Distributors talk a lot about pricing modernization, but few can define it. Even fewer have achieved it. That’s because modernization isn’t about buying software. It’s about transforming pricing from a reactive, manual, and siloed function toward a system that’s:
- Scalable
- Data-driven
- And aligned across the business
I’ve led pricing transformations for multibillion-dollar distributors. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. The biggest hurdles aren’t always technical; they’re also organizational. Pricing is the connective tissue between sales, finance, product, operations, and leadership. If one group isn’t aligned, the whole system feels it.
Modernization only works when pricing is treated like the strategic command center it really is.
Here’s what really gets in the way of that for distributors.
The Fear Factor
As mentioned, pricing touches every department in an organization: sales, finance, operations, IT, and leadership. When you change it, people feel it. And not everyone is eager to have their world disrupted.
Some employees might worry that pricing automation will make them irrelevant, while others fear that transparency will bring extra unwanted scrutiny. Perception often overshadows fact.
That’s why change management isn’t optional; it’s foundational. We don’t just train people on software. We train them to approach the pricing function differently and to understand the impact they have on the company’s bottom line. The goal is better judgment.
Lack of Executive Buy-in
Another reason I’ve seen pricing initiatives stall is a lack of executive sponsorship. Even if the pricing team is all-in, the project won’t move forward if the C-Suite doesn’t believe in the strategy.
Too many leaders still treat pricing as a tactical function when pricing is the control system for profitable growth. Pricing is the closest lever to your P&L. You change a price today and you see the impact on margin tomorrow.
But without executive buy-in, the function drifts back into defensive mode instead of driving profitable growth. Executives need to do more than sign off on the project’s budget. They need to take an active role.
Executives who succeed in driving pricing modernization do four things well:
- Set the tone early. They communicate that pricing is not just a back-office task but a strategic lever for growth.
- Stay visible. They don’t delegate pricing transformation entirely to analysts or IT. They show up in steering committees, ask questions, and reinforce priorities.
- Model patience. They recognize that pricing maturity takes time, and they resist the urge to demand instant ROI.
- They understand the interdependencies across departments and champion pricing modernization. The goal is not to disrupt the business; it’s progress. By listening to feedback and working cross functionally, leaders can ensure the pricing journey advances the organization along a maturity curve that sustains relevance and competitiveness in the market.
A pricing team can’t champion transformation alone. They require executive leaders to treat pricing like the steering wheel and not the rear-view mirror.
Perfect as the Enemy of Progress
The saying “garbage in, garbage out” is true. If the data you plug into your pricing system is bad, the results will also be bad. Distributors need to focus on having clean data from the outset. That said, waiting for data to be perfect will have you waiting forever.
Even the most sophisticated distributors discover pricing chaos when they get into the real data. During one of my implementations, sales reps started surfacing agreements that weren’t just buried in email — they were literally in the trunks of their cars. It was a real example of how fragmented pricing reality can be.
We surfaced the truth, cleaned what we had, and used that moment to build better governance, so we wouldn’t repeat the same mess again. Pricing modernization requires dealing with the real world — and not the ideal one.
Moving Too Quickly
Another misperception about pricing modernization is that it involves giving up all human control in one clean sweep. Some believe it means going from zero to AI overnight. But modernization isn’t about leaping ahead. You must take it step by step if you want it to be effective and sustainable.
For example, most customer agreements can be automated upfront, but there will always be a few that are so complex or strategic that they require human oversight. In one implementation, we accepted that a small portion of contracts needed a white-glove approach while we gradually simplified them over time.
In this case, success wasn’t forcing 100% automation on day one; it was protecting the business while scaling intelligently. You can’t jump from crawling to competing at a world-class level overnight. You have to build the muscle over time and retrain your muscle memory at the same time. Like swinging a baseball bat: You’re still swinging, but you adjust the mechanics to make better contact and get more hits.
Focus on practical, achievable wins that build momentum. Each step will open new opportunities.
Misunderstood Culture Differences
Sales and pricing have a complicated relationship rooted in distinct goals. Sales wants flexibility and freedom to build customer plans. Pricing wants consistency and control. Modernization demands alignment between the two.
In one implementation, we built self-service tools that gave sales autonomy but also created guardrails to protect margins.
Tools help, but trust is what makes them stick. If internal teams are competing instead of collaborating, no system will fix that. Bring diverse stakeholders to the table early and give them a voice. If they feel part of the development, they’ll be more inclined to work toward long-term success. Simply put, pricing is an extension of sales.
Maturity Over Modernization
Ultimately, the biggest obstacle to pricing modernization isn’t technology. It’s mindset.
These projects will fail if they’re treated as an IT initiative instead of an organizational evolution. They will fail when they’re driven by fear instead of strategy. And they will fail when leaders expect transformation without committing to the work.
The distributors that succeed will be the ones who reframe modernization as gaining control of pricing data, pricing decisions, and pricing direction. If you want pricing that scales, adapts, and delivers, don’t start with software. Start with structure. Start with trust. Start with leadership willing to champion the change.
Because pricing isn’t just a system, it’s a strategy. And when you get it right, it becomes a competitive advantage that’s hard to beat.
Brian Cox is Chief Pricing Officer at ProfitOptics, where he helps distributors and manufacturers unlock margin growth and performance through smarter pricing. With more than two decades of experience leading pricing and revenue management at multi-billion-dollar companies, Brian has built pricing organizations, implemented enterprise-wide platforms, and guided teams to align sales, finance, operations, and merchandising around one goal: sustainable growth.