How Pricing Professionals Can Lead Through Market Uncertainty

The role of pricing has never been more relevant—or more necessary—than it is today. With trade tensions on the rise, tariffs shifting suddenly, and global supply chains being disrupted, organizations across industries are facing a level of volatility they are not fully prepared to manage. In this climate, pricing professionals have a unique opportunity to step forward and provide clarity, guidance, and leadership.

Rising Market Complexity: What It Means for Pricing and Business Expectations

Global markets have always carried a degree of unpredictability, but the current mix of geopolitical tensions, trade disputes, and shifting regulatory frameworks has introduced a new level of complexity. Tariffs and trade wars can change costs overnight, often with minimal warning. Procurement teams scramble to assess sourcing alternatives. Finance teams recalculate projections. Operations reassess supply chain reliability.

What many companies lack in these moments is a coordinated commercial response. That’s where pricing professionals can and should lead. Pricing sits at the intersection of cost, value, and customer. That vantage point creates the potential to guide the business through disruption—not just react to it. But to do so, pricing teams must go beyond the traditional remit of setting and maintaining price lists or running discount approvals. It requires taking initiative, engaging cross-functional partners, and owning a more strategic role.

The Strategic Role of Pricing in Breaking Organizational Silos

In many organizations, pricing is still treated as a support function, operating downstream of sourcing, manufacturing, and finance. That setup doesn’t work in times of volatility. The impact of a new tariff or supply disruption doesn’t just affect cost inputs—it ripples through margins, channel strategies, contract terms, and customer relationships.

Pricing professionals have the analytical tools and commercial perspective to model these impacts quickly. But speed alone isn’t enough. Pricing must become the organizing force that brings clarity to how the business responds.

That means working hand-in-hand with procurement to understand new landed costs. It means aligning with finance to model margin scenarios. And it means coordinating with sales and commercial leaders to ensure that customer-facing strategies reflect the realities of new cost structures.

Leadership in this context isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about being the first to engage and the one to connect the dots. It’s about being proactive, not just reactive.

Elevating the Role of Pricing: Becoming a Trusted Business Advisor

Uncertainty often exposes where organizations are least prepared. When trade terms change or input costs spike, the instinct is often to delay action or wait for things to stabilize. But pricing teams are in a position to lead through ambiguity. They can forecast impacts, assess risks, and create contingency plans that allow the business to move forward with confidence.

This is the time to become a trusted advisor inside the organization. Pricing professionals can help frame the questions that matter: Which product lines are most exposed? How do we maintain competitiveness while protecting margin? Which customers have cost pass-through clauses? Where are we over-reliant on vulnerable inputs?

These aren’t just pricing questions, they are business-critical questions. And when pricing professionals step up to help answer them, they elevate the role and relevance of their function.

Why Pricing Should Lead the Business Response Plan

In times of disruption, most functions have a part to play. But what is often missing is a central point of coordination. Procurement manages suppliers. Finance manages forecasts. Sales manages customers. But who ensures that all these inputs come together into a coherent commercial plan?

Pricing can fill that gap. This is an opportunity to become the de facto lead for commercial response planning. That could mean establishing cross-functional response teams, leading rapid pricing scenario modeling, or creating tools that allow sales teams to respond with speed and consistency in the field.

For organizations that operate on contracts, pricing teams can review escalation clauses and identify where there is flexibility—or risk. For transactional business, they can revise list prices and discount guidance in line with updated costs. These aren’t routine pricing actions. They are business stabilization measures, and they require someone to take charge.

How Pricing Professionals Can Earn a Seat at the Leadership Table

Leadership is often earned in moments of stress. For pricing professionals seeking a stronger voice in their organization, this is a time to step into that space. It starts with being present in discussions where pricing may not have traditionally been included—early conversations about sourcing changes, budget reviews, or risk mitigation efforts.

It also requires confidence. Pricing teams bring unique insight into customer sensitivity, market dynamics, and profitability. That insight is critical when decisions need to be made fast and with limited information.

To be clear, stepping up doesn’t mean overreaching. It means offering perspective, creating clarity, and enabling decision-makers to act with more information and less guesswork. That is a form of leadership that earns trust over time.

Positioning Pricing at the Center of Business Strategy

Uncertainty is not going away. Trade policy will continue to shift. Supply chains will continue to evolve. Competitive pressures will remain. What will change is how companies respond—and who inside those companies becomes indispensable.

Pricing professionals have a chance to define themselves not just as analysts or gatekeepers, but as leaders who help guide organizations through complexity. That shift starts with showing up, speaking up, and taking responsibility for more than just the numbers.

By stepping forward in this moment, pricing can move from the margins of decision-making to the center. And that’s where the function truly belongs.

Facing another unpredictable year? Join us at MindShare 2025 as Dr. Stephan Liozu shares practical strategies to equip pricing teams for uncertainty. Register now!

Stephan Liozu, Ph.D., Chief Value Officer at Zilliant, is a global expert in pricing, innovation, and value management with 20+ years of experience. He has authored 15+ books, including Pricing—The New CEO Imperative (2021) and Value-Based Pricing (2024).