Posts by: Tim J. Smith, PhD

Strategic Movements: July 2017

By Tim J. Smith, PhD July 19, 2017

What will Gillette do? As a starter, they cut prices by 12%. Good for consumers (and society overall), bad for investors. Competition’s role is to drive prices down and quality up. This is part of the reason private capitalism is better than state-controlled enterprise.

Sales, Marketing, Finance and Pricing in Price Management

By Tim J. Smith, PhD June 16, 2017

Our own research—that of Homburg, Jensen, and Hahn—as well as research by Hinterhuber and still other works by Liozu, repeatedly indicated firms that engage sales, marketing finance, and pricing leaders in pricing decisions outperform those that don’t. At this point, we may even call this settled managerial science.

A Wiglaf Prediction

By Tim J. Smith, PhD June 16, 2017

“As for his real estate properties, my advice would be to divest himself of all his upscale properties. The cash infusion this would generate would encourage Trump to develop a large chain of medium-priced hotels in smaller markets. They would cater to the Trump voting bloc, and could also be very profitable.”

Product Management v. Sales: Profit Based Incentives for Both

By Tim J. Smith, PhD May 15, 2017

Can both product managers and salespeople have their incentives and key performance indicators aligned to the corporate goal: profits? Yes. They can…

Product Management v. Sales: Don’t Confuse Your Market

By Tim J. Smith, PhD April 12, 2017

Notice that the solution many companies have taken results in sales and product management being unaligned. Sales focuses on their individual account needs while product managers focus on creating solutions to address challenges, which may be faced by multiple customer segments.

Strategic Movements: April 2017

By Tim J. Smith, PhD April 12, 2017

What can sales managers do to reduce the risk of account loss? According to their research, putting top salespeople on the account doesn’t do the trick at all. Rather, putting a person familiar with the account’s industry on it, even if their past sales performance is average or even below average, can almost eliminate the risk of account loss.

Collaborative and Dynamic Pricing for Product Manufacturers

By Tim J. Smith, PhD March 8, 2017

Treating pricing as a verb, not a noun, applies pressure to the management of pricing decision making. But who makes pricing decisions? …

Tim J. Smith, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Wiglaf Pricing, an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Economics at DePaul University, and the author of Pricing Done Right (Wiley 2016) and Pricing Strategy (Cengage 2012). At Wiglaf Pricing, Tim leads client engagements. Smith’s popular business book, Pricing Done Right: The Pricing Framework Proven Successful by the World’s Most Profitable Companies, was noted by Dennis Stone, CEO of Overhead Door Corp, as "Essential reading… While many books cover the concepts of pricing, Pricing Done Right goes the additional step of applying the concepts in the real world." Tim’s textbook, Pricing Strategy: Setting Price Levels, Managing Price Discounts, & Establishing Price Structures, has been described by independent reviewers as “the most comprehensive pricing strategy book” on the market. As well as serving as the Academic Advisor to the Professional Pricing Society’s Certified Pricing Professional program, Tim is a member of the American Marketing Association and American Physical Society. He holds a BS in Physics and Chemistry from Southern Methodist University, a BA in Mathematics from Southern Methodist University, a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Chicago, and an MBA with high honors in Strategy and Marketing from the University of Chicago GSB.