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5 Key Insights from Vendavo’s Fall Growth + Profitability Summit

Vendavo< Vendavo September 28, 2022

A riveting economy talk from a renowned bow-tie economist, a CMO’s fancy Vendavo-branded jacket, and a dynamic panel about connecting pricing with the C-suite are just a few of the highlights from Vendavo’s Fall 2022 Growth + Profitability Summit. Discover key insights from the event in this recap. 

On September 12-13, 2022, Vendavo customers, economists, pricers, sellers, and industry thought leaders gathered in Denver, Colorado for Vendavo’s bi-annual Growth + Profitability Summit. Following a similar tune to the European version of the Summit in May, the conference theme was, Making the Complex Simple. Attendees enjoyed networking, keynotes, panels, breakout sessions, a UX lab, product roadmap highlights, and of course, a rooftop party overlooking the beautiful Denver skyline.

Session content included topics like connecting pricing with the c-suite, connecting pricing with selling, simplifying pricing strategies, rebate and channel management, and much more. The goal of the conference is always to help Vendavo customers stay at the forefront of pricing and selling innovation, arm them with best practices, and help them be better positioned than ever to guide their teams to commercial success. If you missed the event this year, here’s a few key takeaways:

1. To connect pricing with other departments in your organization, speak their language

Pricers have difficult jobs. Add the challenges of inflation, supply chain issues, budget freezes, and other economic factors to that equation, and pricing can be even more harrowing that usual. Pricers must connect with and support sales, finance, product management, and the c-suite, to name a few key stakeholders. Each of these departments will have differing and even conflicting goals. Pricers must be the bridge between these departments, listening to and understanding their needs.

In a panel about connecting pricing with sales, Reid Garrett, VP of Merchandising at TruckPro shared, “Pricing is about selling an idea, selling a concept. You have to figure out what sales wants to hear and how they want to hear it. Then, you have to speak their language.”

2. Leading B2B organizations are prioritizing rebate, incentive, and channel programs

Millions of dollars of earned rebate revenue go unclaimed every year. With a better rebate and channel strategy, you can reduce revenue leakage, end margin erosion, and ensure you’re not leaving money on the table.

In 2022, Vendavo acquired Market Medium, a cloud-based rebate and channel management solution provider. Fran Sarbekian and Michelle McMonogle from Shamrock Foods, a Market Medium customer, hosted a breakout session focused on sharing change management lessons learned around their vendor rebates and customer deviation programs.

Many attendees expressed interest in learning more about Rebate & Channel Manager and the wider Vendavo product roadmap. It is clear that rebates, incentives, and channel programs are top of mind for many distributors and manufacturers.

Learn more about Vendavo Rebate & Channel Manager here.

3. We’re not in a recession…yet

Bowtie Economist, Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, gave a riveting keynote session to close out day one about the state of the economy in 2022. He began his keynote by stating, “We’re not in a recession, yet.” However, it is clear that the U.S. is headed in that direction. He also shared that in general the Fed will keep raising rates, inflation is now peaking, and spending on services will rise.

Unfortunately, most roads point to continued economic distress. That’s why now is a better time than ever to get your financial house in order. Check out our eBook, Expert Tips for Recession Proofing Your Business to get pointers around preparing your business for any economic state. 

4. Agility and speed are key to surviving volatility

Not surprisingly, addressing volatility and changing business environments was on the minds of many attendees. Macro and microeconomic factors are clearly pushing businesses to make fast decisions with little to no historical pretense, and many organizations are looking for guidance.

In his keynote, Vendavo’s CEO, Bruno Slosse shared that the need for agility has never been greater. He referenced recent research from Vendavo and Copperberg that revealed that only 10% of organizations rank their pricing agility as excellent. It’s clear that pricers must focus on being more efficient, more agile, and leaner than ever before.

We’ve pulled together a guide to delivering critical pricing agility with improved practices, analytics, and technology. Give it a read if you missed the conference.

5. Pricers must rise to the leadership opportunity

Overall, there’s a call for ongoing leadership of pricing teams. It’s important for pricers to have and deliver the right information and data to the right teams. It’s time for pricers to drive decisions. Pricing and commercial teams are best suited to create, manage, maintain, and prove a company’s pricing strategy.

There’s a difference between mindset shift and change management. You’ll need different strategies and tactics depending on which one your organization needs.

Stephan Liozu, Ph.D.

We’ll leave you with one final lesson learned from the Fall 2022 Growth and Profitability Summit:

As pricers you have to be sellers of the message to the rest of the organization and help them appreciate the beauty of your projects. The ROI on pricing projects and immediate impact to the bottom line outweighs practically any other organizational initiative.

Vendavo’s customer community is foundational to our business. Our customers drive our approach to our products. Thank you to all those who attended Growth + Profitability in Denver this year.

P.S. If you got your headshot taken but have not yet received it, please reach out to marketing@vendavo.com and we will get your LinkedIn looking nice and sharp.