You know, we all really learn
from each other and not only how we fell down, but how we get
ourselves back up. So going back to the session,
you know, we talked mainly about relationships and trust building
as pricers. How do we talk to other
functions and departments? How do we build trust so that
people will listen to her ideas and not only be receptive to our
suggestions, right, but actually proactively ask us and invite us
to the table going forward? Another big issue is that often
times as pricers we're coming in either late to the party or
after there's been proposals discussed that may not be
beneficial or they could even be based on bad data, you know, as
a saying goes. That information, like squeeze
toothpaste, is impossible to put back in the tube, you know?
So if we come in too late and everyone's basing their
assumptions and ideas on bad or incomplete data, then we face
really this 1-2 punch of looking like we're raining on other
people's parades, right? And we're really spending time
that we don't have at times to explain why the information
isn't the most reliable or accurate.
That's good. Now we we first talked about
this subject several months ago before the conference, but what
I would like to know is what what did you hear from the
attendees? What were some of their main
takeaways and questions that they asked afterwards during
those, you know, quick hallway discussions and conversations?
You know, really getting to hear from people authentically and
earnestly over meals and then the hallway was super energizing
as everyone is just really wanting to do their pricing
rules better, more reliably and to showcase the power of
pricing. So the key things that people
really shared were about being more effective communicators and
elevating the need for best pricing practices within their
organization. So instead of being this black
box that people feed in data or aspirations, right?
And then popping out numbers and spreadsheets with pricing data?
People I talked to really highlighted the need to be
realized as a necessary partner in the value creation story.
You know, unfortunately, that means that we as pricers are
changing the status quo about, you know, about how people have
always done things. And that can mean conflicts and
change is scary to people. And it can come at the expense
of calling someone's baby ugly, You know, be at their process or
their assumptions or even their job role.
People can think that you're coming to tell them how to do
their job or even taking away part of their job, so we need to
be prepared to lead and manage difficult conversations.
So I'm really grateful for the people that stayed around after
my talk to say that they understood what was being
presented and it really resonated with them.
They all shared their stories and how they got to their role
and their concerns and worries. But every single person was so
passionate in what they do and where they want to go next, and
it was truly vitalizing that every person just wanted to.
Go back to the office on Monday and make a difference and be
their best pricing self. That's that's so good, that's so
good. And I can only imagine as a
speaker of a session, one of the best feelings in the world is
when your attendees come up to you and just express to you how
much they enjoyed listening to your insight, how much they
enjoyed your workshop and just all the all the insight you had
to provide to them. Now let me ask you this, was
there any one or two specific conversations that stuck out to
you the most or that you may constitute as your favorite?
So there's so many great things that I really heard over the
period of a few days. However, there were three that
really stuck out to me after my session and one attendee shared
a desire to de lingo, which is something that we touched on in
this is is really taking things out and clarifying to the
audience that we're speaking with and thinking about the
phrases and the terms and really level setting across functions
and teams. And they shared that they have a
lot of TL A's or three letter acronyms.
And that their message was getting lost in the assumptions
and assuming that whoever they're talking with really
understood the phrases or the terminology.
And you know, after a while we all assume that everyone speaks
our language and understands our inside terms and our jokes and
our thoughts. However, prices are really
polyglots, you know, We need to speak the language of multiple
departments and more effectively communicate, and every
conversation needs to be unique. And tailored to that specific
audience either by function, department or role or level of
experience. So that was really an aha moment
in in sharing that from this person we also talked about to
communicate that we need to not assume that we know all and
everything and that having a huge ego can put other parties
on the defense over the back foot and could really stop the
dialogue altogether. So I had another attendee that
shared their willingness and bravery to be the first to let
down their guard and their ego at the office.
And they said when I go back to the office on Monday that they
resolved to say that they didn't understand some specifics on a
project and they were just going to start from the ground level
and reestablish the knowns and the unknowns.
You know, I think that takes a lot of bravery to tell somebody,
doesn't matter how long you've been in a job or department.
I don't know or, hey, I don't think I understood that and put
their hand up. So I really, really can't wait
to hear from that person about how it's going.
And then my last one is 1 attendee was really struck by
the conversation pattern graphic.
So we shared from Liz Boslin, who's a cartoonist.
That was in the presentation. And it illustrates how effective
communication means allowing everyone to talk back and forth
during a meeting versus one person really dominating, saying
something. Everybody's saying yes, Sir.
And then they finish out the conversation and they said that
they were actually going to print out the cartoon and put it
by their monitor as a reminder of how they really wanted to
make sure that they behaved going forward.
That's nice. That's that's nice.
OK, well good. Now, of these attendees, did
anyone feel that something might be a little bit difficult to
implement? Something that you may have
encouraged them to do within your session.
Yeah, I think a lot of people probably responded in this way,
but one person was really brave enough to say afterwards that
they saw the value in healthy conflict and managing through
dialogue and getting everybody on the same page.
But especially as one person felt that it would be really
daunting and challenging and actually trying it out, right
and actualizing this. And this goes really back to the
inherent difficulty in changing the status quo.
We're all generally taught that conflict is bad and it's to be
avoided at all costs, and especially women, to be quite
honest. But we don't talk about healthy
conflict and how to do it right. You know, you acknowledge, you
express your thoughts and why, and then you just be quiet and
listen to the other person. Give them the air in the room to
say their peace, and have respect for them to address each
of their ideas. And healthy conflict is really
like learning a new language, and it can be very difficult
depending on your upbringing or your corporate culture.
You know when you're first learning a new language, you
don't try to orate for an hour in front of a huge audience,
right? So similarly trying out, go
ahead and try out different parts of healthy conflict as
needed. Try them in small little doses.
You know, try using certain phrases to call out when a
situation is getting rough. So something I found to be
helpful is to say it sounds like things may be getting a little
heated right now and we're both trying to resolve this in the
company and our customers best interest.
Why don't we give this a pause, grab a cup of coffee and why
don't we regroup in 3 minutes? You know, or you might say we
both agree that we need to increase list prices.
So what are some reasons that you feel?
This may be difficult to communicate to internal external
parties and we can work on a discussion guide for the field.
So you know what I'll put out there is that if anyone wants a
role-playing partner or you just want to talk through a situation
that you may you feel may be kind of difficult for you, feel
free to reach out to me via e-mail or LinkedIn and we can
work on this together. OK, That's that's really good
that you mentioned that, you know, and that's also a good
point. Many people, you know, can find
it difficult to be open or not act defensively when they feel
that their position is being attacked or their project that
they put a lot of time and effort into or maybe if it's
just a simple idea. You know, I know for a fact
myself, I've been in certain situations in which I felt
strongly about proposing an idea and it was there was a lot of
backlash from her, a lot of opposition.
And so I really had to think about how I was going to respond
in those moments. And just like you said, you
know, giving off some short phrases, oh, maybe a little
heated right now. Let's take some time, let's take
a break and then come back and regroup so we can all calm down,
you know, so we can all breathe a little bit and actually
actively listen and hear out each other as far as how we can
move forward towards the resolution.
So I really do appreciate you saying that.
So overall, what would you rate this conference in your personal
opinion? And did you feel that it was
worth taking the time away from family and your work to be
present there? So I would say confidently this
last conference was a 5 out of five and you know, thinking
about post COVID, thinking about people getting back together,
seeing them in person, being able to give hugs, shake hands,
bump elbows, whatever it is and really having that personal
connection and time together. And you know, especially this
time around, I made some even more amazing connections that I
have in prior years and I really came away truly feeling that
we're all. Making a difference for our
teams and our companies, and really everyone had a lot to
share about the value of the roles that we have.
And my only regret was this very sad sandwich I had at the Dallas
airport going home. But I suppose that can't be
helped. Hey, that's your biggest regret
then. That's a win in my book, right?
So I wanna thank you so much Hillary for being with me today
during this conversation. You are such a treat to speak
with and just to have around. I'm speaking from experience.
We were able to engage in a little bit of a conversation
during the conference. So you are you are very much a
treat to to myself and the PPS. For those inquiring minds that
may want to learn more about you and the things you may be
involved with, how can they get in contact with you or just find
you on social media to learn more about you.
I appreciate it. So you can find me on LinkedIn
as Hilary Gretton. MB A/C, PP.
You can also reach out to my personal e-mail, HILLARYGRE
tton@gmail.com. That's hilarygretton@gmail.com
and would absolutely love to keep this conversation going.
And Terrence, I will say thank you so much for having me today.
It's been a delight to talk with you again.
Thank you so much. Until next time, we'll see you
guys around. Bye, bye.