What Pricing Can't Fix

A few key accounts go quiet. A competitor wins unexpectedly. Sales flag pricing pressure. Almost immediately, pricing changes are underway.

When revenue drops, pricing is the first thing blamed. If margins shrink, it's the first lever leadership pulls. And when market share slips, someone inevitably calls for "more competitive pricing," rarely asking if price was ever the real issue.

Yet performance still doesn't improve. Price wasn't the problem. It was just the symptom. The real breakdowns driving the pressure get ignored, while leadership adjusts the one lever that feels controllable.

You don't have a pricing problem. You have a positioning gap showing up in your numbers.

Here's how this usually plays out:

• Sales says customers keep pushing on price. That rarely means pricing is wrong. Often, your value proposition has weakened. Your offer sounds like everyone else's, or reps lead with discounts over outcomes.
• You hear you're losing to cheaper competitors. Before cutting margins, ask: Are you targeting the right accounts? Are service levels slipping? Is the relationship strong enough to justify a premium, or are you just another line item?
• Margins are compressing? That might look like a pricing issue, but pricing is often where pressure shows up first. Underneath, it's usually a cost issue, skewed product mix, or procurement inefficiency.
• Price shows up as the final objection? That usually means value wasn't established early. Positioning wasn't clear, segmentation was off, or competitors reframed the decision while you pitched features.
• Quote-to-close rates slipping? That's not a pricing problem. It's a signal: slow responses, weak proposals, or lost access to decision-makers.
• Key accounts go quiet? It's rarely about price. It's usually relationship neglect, or your competitor is delivering a smoother experience.

To test if pricing is the real issue, ask:

1. If we matched the competitor's price, would we win?

• No = You're losing on value
• Yes = Pricing is the problem

2. Is this segment growing or shrinking in profitability?

• Shrinking = Market dynamics shifted
• Growing = You've lost relevance

3. Would solving this customer's problem justify a premium?

• Yes = Sales isn't landing the value
• No = You're chasing the wrong customer

Take the distributor convinced they were losing on price. Quote-to-close rates had dropped 30%, and discounting wasn't helping.

The real issue? Their competitor launched a self-service configurator that let engineers spec their BOM in five minutes. They were still sending quotes days later.

It wasn't about price. It was speed and convenience. They weren't losing at the end. They were losing before the deal began.

That's the trap. If you're not asking harder questions about value and competitive position, you're discounting your way around a deeper issue.

You don't regain margin by being cheaper. You regain it by being worth more.