Summary

Cold internal statistics will rarely suggest the contexts. Context requires more outwardly focused data: an understanding of how the customer will judge and compare your price offer. Thus, extensive interviews are required—both of one’s own customers and those of competitors. We find that focus groups often help in this process. No more information should be required to initially develop contextual pricing scenarios than to create a good segmentation, but also no less.

Routinizing the process means asking sales to capture new data in their sales-information system or asking market research to ask the right questions. To fully capture the benefit of an evolutionary segmentation approach, sales management should dynamically adjust its account strategies to capture the value of favorable sales contexts and opportunities. One digital device manufacturer adopted an approach of scouting for signals of an impending contextual change at potential customers, such as changes in operating and pricing authority. If the manufacturer found such signs of impending migration, it dramatically increased account resources—aimed at likely future decision makers.