Updated throughout to reflect changes in the global pricing environment and advances in McKinsey's pricing knowledge, this Second Edition covers a host of new topics including software and information products pricing, lifecycle pricing, custom-configured products pricing, pricing of high-count product lines, pricing in distributed sales environments, and tiered products and services pricing. Also, the building of a sustainable pricing capability and a high-performing pricing infrastructure is covered in much greater detail than ever before.

With emphasis on translating pricing theory into real improvements and bottom-line performance, the Second Edition of The Price Advantage is designed to give today's CEOs and business managers a competitive advantage in any economy.

An overwhelming majority of professional firms price their services by the flawed hourly billing method. This method is outdated, suboptimal, and driving the best and brightest out of the professions. While lawyers, accountants, and consultants serve noble callings, the predominant method of pricing for their services is not worthy of them. There is a better way.

Implementing Value Pricing demonstrates a superior model to price for professional services: selling intellectual capital with pricing based on the results and value it creates, not the cost or time it took to formulate.

In Pricing with Confidence, pricing gurus Reed Holden and Mark Burton offer a radically different solution—one that actually builds revenues and profits without lowering prices. The key? Linking prices to the value delivered. The real trick is to bring people from marketing, product development, sales, and senior management into the process of discovering and defending the value you create for customers.

We learn about the author’s concept of value pricing, which is based on how customers make purchase decisions and involves setting prices that capture the value customers place on the product rather than what it costs to manufacture it. The author tells a compelling story of Southwest Airlines and how it has increased revenue by charging more for an added feature that a certain customer segment values. With a goal of win-win for both a company and its customers, the author shares his success story interviews with managers in a wide variety of industries. He concludes with an action plan for a comprehensive pricing strategy and observes, The financial benefits of a 1% price increase . . . illustrate the power of pricing and its direct link to the bottom line.