Spyri Karasavva has had an incredible career in finance, SaaS, and pricing. She's been a financial analyst for a PE fund, worked in product & finance strategy for Stripe, was the first GTM hire at Stytch, is now the founder & CEO of Dealops.

In this episode, Spyri shares her career journey and the importance of pricing in B2B sales. She discusses the challenges of deal pricing and the need for effective pricing strategies and guidance. She emphasizes the importance of collaboration between pricing, product, and sales teams and suggests that pricing strategy should be an integral part of the product development process. She also highlights the need for software solutions in pricing enablement, specifically during the quoting process, to enforce finance guidance and optimize deal economics.

Takeaways

- Pricing is a critical aspect of B2B sales, and non-standard deals often require careful decision-making on product inclusion, pricing, discounts, and payment terms.

- Collaboration between pricing, product, and sales teams is essential for effective pricing strategies and guidance.

- Pricing strategy should be integrated into the product development process, with the pricing team working closely with customers and users.

- Deal pricing teams are best placed under the finance department to ensure alignment with company goals and protect gross margin and cash flow.- Software solutions, particularly during the quoting process, can optimize pricing enablement and provide custom pricing recommendations that align with finance guidance.

- DealOps serves companies of all sizes, with a focus on larger companies with complex pricing models and thin margins.

- DealOps is a good fit for industries facing price wars or commoditization.

- DealOps aims to deliver at least 6 times ROI and capture around 15-18% of the value they create.- DealOps offers both revenue uplift and time efficiencies for sales teams.

- Many companies lack good pricing performance data, which can hinder their ability to make informed pricing decisions.

- The four-step process for pricing includes determining the right unit metric, setting the list price, deciding on discounts, and enforcing discounts.

- Discounts should be aligned with customer segments and behavior incentives.

- Monitoring and tracking pricing data is crucial for optimizing pricing strategies. Sound Bites

"In the B2B world, it almost doesn't matter what price you have on your website. Most deals that actually get signed have some sort of custom price or are considered non-standard."

"I think it's kind of crazy that nobody has really optimized the link between sales incentives, deal economics, and the company's bottom line."

"The way to do B2B pricing enablement is through the quoting process. It's the only time that a rep cares a lot about pricing."

"We need to deliver at least 6 times return on investment."

"We reduce the time that it takes to price a deal from 30 minutes to 3-4 minutes."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:49 The Importance of Pricing in B2B Sales

05:58 Collaboration between Pricing, Product, and Sales Teams

08:53 Integrating Pricing Strategy into Product Development

11:50 The Role of Deal Pricing Teams

15:01 Optimizing Pricing Enablement with Software Solutions

26:04 Serving Companies with Complex Pricing Models and Thin Margins

32:08 The Challenge of CRM and CPQ Setup

37:21 The Importance of Pricing Performance Data

42:24 The Four-Step Process for Pricing

47:57 Monitoring and Tracking Pricing Data