--- title: Manufacturing & Distribuiton | Featured description: Featured | --- - [ Hospitality ](https://www.revenueanalytics.com/hospitality/n2pricing) - [ Manufacturing & Distribution ](https://www.revenueanalytics.com/md/pricing-as-a-service) - [ Private Equity ](https://www.revenueanalytics.com/md/pricing-as-a-service) - [ Media ](https://www.revenueanalytics.com/media/rateoptics) - [ Passenger Rail ](https://www.revenueanalytics.com/rail/farevantage) [ #### N2Pricing™​ The above-property RMS. ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hospitality/n2pricing) [ Hotelier Gets the Pricing Power it Needs to Beat the Competition ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hubfs/Case_Study_Hotelier_Gets_the_Pricing_Power_it_Needs_to_Beat_the_Competition.pdf) [ #### Pricing-as-a-Service™ Profitable pricing decisions at scale. ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/pricing-as-a-service) [ Packaging Giant Slashes Deal Cycle Time 69% & Boosts Margin 4% ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hubfs/Case%20Stories/PAPA/Packaging%20Giant%20Uses%20Price+%20to%20Slash%20Deal%20Cycle%20Time.pdf) [ #### Pricing-as-a-Service™ Precision pricing for industrial portfolio companies. ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/pricing-as-a-service) [ Does Your Portco Have a Pricing Problem? ](https://www.revenueanalytics.com/resources/pe/does-your-portco-have-a-pricing-problem) [ #### RateOptics™​ Modern ad pricing and sales analytics. ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/media/rateoptics) [ Sales Managers Get Their Valuable Time Back at Top Radio Broadcaster ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hubfs/Case_Study_Sales_Managers_Get_Their_Valuable_Time_Back_at_Top_Radio_Broadcaster.pdf) [ #### FareVantage™​ Next-gen Revenue Management for Passenger Rail. ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/rail/farevantage) [ Rail Operator Exceeds Revenue Goals and Lofty Customer Expectations ](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hubfs/Case_Study_Rail_Operator_Exceeds_Revenue_Goals_and_Lofty_Customer_Expectations.pdf) ## [HBR: Where Digital Transformations Go Wrong (response)](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/hbr-where-digital-transformations-go-wrong) Posted by [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/author/jared-wiesel) on Oct 5, 2021 4:25:19 PM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) Ms. Conway and Mr. Codkind make a multitude of interesting and provocative statements [in the HBR article on Digital Transformation](https://hbr.org/2021/08/where-digital-transformations-go-wrong-in-small-and-midsize-companies). Let me start by saying in large part I agree with many assertions they made, such as 60% of orgs think their data isn’t good enough (spoiler alert: it is), and most think the competition has the advantage because their own infrastructure isn’t set up. To help those who insist their data isn’t good enough, we’ve provided this handy C-Suite Excuse Form you can use in your next board meeting ([download PDF here](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hubfs/Revenue%20Analytics%20C-Suite%20Excuse%20Form.pdf)). ![Revene Analytics C-Suite Excuse Form](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Revene%20Analytics%20C-Suite%20Excuse%20Form.png?width=1755&name=Revene%20Analytics%20C-Suite%20Excuse%20Form.png) While the article does make many good points, here’s where I must object to Ms. Conway and Mr. Codkind: YOUR FIRST STEP IS TO HIRE A DATA SCIENTIST?!? Oh, if it were only that easy. Listen, if we could plug in an FTE and solve our digital transformation issues, we’d all be happy as clams and this article would never be written. The truth is that Data Scientists are like electron microscopes. If you know what you’re looking for and you have a great sample ready to go – perfect. Unfortunately for most, we’re sticking a large log under a rickety 5th grade science class starter ‘scope and expecting tea leaves to be read. The truth is that data scientists aren’t miracle workers. [You can’t just hire one. Or two. Or a few.](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/hbr-how-to-hire-a-data-scientist?utm_source=resource_text_hyperlink&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=md&utm_content=hbr_digital_transformations) If you’re wanting results, you need the data to be operational. The data must be put into the right format first. That’s not what data scientists do. If you’re handing a Data Scientist raw data that’s like asking a precision jeweler to pick up an axe and head into the mine to dig out some gems. It’s not what they do and a waste of their talents. So, what’s a business to do? You don’t have to hire a Data Scientist (or a dozen). You can scale up laterally, not internally. Less cost, less risk, quicker, and with a bigger payoff. How? The Revenue Analytics Manufacturing and Distribution team is well known for our 1/3rd model. A third Data Engineers to cleanse and format the data, a third Data Scientists to drive results out of the data, and a third Strategists who understand what actions are business reasonable and what the actual business goals are. Data Scientists, as you may know, aren’t typically known for their business acumen. The 1/3 approach allows us to act like an extension of your team – you don’t need to have an internal team to manage your pricing challenges, we can do that by working collaboratively with you, driving results from our analytics engine [Pricing-as-a-Service](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/pricing-as-a-service). Okay, so what did Conway and Codkind nail? Pricing and digital transformation is a journey – not an end goal. You don’t get to cross a magic finish line and retire. The competitive market will change, COGS will change, taxes and tariffs may arise, customers’ needs always change, heck your own offerings may even change. The biggest mistake you can make now is delaying – but you don’t have to. Take the first step now and [start a conversation with a pricing expert](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/demo/pricing-as-a-service). 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/hbr-where-digital-transformations-go-wrong#comments-listing) Topics: [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/jared-wiesel), [Featured](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/featured), [Paper and Packaging](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/paper-and-packaging) ## [HBR: How B2B Firms Can Price with Confidence as Inflation Rises (a response)](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/hbr-how-b2b-firms-can-price-with-confidence-as-inflation-rises) Posted by [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/author/jared-wiesel) on Jul 15, 2021 10:22:59 AM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) As an executive in the Manufacturing and Distribution space, chances are [this Harvard Business Review](https://hbr.org/2021/07/how-b2b-firms-can-price-with-confidence-as-inflation-rises) article came across your desk recently. Inflation, the spike of cost increases in commodity goods, labor, transportation, and now lead time issues have many reaching for a bottle of Pepto. Candidly, I believe the article falls short. Well short of being truly helpful, at least. > “Prolonged inflation has not reared its head since the 1970s. While chronic inflation might not occur, companies need to hedge now against a medium- or long-term inflation scenario. Most corporate leaders have not dealt with macro inflation during their careers, leaving them unsure of how to proceed.” The authors do a wonderful job of painting the picture we already know – margins are now compressed to eye-popping levels. Costs continue to rise and if we do nothing, the future of the organization could be at risk. This we know. ![img-hbr-responsehttps://hbr.org/2021/07/how-b2b-firms-can-price-with-confidence-as-inflation-rises](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hs-fs/hubfs/img-hbr-response.png?width=432&name=img-hbr-response.png) But what are we to do? The authors posit a handful of suggestions, the most actionable of which is appropriately positioned as the #1 driver: *Treat customers differently. Instead of blanket pricing moves, use surgical increases informed by the cost to serve, historical performance, and value to the supplier of an individual customer or segment.* Okay, let’s do that. Let’s price customers differently, makes sense. > “Some executives seem paralyzed…it’s tough to give customers bad news twice — higher prices and longer waits for the goods. Still, the current environment favors companies that act quickly to make the right pricing moves.”   What’s that you say? You don’t have a pricing scalpel capable of precise, surgical cuts of pricing of deals and products across thousands of SKUs and customers from a handful of channels to make the right pricing moves? This is where I get frustrated, and many leaders and companies get into trouble. The strategic lever to pull is, in fact pricing. However, it can be ineffective at best and catastrophic at worst if done incorrectly. The key isn’t pricing moves, it’s the *right *pricing moves. SPOILER ALERT: The “how” in making the right pricing moves is absent from the article. The truth is there is no silver bullet. Each industry, company, and competitive environment is different. The right solution will utilize your strategy, make business sense, have a clear and proven ROI, and be fully adopted by your sales team. Yes, the right pricing moves are important. Yes, you need to act. Together we can. [Book a time](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/demo/pricing-as-a-service) to see how we can implement prescriptive, cloud-based analytics designed and implemented by our Ph. D mathematicians, strategists, and data engineers that allow YOU to make the *right *pricing moves.   0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/hbr-how-b2b-firms-can-price-with-confidence-as-inflation-rises#comments-listing) Topics: [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/jared-wiesel), [Featured](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/featured), [Paper and Packaging](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/paper-and-packaging) ## [HBR: How to Hire a Data Scientist (and my take)](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/hbr-how-to-hire-a-data-scientist) Posted by [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/author/jared-wiesel) on Mar 24, 2021 1:40:33 PM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) Hiring a Data Scientist sounds wonderful at first – and the results they are capable of delivering can be. But [you can’t have them work on everything](https://hbr.org/2021/03/4-ways-to-democratize-data-science-in-your-organization), and to be successful you’ll need to construct a team of them to be able to deal with the key challenges surrounding building your data science team. [![img-build-a-talent-dashboard](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hs-fs/hubfs/img-build-a-talent-dashboard.png?width=457&name=img-build-a-talent-dashboard.png)](https://hbr.org/2019/01/data-science-and-the-art-of-persuasion) Yes, team. The harsh truth is if you were considering bringing on one (or two, or three) high-priced Data Scientists to solve your most challenging problems – which for many, pricing and revenue management – you’ll need a stable of Data Scientists who possess a suite of talents this recent [Harvard Business Review article highlights](https://hbr.org/2019/01/data-science-and-the-art-of-persuasion). So, what talents do you need to have present on your data science team to deliver meaningful results? 1. Project management 2. Data wrangling 3. Data analysis 4. Subject expertise 5. Design 6. Storytelling Some of these skills may look obvious, others might have resulted in a raised eyebrow. The biggest takeaway here needs to be a cautionary tale to those who have their hopes pinned on bringing in one, two, or even a small handful of Data Scientists to solve your biggest problems. The truth is, they’re not miracle workers and each have core strengths that, when blended with others, can deliver results. But you’re not getting those results by hiring a few Data Scientists by their lonesome, let alone one. So, what then? Save up until you can afford the whole gang? Hope your company suddenly quintuples revenue and you have a flood of FTE approvals delivered to your inbox? Hardly. The truth is you don’t have to wait to have the power of data science deliver meaningful results to your business. The key is to work with a partner who has these resources already in place, and can offer ongoing solutions for a fraction of the cost of one Data Scientist. Yes, less than the cost of one Data Scientist. Curious if your challenges can be met by this model? Check out some [recent success stories](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/resources/md?topic=Success#resources) for yourself, then [book a time now](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/demo/pricing-as-a-service) to see if you can act today to solve your challenges…or you need to save up for that internal data dream team. 0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/hbr-how-to-hire-a-data-scientist#comments-listing) Topics: [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/jared-wiesel), [Featured](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/featured), [Paper and Packaging](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/paper-and-packaging) ## [Pricing…a Data Scientist](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/pricing-a-data-scientist) Posted by [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/author/jared-wiesel) on Feb 23, 2021 5:41:47 PM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) You feel like you’re stuck. Something must be done, but investing in a Data Scientist increasingly feels like a reach because the more you think about it, the more it looks like a bottomless pit. First, you know it’s going to be really tough to get one. The good ones are in high demand, and unless your internal talent team is used to recruiting them; tack on an additional 20% for the headhunter. Bidding war for their services is a safe assumption. Assuming they stay for more than a few months, you know one Data Scientist doesn’t really function on an island. At a minimum, they’ll need Data Engineers to standardize the data (unless your data is in perfect form today), and other Data Scientists to work alongside and ideate with. If you’re looking to actually apply the learnings produced, add in an analyst and a strategist to translate the math output into business actions. So…not exactly a drop in the bucket, and who knows when the ROI on this investment actually starts to pay back. Year three? Five? You know your Pricing is off, and something must be done. But the known options on the table stunk and now investing in a Data Scientist feels decidedly less appetizing given the actual FTE investment dollars. The truth is, there is no silver bullet. No one hire or tool that fixes everything. But the unlock we’ve had with our internal Growth Fuel engines is pretty close. Immediate results. ROI in under a year. Less than the cost of one Data Scientist – let alone all of the other things you’d actually need to make that Data Scientist do anything. [Let us prove it to you.](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/demo/pricing-as-a-service) If nothing else, we know you’ll walk away with invaluable industry insights and alternatives you can use to move your business forward today. Select a time today to see how Revenue Analytics can be the cost-effective solution you’ve been searching for.   0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/pricing-a-data-scientist#comments-listing) Topics: [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/jared-wiesel), [Featured](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/featured), [Paper and Packaging](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/paper-and-packaging) ## [The Profit Lever Every CFO Should Be Using](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/the-profit-lever-every-cfo-should-be-using) Posted by [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/author/jared-wiesel) on Nov 20, 2020 5:33:36 PM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) At any point in time, smart CFOs have one, if not many, cost-cutting initiatives underway. And because of the challenges of COVID, cost-cutting is becoming a necessity. Why? ## **Chiefly, Profit = Price – Cost** A ground-breaking study by McKinsey, published in the Harvard Business Review, found that a 1% improvement in variable cost yields operating profit improvement of 7.8%. ![graphic-profit-lever-1](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Revenue_Analytics_Early2019/Blog/graphic-profit-lever-1.png?width=1986&name=graphic-profit-lever-1.png) And a 1% improvement in *fixed costs* returns 2.3% improvement. ## **Cost: The Go-To Profit Lever** Not only that, there’s always (theoretically) room to improve cost. Plus, low cost is a competitive advantage. Also, when economic uncertainty abounds, cost feels safe to focus on. You can measure cost, you can exert control over cost, you can rein it in and stomp it out. And executed correctly, cost-cutting initiatives can yield strong ROI. ## **A Much Bigger Lever** But, what if there was a bigger lever you could pull? Let’s go back to the profit equation: **Profit = Price – Cost.** What about price? For most companies, price receives far less attention. And yet it’s price, and not cost, that is the single biggest profit lever you can pull: ![graphic-profit-lever-2](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Revenue_Analytics_Early2019/Blog/graphic-profit-lever-2.png?width=1765&name=graphic-profit-lever-2.png) A 1% improvement in price creates operating profit improvement of 11.1%. That’s a huge lever. Pull it correctly and you could see big returns. The challenge is most companies don’t know where to start to address their pricing, or can’t handle the scale and complexity of their pricing to make wholesale changes. Enter Pricing-as-a-Service—our suite of prescriptive analytics engines has everything you need to set the right price for every deal, and take the right price increases over time  and deliver significant profit gains. [Book a Pricing-as-a-Service demo](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/demo/pricing-as-a-service) now and take the first step to pulling the most meaningful lever.   0 Comments [Click here to read/write comments](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/the-profit-lever-every-cfo-should-be-using#comments-listing) Topics: [Jared Wiesel](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/jared-wiesel), [Featured](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/featured), [Paper and Packaging](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/tag/paper-and-packaging) [All posts](https://4864103.hs-sites.com/md/blog/all)