S4E6 - Pricing Lessons from “The Office”

CJ Gustafson of Mostly Metrics and Run the Numbers is back on The Pricing Guys. He and Michael dig into how to stay authentic when AI makes generic content nearly free to produce, why CJ treats his own voice as his moat, and where he draws the line on using AI in his work. They also cover the pricing side: how transparent to be when AI influences deal pricing, why CFOs value predictability over price, and why outcome-based pricing is easier to talk about than to execute without strong telemetry and attribution. Topics: AI and authenticity, low-effort AI outreach, pricing transparency, the say-to-do ratio, outcome-based and usage-based pricing, CFO predictability, and the risk of being confident but wrong. The Pricing Guys is produced by Revenue Management Labs (revenueml.com).

Protein is in bars, milk, coffee, and even gummy bears. But what happens to pricing when a trend this big keeps getting more expensive? In this episode of The Pricing Guys, Avy Punwasee and Michael Stanisz of Revenue Management Labs talk about the rising cost of whey protein, premiumization, and whether protein is the next pumpkin spice. It starts with the office snack bill. The team goes through protein bars quickly, buys them by the truckload at Costco, and the bills are expensive. They get into why demand is outpacing supply, with food companies adding protein to more products and people on weight loss drugs wanting to maintain muscle mass. They cite whey protein prices up 182% since 2005, and discuss how companies might respond with premiumization, price increases, pack changes and reformulation with options like pea protein. They also ask whether it makes sense to invest in new capacity when prices are at an all-time high, and whether protein is a lasting trend or a fad. Key takeaways When input costs rise, companies may respond with premiumization, price increases and pack changes. If protein goes into everything, it may stop being a reason to pay more. Companies are discussing reformulating with pea protein and other types of protein. -Investing in new capacity when prices are at a peak is a risk if the trend fades. Eventually someone will compete on price, so brands need to know where they sit on the value chain. Consumers have breaking points on how much protein they want in a product. About The Pricing Guys The Pricing Guys is a podcast on pricing strategy, revenue management, and go-to-market, hosted by Avy Punwasee and Michael Stanisz of Revenue Management Labs (RML), a pricing strategy consultancy with offices in Toronto, New York, and London. Learn more: https://revenueml.com #PricingStrategy #WheyProtein #Premiumization #CPGPricing #FoodPricing #RevenueManagement #ThePricingGuys

How do you price software when AI can copy it quickly and cheaply? In this episode of The Pricing Guys, Avy Punwasee and Michael Stanisz of Revenue Management Labs break down what AI agents that can replicate software mean for value-based pricing, subscription costs, and competitive moats.  Michael and Avy start with a story about AI agents recreating entire apps and video games from existing products. It used to take a factory and months to copy a product. Now it takes a little compute and very little time. They compare it to offshore manufacturers cutting apart North American products, then ask what happens to pricing when the code itself is no longer the value. Using a $500 to $700 a month HR software subscription as an example, they explain why business buyers will start questioning what they pay for, and what software companies can do about it.    Key takeaways  When AI can replicate code quickly, the code is no longer the moat.  Time saved is a weak value metric if a cheaper tool saves the same time.  Proprietary data, like patterns across millions of records, is harder to copy than software features.  Implementation and change management make a product stickier than the product alone.  Tech-enabled service is a growing model, with software companies adding service and service firms adding tech.  Companies should rethink their value equation now, because the traditional moats are going away.  About The Pricing Guys  The Pricing Guys is a podcast on pricing strategy, revenue management, and go-to-market, hosted by Avy Punwasee and Michael Stanisz of Revenue Management Labs (RML), a pricing strategy consultancy with offices in Toronto, New York, and London.    Learn more: https://revenueml.com    #PricingStrategy #AIAndPricing #SoftwarePricing #RevenueManagement #ValueBasedPricing #SaaS #ThePricingGuys

Avy and Michael go virtual for a lighter episode, pulling pricing lessons from one of Michael’s favourite shows, The Office. They start with the Michael Scott Paper Company. After quitting Dunder Mifflin, Michael undercuts his old employer on price and wins account after account, until his accountant points out that selling paper for less than it costs means the company loses more money the bigger it gets. Dunder Mifflin panics and buys him out after only a few weeks, a reaction the hosts see in real companies all the time. They also discuss Dwight’s sales call that puts a competitor on hold to prove the value of customer service, whether that kind of intangible value still justifies a 5 to 10% premium today, and why value perceptions shift over time. In this episode: Why profit is sanity and market share is vanity How to reverse engineer a competitor’s cost base before reacting to aggressive pricing The risk of knee-jerk price cuts without analysis Making value tangible to the customer Why value and cost should be reviewed at least annually The Pricing Guys is brought to you by Revenue Management Labs. Learn more at revenueml.com.

A new AI competitor just launched at half your price and your sales team is hearing about it on every renewal call. What do you do? Michael and Avy put that exact question into Gemini and let it build out a three point pricing strategy live on camera. Then they tear it apart. In this episode they get into why Gemini’s first instinct to offer discounts and multi year contracts misses the most important question entirely, why the first move should never be a price response and what you should be doing instead, how good better best sounds smart on paper but can quietly destroy your margins with your most loyal customers, what AI gets right about pricing strategy and where it falls dangerously short, and why the biggest gap in any AI generated strategy is everything that happens after the analysis. Drop your thoughts in the comments. Would you trust AI to build your pricing strategy? --- New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe so you do not miss one. #PricingStrategy #AIAndPricing #ThePricingGuys #PricingPodcast #RevenueStrategy #B2BPricing #SoftwarePricing #PricingExperts #Season4 #Gemini revenueml.com

Pricing teams have spent decades chasing the power of 1%. Governments are out here moving 50% overnight. So what does that mean for the people whose job it is to manage pricing strategy? Michael and Avy tackle a question that came in from a listener and it is one of the most relevant conversations happening in boardrooms right now. Tariffs are moving faster and bigger than any pricing team was built to handle and the question is whether these teams need to completely rethink how they operate. In this episode they get into why tariffs are less of a new problem and more of an extreme version of what pricing teams have always dealt with, why most companies are treating this like COVID and waiting it out instead of adapting, why once costs go up it is incredibly hard to pull them back out of the system, what the F1 versus Ford Fusion moment looks like for pricing teams right now, how the beer industry learned to make pricing decisions in 8 hours and what every other industry can learn from that, and why the annual price increase is becoming a relic and what replaces it. Drop your thoughts in the comments. Is your pricing team built for the speed the market is demanding right now? New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe so you do not miss one. #PricingStrategy #Tariffs #ThePricingGuys #PricingPodcast #RevenueStrategy #B2BPricing #CPGPricing #PricingTeams #Season4 #RevenueManagement revenueml.com 

Nearly 2,700 stores. Zero cans of Red Bull. Is Kroger fighting for shoppers or fighting for margin? Michael Stanisz and Avy Punwasee, managing partners at Revenue Management Labs (RML), break down one of the biggest retailer vs. supplier standoffs of 2026. Kroger's new CEO Greg Foran has vowed to push back on suppliers raising prices, and Red Bull's coolers were gone by August 31. Two heavyweights are in the ring and nobody knows who blinks first. In this episode: - Why Kroger picked Red Bull (and not eggs or bread) to take a stand on price - Consumer champion or brilliant PR? How "we're fighting for you" positioning really works - Slotting fees, listing fees, and the hidden charges shoppers never see - The stop-ship story: how one CPG brand got Walmart to accept a price increase in 24 hours - Red Bull's next move: cross-banner investment, DTC, and Amazon - The signal this sends to every manufacturer planning a price increase If you work in CPG, retail, or pricing strategy, this is a masterclass in negotiation leverage and channel power. The Pricing Guys is produced by Revenue Management Labs, a pricing and revenue management consultancy with offices in Toronto, New York, and London. Learn more at revenueml.com.  

A shopper finds a great deal on Walmart for a hard drive, leaves the tab open, comes back and the price has jumped by $110. His wife searches the same item on the same day and gets it for the original price. So what actually happened?   Michael and Avy read and react to a viral Reddit post about Walmart's dynamic pricing and use it to break down one of the most misunderstood topics in retail pricing right now.   In this episode they get into whether what Walmart did is actually unfair or just smart revenue optimization, why some customers will always pay full price and why that $110 difference goes straight to the bottom line, how fashion retail and airlines have been doing this for decades and nobody called it a scandal, what training your customers to wait for discounts actually costs you in the long run, and why everyone in the comments is blaming Amazon when the post was about Walmart.   Got a Reddit pricing story you want Michael and Avy to react to? Drop it in the comments.   New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe so you do not miss one.   #PricingStrategy #DynamicPricing #Walmart #ThePricingGuys #PricingPodcast #RetailPricing #RevenueStrategy #ConsumerGoods #Season4 #AIAndPricing revenueml.com

Everyone is using AI. The question Michael and Avy keep getting is: if I can just ask ChatGPT or Claude for the answer, why do I need a pricing expert? It is a fair question and they do not dodge it. This episode goes deep on where AI actually falls short in pricing and why the gap between getting an answer and making it stick is bigger than most companies realize. In this episode Michael and Avy get into why AI can give you the analysis but cannot get your team to buy into it, why the scariest part of DIY pricing is that you will never see the money you left on the table, how internal pride around homegrown AI solutions is quietly setting companies up for failure, why change management is the part of pricing that no prompt will ever replace, and why the loudest voice in the room is still winning pricing arguments and what to do about it. Drop your thoughts in the comments. Are you using AI for pricing decisions and how is it working out? Subscribe for more Season 4 episodes dropping weekly. #PricingStrategy #AIAndPricing #ThePricingGuys #PricingPodcast #RevenueStrategy #ChangeManagement #B2BPricing #PricingExperts #RevenueManagement #Season4 Revenue Management Labs  The Pricing Guys

We have a special bonus episode to share and it comes with some exciting news from RML! Gustavo Mendonça is joining as a Partner to lead a brand new function at Revenue Management Labs: building custom pricing tools. Michael and Avy sit down with Gustavo to break down what this means for RML, why he left one of the biggest food companies in the world to do it, and what the democratization of AI actually means for companies that could never afford a proper pricing transformation before. In this episode they get into why Gustavo walked away from a decade at Kraft Heinz to join RML, how AI is making custom pricing tools accessible to companies under a billion dollars in revenue for the first time, why dumping your data into Claude or Gemini and asking for elasticity is a very bad idea, the bathroom tiling analogy that perfectly sums up the danger of DIY pricing tools, how pricing in Europe and North America is more similar than you think and where it is starting to diverge, and what RML opening a London office means for their European clients. Drop your thoughts in the comments. Is your company ready for what AI is about to do to pricing? Subscribe so you do not miss Season 4. #PricingStrategy #AIAndPricing #RevenueManagement #ThePricingGuys #PricingPodcast #PricingTools #CPGPricing #B2BPricing #DigitalTransformation #RevenueStrategy