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Hello, everyone, and welcome 
back to the Let's Talk Pricing 

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podcast. 
In this podcast, we dive into 

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the people, strategies, insights
and tactics that are shaping the

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pricing and revenue management 
world. 

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Today, I'm your host, Kevin 
Mitchell from Professional 

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Pricing Society, and today I'm 
very, very excited because we 

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have a very special guest 
joining us. 

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I'm very happy to welcome Mr. 
Andres Gonzalez to our show. 

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Andres has a lot of experience 
working in e-commerce and 

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banking as a strategic data and 
financial manager. 

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For the past few years, he's LED
pricing and analytics and 

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pricing intelligence teams where
he's guided his very large team 

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of high performing individuals 
towards both profit and personal

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growth. 
Also, if you've been around PPS 

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conferences, he may be a 
familiar face. 

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He has presented with us at our 
conferences recently in Chicago 

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and in Berlin and he was also a 
speaker at the cross-border 

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conference in Brussels. 
Today. 

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Andres is here to talk about 
something that the PPS team is 

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very, very excited about. 
And for our members, you have a 

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great surprise coming. 
Andres has a brand new micro 

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course for us. 
It is called building high 

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performing pricing teams, which 
is something that we can all get

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behind and something that we're 
all interested in. 

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So Andres, thank you so much. 
Welcome. 

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And it's great to have you on 
our podcast today. 

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Yeah, thank you for carrying 
again to to see you again and to

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meet again, this time online. 
But yeah, very excited about 

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this DD course I'm giving. 
And yeah, also happy to share a 

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bit more of what you can expect 
about it. 

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OK, terrific. 
Appreciate that. 

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And Andres, we've known each 
other for a little while here 

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and thank you very much for your
partnership with us, your great 

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presentations at our events. 
And those of us around pricing 

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know that you've been leading 
pricing teams for many years 

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now. 
So please tell us a little bit 

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about the moment when you 
realize that it's really 

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important to have a strong, 
diverse, skilled pricing team 

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and how that may be as important
as building your pricing 

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strategy itself. 
Yeah, for sure. 

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Yeah. 
I, I think when, when I started 

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as a head of pricing in, in, in 
Halo print, what we saw, I 

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started with a very small team 
and we were getting stuck with a

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lot of operational work that was
going on with having. 

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And we didn't have the time to 
really think more strategically 

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or more into the future or 
trying to build that strong 

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foundation to be able to like 
move forward. 

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And, and in that moment was 
when, well, we, we kind of saw 

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the the need of expanding a bit 
more the team. 

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And it was not just about having
smart people in the team. 

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It was just also having to have 
the right mix and that diversity

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of, of having thinkers of having
doers, storytellers, innovators,

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that yeah, that dynamic in the 
end was going to be kind of 

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maybe most probably that's why 
we thought in that moment, the 

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perfect formula to to, to have 
that high performing mindset. 

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So it took a bit, of course, to 
understand, OK, which are 

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actually the needs and which are
exactly those profiles that 

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that's actually we're going to 
bring that that value to to the 

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team, but also to the company. 
Yeah. 

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And that's that, I think that's,
that's where we started and and,

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and, and then basically with in,
in the, in the journey, what we 

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saw, we learned a lot is that, 
yeah, you really needed that, 

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that diversity of of again, I 
will repeat, not only skills 

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like hard skills, but also soft 
skills. 

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Definitely. 
And I know that those of us who 

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listen to our podcasts or who 
attend our events will hear 

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others and myself will say it 
all the time. 

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Pricing people. 
We have to have an element of 

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both the artist and the 
scientist within us in order to 

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do great jobs. 
I love how you break down the 

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profiles from your team members 
to where some might concentrate 

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on being thinkers, some are 
doers, some are innovators, and 

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so on and so forth. 
And I love how you have explain 

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to us where you need that 
diversity of thought, where you 

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need some people to concentrate 
more on one versus the other. 

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Some people it might match up 
well with their strengths. 

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And that is a great way to build
a a great team. 

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And that's going to lead us into
really one of the main topics 

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for our discussion today. 
We're really excited about your 

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micro course for those building 
high performance pricing teams, 

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which is very, very important of
course, and your course really 

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gets into the how and not just 
the why behind what goes into 

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building a successful team. 
Can you walk us through what our

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members can expect to learn when
they go through your course? 

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Yeah, sure. 
So the course is divided into 

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models. 
The first model is foundations 

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of high performing pricing team.
Basically here what we're going 

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to see is how to set that clear 
moon shot for your team, 

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understand your team roles in 
the company, understand how to 

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structure around the three main 
pillars that I I always say in, 

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in, yeah, most of my 
presentations and all about 

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business, about data, about 
technology. 

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And then the second model is 
more about leadership, 

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collaboration and continuous 
improvements. 

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So it's, it's a bit different 
course in, in, in, I think in, 

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in price, because we're talking 
a lot about pricing. 

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But here it's also about 
leadership. 

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And how can you translate that 
leadership and and collaboration

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in pricing? 
It's about how to give feedback,

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how to build that momentum, how 
to retain talent, how to find 

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those rock stars and superstars 
in your team. 

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And then and then basically, 
yeah, create that awareness of 

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what is missing now in, in, in, 
in, in that team that you are 

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leading at the moment. 
So yeah, that's what you can 

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expect from the model. 
Very cool. 

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Yes. 
So I'm sure we're all looking 

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forward to the course. 
I like how you break it down 

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into the foundations and then 
you have your three main 

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pillars. 
And you also talk about 

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leadership, collaboration, 
continuous improvement, and of 

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course, retaining talent, 
recognizing the talent and 

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making sure that people are in 
the right types of jobs and have

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the skills and everything behind
them in order to continue to 

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proceed with their careers and 
to develop as pricing, future 

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pricing leaders, future revenue 
managers and people who are 

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going to be basically central to
a lot of different business 

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processes. 
Because as we know or good 

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pricing teams for good revenue 
management teams, you have to 

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have those connections to a lot 
of other groups, both within 

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your company, with your customer
base, with your marketplace, 

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with your suppliers, and 
basically a lot of them. 

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So that that's very powerful. 
And one of the things that I 

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like most about your approach 
about your presentations about 

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the courses that you are working
on with us is as you mentioned, 

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you really put a lot of emphasis
on the people aspect. 

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It's not just algebra, it's not 
just the numbers, it's not just 

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the frameworks, it's not a black
box there, but really is about 

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the individuals on your team in 
order to become a high 

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performing pricing team. 
So why do you think it's 

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especially important right now 
that we focus more on perhaps 

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the people side of that than the
pure numbers side? 

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Yeah. 
So I think I read the other day 

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and I really liked it. 
It's like pricing is no longer 

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about setting numbers, it's 
about navigating complexity. 

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And what you see is that 
everyone in the company always 

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will have an opinion about 
pricing. 

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So from finance, from sales, 
from marketing, from legal, from

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product. 
So in the end, you really need 

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to have the people in, in that 
pricing team that is able to 

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influence, to communicate, like 
to, to lead across different 

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departments. 
And, and that's where what I 

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mentioned before, the importance
of our of understanding, which 

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are the soft skills that you 
need in the team and to find 

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that kind of a balance. 
That's yeah, that's it's not 

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only about being very technical 
in some things, but also like 

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you can trust that people in 
your team can go to other 

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departments and can really, you 
know, have that, that impact. 

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And, and, and, and, and that 
will come with a diversity as, 

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as I will mention in the course,
a lot about cultural diversity, 

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emotional intelligence, being 
able to, to, to be able to 

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react. 
How do you react on pressure on 

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how can you react with all the 
opinions that will come along 

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on, on in this journey? 
So I think that that's, yeah, 

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super important to to have in, 
in, in the team. 

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Definitely. 
And I like in particular, one of

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the things that you said there 
when you talked about it really 

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is dependent upon the pricing 
team in order to go out and to 

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forge these connections. 
And I know that I hear from our 

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members all the time. 
I hear from pricing people no 

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matter where they are in the 
organization, no matter what 

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their title is, that a big part 
of their job is centered around 

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the so-called soft skills as you
mentioned. 

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And essentially you have to 
speak different languages to 

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different people. 
For example, to your senior 

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leadership, you might have a 
32nd elevator speech on top line

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strategies and how it impacts 
the organization overall. 

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For a new financial analyst, he 
or she might actually prefer if 

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you would talk the numbers and 
the margins and percentages in 

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euros or yen or dollars or 
whatever you have there. 

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And of course, those 
conversations would be very 

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different if you're talking with
a 25 year sales veteran, someone

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who's been around and who knows 
his marketplace extremely well. 

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So look how when you talk about 
everyone has an opinion about 

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pricing, the soft skills are so 
important and really it is 

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dependent on us. 
It's part of our job in order to

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be multilingual with other 
people within our organization 

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depending on on where they are. 
And of course, I don't mean 

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specifically multilingual, but 
obviously how we talk to senior 

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management, how we talk to our 
peers, how we talk to sales, how

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we talk to finance, those can 
all be very different 

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discussion. 
And the technology as well, the 

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software engineers that most 
probably will for sure impact 

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your processes. 
And yeah, so it's, it's it's, 

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it's quite interesting, right 
way of dealing and the different

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situations I think. 
Absolutely, yes. 

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And definitely can't forget 
about the technological partners

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that we have as you mentioned. 
And of course, that's a 

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completely different language 
when we talk. 

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Totally. 
Exactly. 

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Yeah. 
You cannot talk to A how you 

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would talk to B how you would 
talk to C and so on and so forth

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there. 
Yeah, right. 

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So I know from your course you 
have a lot of insights for 

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people who are managing teams, 
but for our members who are 

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joining us and listening today, 
who are perhaps new pricing team

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leaders or maybe experienced 
pricing team leaders. 

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But with everything going on 
macroeconomically right now, 

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every day is almost like a new 
day. 

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So for our members who are 
joining us and listening and who

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manage pricing teams or who will
be team leaders one day, what is

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1 quick insight that they could 
apply today from your teaching 

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and from your course? 
Yes, I, I, I think that the, the

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first homework I, I said in the 
in the course was to set up your

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moon shot. 
So set up that ambitious goal 

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that you have for your team 
because most proudly in the 

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company that you work, the, the 
founder already have that 

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vision, right? 
That, that mission and they, 

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they, they know exactly what 
they want to do or where they 

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want to get. 
And, and for sure it's not going

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to be an easy path. 
I do believe that each team 

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should have this as well. 
Each team has that goal that 

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motivates them to wake up every 
morning and say, OK, why am I in

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this pricing team? 
What am I going to do different 

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where where I'm aiming to? 
So I think that that's the first

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thing that I will recommend 
everyone to do before also I 

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kind of doing this course and 
and this I can think that it can

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help. 
It will make more sense when you

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finish it and for sure it will 
make more clear for you and for 

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your team where you want to head
to. 

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Understood. 
Yeah, that's very interesting. 

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And that's another thing that we
hear from pricing leaders all of

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the time is if you can have that
moon shot, if you can have that 

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first primary important job and 
if you can secure a good win 

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there, if you can show some 
results there, then you can 

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expand that of course to 
priorities, B&C&D and so on, so 

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forth down the line. 
So that's very important and 

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that's also an interesting point
because that's a great way to 

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get alignment with your team. 
Our moon shot, our primary job 

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on today in April 2025 is to do 
AB and C. 

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And once we do those, we will 
worry about our other strategic 

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initiatives or strategic plans. 
We'll worry about that later. 

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But right now this is our big 
job. 

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Want to make sure everyone on 
the team is aligned. 

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And of course, as a team leader,
you make yourself available in 

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case anyone has questions or 
concerns or wants to know why or

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wants to know what they can do 
today to further that goal. 

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So I love that as the one quick 
insight, the homework as you 

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said to define that and to move 
forward in that way. 

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So I know that sometimes key 
performance indicators KP is and

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outcomes can be very, very 
different for pricing teams 

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depending on their industry, 
their geography, where they sit 

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in the in the organization chart
and so on and so forth. 

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So as a pricing leader for our 
future pricing leaders, let's 

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talk about outcomes. 
What should pricing leaders be 

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looking for as the signs that 
their team is doing what they're

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supposed to do and delivering 
value to the organization, to 

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the marketplace, to their 
customers. 

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And of course, since we're 
pricing people being compensated

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for that value coming in as 
well. 

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Yeah. 
Yeah. 

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Well, in the end, I think the 
main metrics for for, for what I

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understand and what I've read 
and what I've learned that a 

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pricing team can influence our 
mainly gross profit revenue 

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order. 
You know, the volume conversion 

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rate in the case of e-commerce 
companies. 

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I think that's, that's kind of 
OK that the basic one, but then 

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it's maybe a bit more about that
into understanding how much can 

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your team influence others in 
strategic decisions in the 

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company. 
Do do you really have, is it 

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very clear which is the role of 
your pricing team in your 

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company? 
So I also go through that in the

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in the course Is, is, is, is it 
your the role more operational? 

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Is it more strategic? 
Is it more a consultant style? 

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Is it another one that I don't 
know, but maybe you have that, 

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but is it clear, right? 
Because that can will really be 

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connected to which are those 
metrics that you can steer or 

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you can impact. 
And then, and then the question 

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here is also like, OK, is your 
pricing team more a reactive 

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team or a proactive pricing 
team? 

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And it's not, I'm saying that 
one is good or there is bad. 

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It's also depends of the the 
face of the company where they 

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are, the face of the team where 
they are. 

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And that's I think some, well, 
you will see it also in the 

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course. 
I give some tips of how can you 

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really kind of make sure that 
you set the right expectations 

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in the company and in your team.
All right, understood. 

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And of course, before you said 
that everyone has an opinion 

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about pricing within the 
organization and different 

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departments may have different 
opinions of what pricing is, 

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what it should do, if it should 
be operational, if it should be 

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strategic, if it should be 
analytical, if it should be more

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of a a consultant basis. 
So it's very interesting that 

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everyone has their opinions of 
what the pricing team can be, 

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but the pricing teams function 
within a company can really, 

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really be a changing moving 
target depending on the 

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organization. 
And I know that I talked with 

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pricing professionals all the 
time and people who are really 

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good at their jobs, who have 
built teams that do a great job 

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of delivering value, delivering 
the numbers for their team. 

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And they will say things like, 
yes, when times are tough. 

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My senior leadership sees me as 
a bank machine where I go hit a 

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few buttons and I'm expected 
just to have my team just spit 

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out large numbers of large 
amounts of cash and a lot of 

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money for the organization 
there. 

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So it's interesting when you 
talk about you really, it's kind

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of a cultural thing. 
Again, a soft skill, a human, a 

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personality thing and 
understanding your organization,

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if you are operational, if you 
are strategic, if you are 

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consulting, reactive versus 
proactive. 

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So there are a lot of different 
elements there and of course 

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those can all change very 
quickly as well. 

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Depending if if you are in a 
publicly traded company, 

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depending on your numbers for 
the last quarter, your CEO might

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have completely different goals 
than he or she had in the 

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previous quarter. 
Which means that even though you

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thought you were operational 
now, maybe you're strategic now,

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maybe you are a consulting 
partner now, maybe you are out 

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there on the street working 
directly with sales in order to 

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deliver whatever number or 
whatever goals the organization 

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is looking for. 
And that's, I think one of the 

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thing that makes our jobs are 
part of the business world so 

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interesting is that you've got 
to have all these connections, 

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all these different languages, 
everyone has an opinion. 

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And depending on the day, you 
might have a completely 

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different role than than you had
last Friday or something like 

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that. 
So that's great. 100%, yeah. 

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We are running up on time here, 
but Andre is always very good to

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talk with you and we are really,
really excited about the 

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Building High Performance Teams 
course that you have for us. 

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So everyone makes sure to check 
that out. 

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And I know you've talked a lot 
about your course and about some

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00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,920
of the learnings here. 
But for our last question today,

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could you tell us about one more
key take away that you hope PPS 

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00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,000
members worldwide will leave 
with after viewing your course? 

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00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,120
Yeah. 
So I think you you mentioned it 

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00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:57,480
right now, right. 
So, so it's about being able to 

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adapt to different situations 
and how you are able to. 

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React to these changes. 
Things are changing a lot, 

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especially now with all the 
technology, you know that that's

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coming and, and, and, and then 
how are you able to confront 

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that and, and be able to be 
prepared to get to confront 

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that? 
Right. 

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And I will repeat, it's not 
about are we only smart people? 

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It's about trying to create the 
perfect mix of skills. 

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And again, in my course I said 
you, if you have a football 

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team, you're not going to just 
hire strikers or goalkeepers. 

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You need that mix that will help
you score the goals. 

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So in the end, I believe that 
everyone that also see this 

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00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:50,200
course, I will give them also 
tools to have a better pitch to 

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00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:55,400
come with a better pitch to 
their management board and and 

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00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,920
try to make them understand what
is the the importance of 

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investing in the pricing team 
and investing in those different

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key players that you're missing 
to to achieve success. 

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Yes, I like the analogy of the 
football team there and someone 

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00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:17,080
when he was a kid growing up who
was a very mediocre goalkeeper. 

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I do like the idea and the 
thought 11 goalkeepers on the 

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the pitch at one time. 
Of course, that would devolve 

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into rugby more than than 
football, but that would be at 

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least interesting to see for a 
while. 

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But a great analogy there where,
yes, you can't have all 

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strikers, you can't have all 
people who want to score with 

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00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,040
every touch of the ball. 
You've got to have all of the 

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elements in there, as you 
mentioned before. 

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You've got to have your 
thinkers, your doers, your 

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00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,840
innovators. 
You've got to have people who 

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can handle the soft skills, who 
can speak in different languages

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to different people when needed,
and also who are very adaptable 

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to change. 
And that reminds me that we 

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00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,840
always misquote Charles Darwin 
on that, where the strongest 

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00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,080
survive. 
But the actual Darwin quote I 

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think is it's the most adaptable
and the most welcoming of change

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that survives, not necessarily 
the strongest. 

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If it were the strongest, we 
would still have dinosaurs 

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everywhere, all over the place. 
Well, Andres, thank you very 

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00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,640
much. 
Unfortunately, we're running out

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00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:21,440
of time, but always good to talk
with you. 

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Good to see you. 
You know, it's only virtually 

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00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,120
this time. 
Thank you very much for sharing 

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00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:29,600
your knowledge with us today. 
And for everyone listening, 

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00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:33,240
please check out the building 
High performance pricing teams 

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with Mr. Andres Gonzalez. 
You can access that through your

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00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,640
PPS learning platform. 
Visit pricingsociety.com to get 

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00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:45,360
started. 
And also we here at the PPS team

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00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:49,640
are very, very much looking 
forward to visiting your your 

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00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,960
current hometown of Barcelona. 
We will be with you later in the

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00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:57,320
year for our conference where 
we're going to focus on some 

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00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,640
EMEA things at the very 
beginning of December. 

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So I look forward to seeing you 
and some of your neighbors and 

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00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,640
people from around the world in 
the great city of Barcelona in a

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00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:08,920
few months. 
Of course, our other events, we 

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00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,720
will be in Dallas for our spring
conference coming up very soon 

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00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,160
here in May. 
We'll be in Las Vegas for our 

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00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,400
fall American Conference in 
October. 

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00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,760
And of course, very much looking
forward to being in your part of

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00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,320
the world in Barcelona after 
that later in the fall. 

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00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:27,360
So, Andres, thank you so much, 
Sir. 

387
00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:29,840
Always good to talk with you. 
We look forward to seeing you 

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00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,400
soon. 
And everyone, please make sure 

389
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:36,320
to check out Andres's course on 
building high performance 

390
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,960
pricing teams. 
And we have lots of other 

391
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,720
training options available for 
you and your team with leaders 

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00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,720
such as Andres, people who have 
built high performance teams 

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00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,080
themselves. 
And we thank you for your 

394
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,000
partnership and I look forward 
to talking and seeing everyone 

395
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:52,440
again soon. 
Thank you, Kevin. 

396
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,600
Thank you again. 
Also nice to meet you online 

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00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,800
this time as you said and for 
sure more, more than welcome 

398
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:03,000
here in Barcelona. 
Hope to see you soon well end of

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00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,120
the year and and share more 
knowledge about what really like

400
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,560
this is pricing that is pricing.
Definitely, we are looking 

401
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,880
forward to more knowledge to 
come and we will see everyone 

402
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,360
again soon on the Let's Talk 
Pricing podcast. 

403
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:18,440
Thanks so much everyone.