When pricing to global B2B customers who buy from you in different places around the world there are many things to watch out for:
1) Global pricing does not necessarily mean global price. You can still keep a differentiated price based on local dynamics, willingness to pay, competitive level and other variables.
2) Establish internal transparency. Make sure you understand your full price waterfall in each market where you sell to this global customer. The customer will often know more about this than you. The investment ratio in global pricing tools is 7:1 between procurement and sales. In other words, the buyer spends 7 times as much money on knowing your global prices as you do.
3) Making data comparable between markets does NOT mean a single global price list.
4) Make the internal transparency a repeatable process. It is no good if takes you three months to collect spreadsheets from around the globe and consolidate the data.
5) Get a tool that will allow you to both a) collect data as frequently as you want; b) compare and consolidate without manual work; c) simulate scenarios; and d) make deals and quotes globally as well as locally.
6) Have staff who look after global pricing, but do not necessarily always appoint “Global Account Managers” or “Global Coordinators”. That is like painting a bull’s-eye on someone for the customer to target and negotiate with. If the customer can only negotiate locally but you have internal coordination, it puts you in a stronger negotiation position than if you have one single point of global negotiation.
7) Bundle global products with local products or services to muddle the price picture.
8) Consider moving discounts from on-invoice to off-invoice. Most buying organizations find it more difficult to collect and compare data on off-invoice elements.
9) Make local discounts (on-invoice and off-invoice) truly dependent on a counter-performance by the customer (e.g. supply chain, finance, sell-through etc). This makes it much easier to argue for net price differences.
10) In industries where global harmonization of prices is considered inevitable (I doubt it really is in most cases but for argument’s sake let us say it is so), try to maintain some local discounts, local services and acceptance of local business practices. It will give your more freedom to keep a differentiated price.