Why I Wrote A to Z of Pricing

Why this book exists

Pricing is one of the most powerful — and misunderstood — levers in industrial organizations.

After years of working across manufacturing, supply chains, and aftermarket services, I repeatedly observed the same pattern: pricing decisions were often

Over the years, I noticed three common problems in many organizations:

1) Pricing is treated like a calculator—not a strategy

Many teams focus on “cost + markup” without asking:

• What does the customer actually value?

• What is the competitive context?

• What is the lifecycle stage of the product?

• What do we want pricing to achieve (growth, margin, retention, simplicity, speed)?

2) Data exists, but decisions are slow

Even when companies have ERP systems, BI dashboards, and “reports,” pricing decisions can still be slow because:

• Data is spread across systems or teams

• Rules are not documented

• Approval flows are unclear

• There’s no standard method for exceptions, discounts, or price updates

3) Pricing often lacks a practical “playbook”

Teams may have smart people, but no shared structure:

• What to analyze first

• How to set guardrails

• How to manage exceptions

• How to connect pricing to strategy

This book was written to bring that structure—end-to-end.

What I wanted to change

I wrote A to Z of Pricing to help leaders and practitioners move from:

• reactive pricing           →  intentional pricing

• fragmented inputs     → repeatable decisions

• internal debates         → clear frameworks

• slow updates              → controlled speed

• “one-time analysis”   → pricing as a system

Pricing should not be a one-off activity. It should be a capability—built like operations: with processes, tools, governance, and continuous improvement.

What you’ll get from the book (in simple terms)

This book combines three layers:

1) Foundations (the “A to Z” basics)

• pricing objectives and strategy

• cost, value, market positioning

• segmentation and corridors

• discount structures and governance

• common traps (and how to avoid them)

2) Practical execution (how work actually happens)

• how to build price lists and manage updates

• how to structure approvals without bottlenecks

• how to handle exceptions without breaking discipline

• how to create pricing ownership across functions

3) AI and the future (without hype)

• what AI can and can’t do reliably

• where AI supports pricing teams (analysis, detection, drafting, monitoring)

• how to implement AI responsibly (governance, privacy, validation)

A real-world example (typical situation)

Here’s a common scenario in industrial pricing:

A company has thousands of items, a mix of engineered components and standardized parts. Over time:

• price lists drift (old assumptions)

• suppliers change terms (but updates don’t flow fast)

• margins vary wildly across similar items

• sales requests exceptions frequently

• internal teams debate “who owns what”

What works in practice is not “more meetings.” What works is a system:

• a clear rulebook (corridors + thresholds)

• a clean process for exceptions

• a monthly review rhythm (not annual panic)

• a method to prioritize what matters most (Pareto)

• documented governance (who decides, who approves, who updates)

That is the mindset behind this book.

A simple framework I use (and teach)

If you want a practical approach that works in manufacturing environments, use this 6-step loop:

1. Define the objective
   Margin improvement? competitiveness? speed? stability?

2. Segment
   Not all customers, products, and regions behave the same.

3. Set guardrails (corridors)
   Define minimum margin, maximum deviation, and exception thresholds.

4. Build a repeatable process
   Who updates? who approves? what evidence is required?

5. Measure what matters
   Margin bridge, win/loss, price realization, exceptions rate, cycle time.

6. Improve continuously
   Monthly rhythm, audit changes, clean master data, remove friction.

This is how you turn pricing into an operating capability—not a one-time Excel exercise.

Quick checklist (use this today)

If you’re managing pricing (or want to), check these:

• Do we have a written pricing objective per segment?

• Do we know our top 20% revenue items and their margin health?

• Do we have price corridors and exception thresholds?

• Is the approval flow clear and fast?

• Are price updates planned (monthly/quarterly) instead of chaotic?

• Do we track exceptions rate (how often rules are bypassed)?

• Can we explain pricing logic simply to sales and management?

• Are we validating AI outputs (if we use AI) before publishing?

• Is our data source reliable (cost, competitor, lead time, availability)?

• Do we have governance (owner, backup, audit trail)?

If you can’t confidently tick at least 7 of these, the pricing system is likely leaking value.

Why “A to Z” matters now

The market is changing quickly:

• customers compare faster

• competition is more transparent

• costs shift more often

• supply chains remain volatile

• AI is accelerating analysis—but also creating risk if used blindly

That means pricing must become:

• faster, but controlled

• smarter, but auditable

• consistent, but adaptable by segment

This book is written to support that reality.

Where to find the book

A to Z of Pricing – From History to the AI Future for Manufacturing
Buy on Amazon (Kindle): (paste your link here)
Also available via local Amazon stores (ASIN: B0GCGSDXQ7).

Final note

If you are building pricing capability in an industrial organization—especially in manufacturing, aftermarket, or complex B2B—my goal is simple:

Help you make pricing decisions that are practical, explainable, scalable, and connected to real customer value.