Ibbaka has been selected for the 2019 Ready to Rocket list. Curated by Rocket Builders, the Ready to Rocket list identifies the companies in British Columbia expected to have the highest growth and most impact on the innovation economy. Ibbaka looks forward to contributing to the success of the other companies on the list.

Join the Ibbaka team on Thursday March 21 for two pricing case studies. One looks at Economic Value Estimation in precision agriculture. The other looks at vectors of innovation and pricing in media (the subject being the iconic British financial newspaper The Financial Times). This is part of the Value Innovation and Pricing Vancouver series of MeetUps.

Revenue recognition seems to be a dull and technical topic, only of interest to accountants and CFOs. This is a dangerous way to think. Revenue recognition principles can shape the design of your services and constrains how you price.

Should innovators try to innovate on pricing? Some recent articles suggest this is a bad idea and that it is better to work in accepted frames when it comes to pricing. The real answer is ‘it depends.’ It depends on the nature of the innovation: improvement to an existing value driver; new way to deliver a value driver; new value driver?

Our recent research on how people price innovations found different pricing methods for sustaining versus disruptive innovators. Sustaining innovators tend to use value-based pricing. Disruptive innovators are more likely to price relative to the market alternative. We explore why this might be using the Clayton Christensen model of disruptive innovation.

What is value management? (And why you should care). A document from back in November 2012 that sets out the basic approach to value management, and how it integrates innovation, marketing, sales and of course pricing. A new version of this document is in development.

Predicting the outcomes of pricing changes is difficult. Many different forces interact. Ibbaka combines market segmentation with causal diagrams and Monte Carlo models to understand the range of possible outcomes of a pricing change and how to manage the risks of the change.

At Ibbaka, we begin our pricing work by understanding the value of your product or service from the perspective of your customer. Our approach is to research, validate and quantify the economic (monetary) and emotional value your offer creates for the market with customers and non-customers. By understanding your differentiation relative to the customer’s next best competitive alternative, we can design a pricing model built that communicates and even amplifies your differentiation.

The Ibbaka value proposition goes beyond our pricing strategy, analysis and design work. We also work to embed a deep understanding of pricing in our clients. We do this using the Performance Improvement Cycle. The result is our clients excel at implementing our advice and ask us better questions.

Pricing is often seen as a branch of the dismal science, a coldly analytical attempt to extract the maximum price from buyers. Good pricing practice is completely different from this stereotype. It factors in empathy and emotion and is deeply concerned about the value delivered to the customer (V2C).

Ibbaka is here to help you drive growth by getting focussing in on the market segments where you create the most value. We help you design pricing that reinforces your value and differentiation. The results is you can capture more value and keep the lifetime value of the customer (LTV) and value to the customer V2C) in balance.

What should should you be doing in 2019 to build and activate pricing as a driver of business growth? A combination of new capabilities, market research and decisive action is needed. The outcome can be greatly improved performance.

Looking back at pricing predictions for 2018 we see how good our crystal ball really was.

Reflecting on the importance of shifting our approach to understanding others from asking about their professions to exploring their values. Through various encounters during travels, discovering that focusing on what people value leads to more meaningful conversations. This introspection prompts us to rethink the screening process for potential investments, emphasizing the significance of motivation and values.

The Vancouver Value Innovation and Pricing Meetup will have its first meeting on Thursday January 17, from 6:00 PM, at VentureLabs. The theme is Value and Pricing Along the Customer Journey. Please join us for a vigorous discussion.

There is a strong link to innovation and value creation. To foster innovation, we need to embrace diversity. Linda Naiman shares her approach to unlocking creativity by leveraging a whole-brain model as well as a 10 step design thinking methodology for innovation.

Meaningful innovation is a community effort. As a contribution to the Vancouver innovation community Ibbaka is sponsoring a new meetup on value innovation and pricing. We will meet about four times a year in Vancouver and may have meetups in Victoria and Kelowna as well.

Primary research for B2B pricing requires a focus on how the offer creates value for different types of prospective customer and how the customers buy. It is important to combine surveys with interviews and to avoid confirmation bias. Direct questions about willingness to pay (WTP) give misleading results.

Customer lifetime value (LTV or CLV) is a critical metric for many companies in the subscription economy. But before your LTV comes V2C (Value to Customer). Understanding how you will create value to your customers over time should come before estimates of LTV and LTV and V2C need to be kept aligned.