Pricing Functions Across the Org.

Most pricing decisions touch multiple teams. Sales controls the final number on a quote. Finance tracks P&L impact, Ops bears the delivery cost. Marketing shapes perceived value. So, consider a cross-functional pricing committee (formal frameworks can result in 15%-25% higher profit margins). 

Well-run committees:

• Include sales, finance, marketing, and operations.

• Meet on a fixed cadence and for big changes.

• Use standard guardrails (discount bands, approval thresholds, target margins).

• Report up to an executive sponsor – and have clear decision rights.

Takeaway: Treat pricing like a core capability with an owner and a committee – not a polite suggestion everyone ignores when the quarter gets tight. 

A practical split (adapt to your org.):

• Sales

  • Owns: deal-level pricing within approved bands; documenting competitive quotes and win/loss reasons.

  • Accountable for: using the pricing toolkit (tiers, fences, contract terms) instead of improvising discounts.

  • Reports on: market feedback, competitive pricing and pricing methodologies

• Finance

  • Owns: unit economics (contribution margin, CAC, CLV), price-volume-mix analysis, and target margin ranges.

  • Accountable for: flagging when growth is “the wrong kind” (revenue up, margin flat/down).

  • Reports on: performance consistency compared to forecasts, structural changes in cost structure, price trends in inputs (including general overhead)

• Operations

  • Owns: accurate cost-to-serve data, capacity constraints, and service level implications of pricing promises.

  • Accountable for: feeding back where low prices or heavy customization are breaking the model

  • Reports on: throughput metrics, quality control and customer service feedback, offering development, customer requests, capacity

• Marketing

  • Owns: positioning, value narrative, packaging, and tier design (what’s in Good/Better/Best, what the fences are).

  • Accountable for: making sure price makes sense with the story we tell the market.

  • Reports on: marketing metrics (including CAC trends), campaign messaging performance, competitive narratives

• Leadership (CEO/CFO/CRO)

  • Owns: pricing philosophy (premium vs. value vs. niche), constraints (e.g., “we will not be the low-cost leader”), and big structural moves.

  • Accountable for: aligning incentives with the pricing strategy (comp plans, KPIs).

Takeaway: Write down who has decision rights vs. who gives input (bonus for a full DACI matrix). The fuzzier this is, the more you’ll pay for it in rushed discounts and internal friction.

Revenue growth can come from:

• Price: charging more per unit.

• Volume: selling more units.

• Mix: shifting to higher- or lower-priced/margin SKUs or segments.

Finance teams and external advisors routinely use price-volume-mix (PVM) analysis to understand how revenue changes split out into these components. It tells you whether growth is driven by healthy pricing and mix, or by low-margin volume and discounting.

Takeaway: Ask finance to show quarterly revenue bridges that clearly separate price, volume, and mix.

Revenue is often what sales is paid on, while margin is what keeps lenders calm and equity valuable. Without explicit rules, sales will naturally lean toward high-revenue, low-margin deals, especially with aggressive quotas or weak discount controls. 

Good pricing governance links sales incentives to margin dollars and gives operations a voice when deals strain capacity or require unusual customization that erodes margin.

Takeaway: If sales can earn the same commission on a 20%-discounted deal as on a full-margin deal, your comp plan is quietly undoing your pricing strategy.