Episode #500: One Thing! Part Four

NEW SHOW FEATURE: If you want to ask Ron or Ed a question and be featured on the show, please submit a voice recording from any device at https://thesoulofenterprise.com/questions

SHOW SUMMARY: Ron and Ed once again share entries from their "One Thing" journals, so this episode is a bit random, but contains nugget after nugget on curated wisdom for the reading and listening habits of the hosts.

SHOW NOTES

This show was pre-recorded so here are some AI notes. These are AI notes so keep in mind that much of the context of the quotes/snippets is missing.

Celebration of Milestone: Acknowledgment of the 500th show milestone and upcoming sponsorship by Woodard Consulting.

• Concept of "One Thing" Journal:

  • Inspired by an author (AJ Jacobs) who kept a "one thing" journal, capturing significant insights and ideas, leading to regular discussions on the show.

• Quote by Richard Feynman:

  • "Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." Highlighting skepticism and continuous questioning in scientific inquiry.

• Humor in Leadership:

  • Discussion on the importance of humor in leadership, citing "Levity negates gravity," emphasizing that humor can reduce tension and anxiety in leadership.

• Technological Advancements and Market Dynamics:

  • Example of rapid change from horses to automobiles between 1910 and 1930, and speculation on similar rapid changes with AI and electric vehicles.

• Quotes by Thomas Sowell:

  • "It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance."

  • "Stupid people can cause problems, but it requires a genius to cause a catastrophe."

• Diversity and Inclusion Discussion:

  • Critique of the inconsistency in celebrating diversity hires while getting offended when labeled as such. Importance of genuine merit and capability over mere representation.

• Role of Profit in Social Responsibility:

  • Profit enables B Corps, stakeholder-driven organizations, and companies to meet or exceed their ESG goals, highlighting the fundamental role of profitability in sustaining good work.

• Quotes by Ayn Rand and George Orwell:

  • Ayn Rand: "All wisdom is not new wisdom."

  • George Orwell: "You have to have a PhD to believe something so stupid," pointing out that higher education can sometimes lead to convoluted reasoning detached from common sense.

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #499: Pricing Puzzles and Pitfalls

NEW SHOW FEATURE: If you want to ask Ron or Ed a question and be featured on the show, please submit a voice recording from any device at https://thesoulofenterprise.com/questions

SHOW SUMMARY: Join Ed and Ron as they delve into the complexities of modern pricing strategies and their impacts on consumers and brands. We’ll explore the supposed frustration consumers face with the rise of add-on fees and personalized pricing. From airline baggage fees to layered subscription costs, hidden charges make it increasingly difficult for buyers to navigate the marketplace without feeling nickel and dimed. Also, is price-led profit growth coming to an end? Is inflation and recession fear signaling a shift away from growing margins from more sophisticated pricing? Finally, are luxury brands underpricing? Despite their premium positioning, some luxury brands might not be charging enough to reflect their true value and maintain their exclusivity. We’ll discuss the 4Es of pricing high-end brands, and how we can apply that framework to professional firms. Join us as we unravel these topics and discuss how consumers and businesses can navigate the complex world of modern pricing.

SHOW NOTES

Segment one

• At the start of the show, Ron and Ed discussed “The era of price-led profit growth is coming to an end” https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-price-led-profit-growth/

• “Marketers know customers and how to communicate to them, and the finance department does it doesn’t” https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-price-led-profit-growth/ 

• Wait….what? “Growth is still the imperative, but getting it from a brilliantly executed pricing [strategy] is surely coming to an end.” https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-price-led-profit-growth/

• Correct. 100% “Most people I know don't even think about the price of what they're buying at McDonald’s.” —Ed Kless

• Arthur Laffer was asked once, “How many companies do you need in an industry in order for it to be competitive?” And he said, “One.”

Segment two

• Well, we disagree with almost everything in this article but that’s no reason not to discuss it and talk about the counter arguments: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/surge-pricing-fees-economy/678078/  @jcbeam

• “In a world of constantly shuffling prices, could predictability become a competitive advantage?” Yes, absolutely. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/surge-pricing-fees-economy/678078/ 

• “If one company refuses to switch to all-in pricing, it can undercut the rest.” That's also known as a marketing opportunity. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/surge-pricing-fees-economy/678078/ 

• Everything about this article resonated with Ron and Ed: “How Starbucks Devalued Its Own Brand” https://hbr.org/2024/06/how-starbucks-devalued-its-own-brand 

• NSFW. You’ve been warned. “The kid from Brooklyn” talks about Starbucks https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xudxl  

Segment three

• If you plan to go to the AICPA digital conference in Denver this year you can get a preferred price of $100 off If you type in the code DCPA100 upon checkout. Ed and Ron will BOTH be there. https://www.cpa.com/digital-cpa  

• We have a preferred price for Ed’s upcoming event in Dallas with Hector Garcia. Use code FOE900 at this link: https://reframe.shoprocket.io/#!/2-day-event-in-dallas-tx-aug-5-6 @qbkaccounting

• What’s really wrong with the Starbucks customer experience today? Joe Pine nails it with, “Mobile ordering places you and your in-house order in an invisible queue of indeterminate and sometimes seemingly interminable length.” https://hbr.org/2024/06/how-starbucks-devalued-its-own-brand @joepine

• Regarding a coffee shop idea, “Throw in the coffee for free and it subsumes the the actual product into the experience.” —Ron Baker

Segment four

• In segment four, “Are luxury brands underpricing?” https://jingdaily.com/posts/opinion-are-brands-like-burberry-and-balenciaga-underpricing-themselves 

• Editor’s note: I was taught the 4Ps of marketing in college and thought they were crap. How about “the 4E framework of: Emotion, Experience, Engagement, and Exclusivity.” https://jingdaily.com/posts/opinion-are-brands-like-burberry-and-balenciaga-underpricing-themselves 

• Regarding engagement marketing, “When executed well, clients fall in love with a brand and as a result, are willing to invest in a relationship.” https://jingdaily.com/posts/opinion-are-brands-like-burberry-and-balenciaga-underpricing-themselves 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #498: Expanding Your Pricing Paradigm

NEW SHOW FEATURE: If you want to ask Ron or Ed a question and be featured on the show, please submit a voice recording from any device at https://thesoulofenterprise.com/questions

SHOW SUMMARY: Ron and Ed return to their roots and will be talking all things pricing this week including trends in subscription pricing as well as rethinking some previously discussed topics.

SHOW NOTES

Segment one

• Congratulations to @WoodardCompany for the new sponsorship agreement with The Soul of Enterprise! We are JUST getting started and looking forward to the work together. Check them out at https://www.woodard.com/

• Ever since Ron wrote Time’s Up people have been asking him, “Can you use the subscription business model in a CPA firm that offers audit services?” From the AICPA, “are code doesn't address Billings. Certainly nothing that prohibits a periodic billing for both attest and non-attest services”

• Our show today is mostly focused on an article in HBR by Rafi Mohammed called, “Expand Your Pricing Paradigm” https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

• From the article, 36% of new Allstate auto insurance customers now choose the Drivewise or Milewise pricing options https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

Segment two

• “KFC Has An All-You-Can-Eat Buffet In Canada & There's Only One In The Whole Country” https://www.narcity.com/all-you-can-eat-kfc-exists-in-a-small-canadian-town 

• Ron today on the show: “Some resorts sell daytime access to pools and fitness facilities, even if you're not staying there. That's clever.”

• When it comes to different pricing models, Tien Zhou’s point is important:  It costs nothing to test this

• Today I learned: If you send a New York Times article to someone, they get to read it for free. And so do you!

Segment three

• On pricing models: Ed understands the “buy now, pay later” pricing model but definitely prefers the layaway. We will put it to the side for you and you can have it when you pay it off.

• “Hopper, the fintech travel company, has a Price Freeze product that guarantees the price of an airline fare, a car rental, or a hotel room for a fixed time.” https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

• Price break opportunities are a key section of the article we talked about today. Volume discounts, progressive pricing, and mixed bundling are all examples https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

• Did you know that Big Gulp soft drinks at 7-Eleven can account for up to 10% of sales at stores??? https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

• The highest price paid for Warren Buffet’s charity lunch auction pre-Covid was $4.57 million. When Buffett announced that 2022 would be the last lunch he’d offer, the auction garnered $19 million! https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

Segment four

• In Denver? Interested in joining Ron and Ed at a conference? If you are attending the AICPA Digital CPA conference this year use the code DCPA100 for a $100 preferred discount! https://www.cpa.com/digital-cpa 

• In the article, there is a section called “Use Pricing to Enhance Business Efficiency”. What we think he really means is “using pricing to change customer behavior” https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

• “Mammoth Holdings, which owns multiple car-washing businesses, reports that more than 60% of its revenue comes from customers who pay a monthly fee for unlimited washes” https://hbr.org/2023/01/expand-your-pricing-paradigm 

• From Ron at the end of the show today, “How different is your pricing structure — I’m not talking about the price level — the pricing structure from your competition? This is another incredible source of competitive differentiation.”  

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #497: On Asimov's "I, Robot" - a conversation with Robert Wood

NEW SHOW FEATURE: If you want to ask Ron or Ed a question and be featured on the show, please submit a voice recording from any device at https://thesoulofenterprise.com/questions

SHOW SUMMARY: With the explosion of ChatGPT and other AI tools recently, Ron and Ed thought it made sense to investigate some of the forebears of AI technology. Certainly, Issac Asimov's I, Robot falls into that category and who better to have a conversation about it than our (TSOE's) goto consultant on sci-fi, Robert Wood. This promises to be a far reaching and insightful conversation that you do not want to miss.

SHOW NOTES

Segment one

• I, Robot was first published in 1950. Robert first read it in high school (implying he’s read it more than that) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_(film) 

• Robert referenced this today: Robby the Robot is a fictional character and science fiction icon who first appeared in the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robby_the_Robot 

• Susan Calvin was the robot psychologist in I, Robot - born in 1982 and died at 82 either in 2064 or 2065 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Calvin 

• Robert Wood: “So I think I think there's a lot of that fear of the unknown things. We don't understand things we're scared of being more powerful than we expect”

Segment two

• 1/4 Maybe you’ve heard about the Three Laws of Robotics? Yeah, they come from I, Robot. Here they are…

• 2/4 First rule: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

• 3/4 Second rule: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

• 4/4 Third rule: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

• There's a book by Daniel Suarez called Kill Decision where he addresses drones and who makes the decision for them to actually pull the trigger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Decision 

• A positronic brain is a fictional technological device, originally conceived by Isaac Asimov and, somewhat recently, in place with Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positronic_brain 

Segment three

• Swiss Startup Connects 16 Human Mini-Brains to Create Low Energy 'Biocomputer' https://www.sciencealert.com/swiss-startup-connects-16-human-mini-brains-to-create-low-energy-biocomputer 

• Would You Kill the Fat Man?: The Trolley Problem and What Your Answer Tells Us about Right and Wrong https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691154022/would-you-kill-the-fat-man 

• One of Ron’s favorite lines from I, Robot is from the robot psychologist: “I see you intrude on my field — as every politician must”

• “My Parents’ Dementia Felt Like the End of Joy. Then Came the Robots” https://www.wired.com/story/parents-dementia-robots-warm-technology/ 

• “Europe’s comparative advantage seems to be regulation rather than innovation” —Ron Baker

Segment four

• We have a preferred price for Ed’s upcoming event in Dallas with Hector Garcia. Use code FOE900 at this link: https://reframe.shoprocket.io/#!/2-day-event-in-dallas-tx-aug-5-6 

• Both Ron and Ed will be at the Digital CPA event in Dallas! Use the code CPA100 when registering at this link: https://www.cpa.com/digital-cpa 

• Robert was joking earlier that Elon Musk believes AI is such an existential threat he didn’t create one but two AI companies. 

• The singularity concept was first introduced by Vernor Vinge. The idea that at some point, computers would become sentient, collectively. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge 

• A big THANK YOU to Robert Wood for joining us today. You can find him on X (@bertowud) and on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bertowud/ 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.