The number, and what it signalled.

Most teams anchored price to cost or a competitor. The work that changed the decision started with what the outcome was worth to the buyer and designed the model so the price carried part of the argument. It also meant being honest when price was fine and something else was doing the damage: price is the most common suspect and often the wrong one.

Four moves, in order.

1. 1

   Finding willingness-to-pay

   By segment: what the outcome was worth, not what it cost to produce.

2. 2

   Designing the model

   Models and tiers, so the right buyer self-selected and the number itself signalled the value.

3. 3

   Diagnosing the funnel

   Where win rate actually leaked, and whether price was the cause or the scapegoat.

4. 4

   Testing the number

   Small, reversible moves with a real read on elasticity, in a business where a permanent change is very hard to walk back.