Pricing is an integral part of service design. There are several reasons for this. Of course one cannot analyze the profitability of a service without knowing how it is priced. Beyond this, price is part of how we experience a service, and pricing will shape how and when a service is used.

Pricing is a critical part of business success and it cannot be left to chance. What role should the CEO play in pricing? It comes down to setting strategy, ensuring alignment, monitoring execution, and taking leadership on pricing ethics and fairness.

Many companies struggle with pricing alignment without even being aware it is an issue. In some cases there is confusion on goals, or perhaps too many goals. In other cases the different parts of the organization are pulling in different directions. You can get insight into pricing alignment at your company by having different people take a pricing self assessment and comparing the results.