Stabilizing costs enabled strategic price increases
In 2024, something interesting happened, cost inflation finally cooled across most B2B sectors. That gave companies room to push up prices with intention, not just in reaction to economic pressure. This shift let businesses take more control of their margins. According to Bain & Company’s January 2025 Commercial Excellence Survey, 55% of companies reported that their list price increases matched or exceeded their input cost rises. That shows a structural change in how companies use pricing as a profit lever.
This wasn’t panic pricing. It was strategic. When inflation was high, passing costs through to customers felt necessary. Now, with inflation stable, companies have the opportunity to raise prices because they’ve earned it, by offering better service, stronger products, and smarter delivery models. For executive teams, this means replacing the old reactive mindset with a more intentional playbook: build margin through smarter pricing, even without inflation acting as air cover.
Here’s why this matters. We’re in a world now where price increases alone won’t cut it unless there’s a clear value story behind them. The competitive landscape isn’t getting easier. So pricing becomes more sophisticated, built on insight, tested in the market, and measured by real outcomes. Companies that adopt this mindset early can protect, and even expand, profit margins while their competitors play catch-up.
For C-suite leaders, the takeaway is simple: pricing is no longer just a cost recovery mechanism. It’s one of your most responsive tools for improving profitability when supply chains, labor costs, and broader input costs give you a little breathing room. But it only works if you act deliberately.
Challenges in executing effective pricing strategies persist
Even with stabilized costs and better opportunities to increase pricing, most companies still hit roadblocks. The biggest? Resistance from customers and competitive pressure. Bain’s 2025 data shows that 67% of companies cited that pushback as their number one challenge. Following close behind: a lack of usable data or analytical tools (39%) and gaps in team skills related to pricing (37%).
Let’s be honest, pricing is hard. It’s not just about setting a number. You’re balancing what your product is worth, what your customer thinks it’s worth, what competitors are doing, and how fast you can adapt. Without the right data or tools, you’re flying blind. Many companies collect a massive amount of pricing-related data, but they rarely turn it into something it’s supposed to be: smarter pricing decisions.
On the people side, pricing isn’t always seen as a core skill. That’s an issue. If your sales teams can’t defend your pricing to customers, even perfect algorithms can’t help. Closing this gap means prioritizing pricing capabilities just like you prioritize marketing or product development. Skills, systems, tools, they all need to line up to support high-performance pricing.
For executives, addressing pricing challenges is not a side project. It should be front and center in your growth strategy. If you don’t control and defend your prices, someone else, usually your competitor or your customer, will do it for you. And they won’t be thinking about your margins. What you need is an internal system that sees pricing not as a risk, but as a growth engine. Build that, and your team stops fearing the price conversation. They lead it.
Confidence in price increases correlates with superior profit margins
When leadership believes in their pricing strategy, it shows up in performance. That’s not a theory, it’s backed up by data. In Bain & Company’s January 2025 survey, companies confident in their ability to raise prices outperformed their less confident peers on profit margin by 5 to 11 percentage points. This is a clear signal: confidence is a competitive edge in pricing.
But confidence doesn’t come from thin air. It’s built through preparation, tight alignment between pricing strategy, customer segmentation, sales training, and real-time feedback. When companies lay this groundwork, they approach pricing from a position of strength. That shows up across the board, from stronger negotiation outcomes to fewer discounts and better deal terms.
Leadership teams that allow uncertainty to creep into their pricing decisions typically end up reacting instead of leading. The result? Margin erosion. Companies that lead on pricing don’t just set ambitious price targets, they equip their teams with tools and data to defend them and adjust based on what’s happening in the market.
For executives, the takeaway here is practical. Confidence isn’t intangible, it’s a product of investment in the right capabilities. If your teams are unsure whether a price increase will hold, don’t reduce the pricing goal, fix the system that creates uncertainty. That’s how you move from reactive pricing to consistent margin performance that outpaces your industry.
AI-Enabled tools and data-driven insights drive strategic pricing
AI is changing pricing strategy. Leading companies are shifting from manual and reactive pricing adjustments to data-driven decision-making. Tools powered by AI give access to market benchmarks, competitor intel, and dynamic customer segmentation in real time. That reduces guesswork, and speeds up execution.
The results are measurable. In Bain’s earlier research, companies using data-guided pricing improved their win rates by 12%. Sales reps using dynamic price guidance were nearly twice as confident in raising prices compared to those without it. That confidence translates into better deals and stronger profit margins.
But it’s not just about buying tools. The companies getting results are integrating AI into how pricing decisions are made, avoiding isolated dashboards and bringing pricing logic into the core sales workflow. This alignment between technology and business execution is critical. It makes pricing decisions faster, more accurate, and more strategic.
For C-suite leaders, this is a clear priority area. AI-driven pricing is not future-focused, it’s current advantage. The sooner you align sales, pricing, and tech infrastructure into one streamlined system, the faster you outpace slower-moving competitors. Speed, precision, flexibility, those are the pricing capabilities that matter now.
Enhanced frontline training and a clear value narrative support price premium justification
Technology moves pricing forward. But without human alignment, especially at the frontline, it’s incomplete. Companies that combine AI pricing tools with well-trained sales teams are consistently able to explain and defend premium prices in-market. In Bain & Company’s January 2025 survey, 52% of companies planning to raise prices said they would increase investment in frontline training. The focus: helping sellers articulate a clear, credible value proposition.
High-performing pricing teams don’t rely on customers to understand why prices have changed. They lead the conversation. They’re equipped to explain what differentiates the product, how the service supports performance, and why the total value merits the price. That capability starts with consistent messaging and sharp training. No team can defend a price they don’t understand.
To set and protect premium pricing, the value narrative must be accurate, quantifiable, and aligned across functions, from marketing to product to customer success. Internal alignment creates external clarity. It gives sales teams the confidence to push price increases without defaulting to discounts under pressure.
For executive teams, the focus should be building repeatable systems, not one-off enablement. Pricing confidence improves when messaging, tools, and human capability are fully integrated. AI gives the precision, but your team still closes the deal. If your frontline can explain value without hesitation, your pricing strategy stops being a point of negotiation, and becomes a driver of real margin expansion.
Key highlights
- Stabilized costs enable proactive margin expansion: With inflation cooling in 2024, 55% of B2B firms raised prices at or above input cost increases. Leaders should use this stability to drive margin growth through deliberate and value-aligned pricing strategies.
- Execution barriers undermine pricing gains: Competitive pressure, customer resistance, and internal capability gaps block pricing performance. Executives must prioritize data infrastructure and targeted pricing training to maintain pricing power.
- Confidence in pricing yields higher margins: Companies confident in their pricing strategies outperform industry peers by 5 to 11 points in margin. Leadership should build pricing confidence through clear processes, data access, and strong sales enablement.
- AI and data sharpen pricing precision: Firms using AI-powered tools and real-time data achieve better win rates and higher pricing confidence. Investment in integrated pricing tech directly translates to faster, smarter pricing decisions.
- Frontline alignment protects price premiums: 52% of firms plan to boost sales training to support price increases with a strong value narrative. Leaders should ensure sales teams can clearly defend pricing by aligning messaging, training, and cross-functional coordination.
