cmj-hub Pricing Quarterly Review — sub-skill
The operating practice. Pricing that doesn't get reviewed gets eroded. The quarterly review IS the compounding moat.
Activation
Routed here when operator says:
- "Quarterly pricing review"
- "What should we check this quarter on pricing"
- "Pricing ops cadence"
- "Schedule the pricing review"
- "First quarterly review on pricing"
The cadence
Quarterly, NOT annually. Annual pricing review = annual pricing drift.
| Quarter | Focus |
|---|---|
| Q1 | Annual price + tier review; budget-cycle alignment |
| Q2 | Discount discipline + pocket-price waterfall refresh |
| Q3 | Tier landing distribution + decoy / anchor health |
| Q4 | WTP refresh for one PSP per year (rotating); annual renewal price-increase preview |
This is a rolling cadence — each quarter has a focus, but the core data pull happens every time.
The core data pull (every quarter)
| Metric | Source | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| New-logo ACV | CRM | Trend vs last 4 quarters; PSP-segmented |
| Close-rate by tier | CRM | Healthy: target tier ~75%, decoy ~5-10%, anchor 10-25% |
| Mean discount % | CRM | Trend vs last 4 quarters; PSP-segmented |
| Discount-policy compliance | CRM | % of deals discounted within policy vs outside |
| Walk-away rate | CRM | Lost-to-price as % of opportunities — and the verbatim quotes |
| Pocket-price waterfall | Billing system + CRM | Recompute via pricing-pocket-waterfall skill |
| Tier landing distribution | Billing system | Compare to target distribution |
| Renewal churn | Billing system | Especially mid-renewal price changes; expansion vs contraction |
| Top-decile vs median ACV ratio | Billing system | Healthy: 5-15x for healthy value-metric; <3x = misaligned metric |
| Competitor prices | Manual or scraping | Snapshot for the file (not for decision-making — see banned patterns) |
The review agenda (90 minutes)
Minutes 0-15 — Data check-in
Walk through the 10 metrics above. State of each: trend up / down / flat. Surface anomalies.
Minutes 15-30 — Discount-discipline review (Q2 deep-dive)
Per the pocket-price waterfall — which leak step is largest this quarter? Is the discount policy working? Any individual reps drifting?
Minutes 30-45 — Tier landing + decoy health (Q3 deep-dive)
Is the target tier still ~75% of new logos? Is the decoy still doing its job (T2 obviously better)? Is the anchor tier still credible (≥3x target, real buyers)?
Minutes 45-60 — WTP signal review (Q4 deep-dive)
What did this quarter's walk-aways say verbatim? Any PSP-specific patterns? Is it time for a structured WTP refresh?
Minutes 60-75 — Decisions
Three verdict categories:
- HOLD — Pricing is healthy. Schedule next quarterly. No action this quarter.
- ITERATE — Surface a specific tuning (a specific discount policy change, tier-card copy refresh, feature shift). Routine-tier; no tribunal required.
- ESCALATE TO TRIBUNAL — Material or Strategic change needed.
Route to
pricing-tribunalfor hypothesis + test design.
Minutes 75-90 — Calendar + ownership
- Calendar next quarterly review (90 days out)
- Calendar 30-day check-ins on any ITERATE actions
- Calendar tribunal kick-off if applicable
- Document the verdict + reasoning in
pricing.review.log[]
Attendees (REQUIRED)
| Role | Why |
|---|---|
| Pricing owner (often CEO, COO, VP Product) | Final accountability for pricing |
| Sales leader | Discount discipline + buyer feedback |
| Finance / RevOps | Pocket-price + waterfall numbers |
| Product leader | Packaging + tier feature decisions |
Don't run a pricing review without all four. Single-perspective reviews produce single-perspective decisions.
The review log
Every quarter's review goes in brand-config.json under
pricing.review.log[]:
{
"date": "2026-04-15",
"quarter": "Q2 2026",
"focus": "Discount discipline + pocket-price waterfall refresh",
"metrics_snapshot": { ... },
"verdict": "ITERATE",
"actions": [
"Tighten ramp discount policy: rep authority 0-15% (was 0-20%)",
"Add reason-code requirement to all >10% discounts"
],
"next_review": "2026-07-15",
"attendees": ["..."]
}
The log is the compounding moat. The first review is harder than the fifth. The fifth is harder than the twentieth.
Workflow
1. Pre-review data pull
Run pricing-pocket-waterfall + grab CRM exports for the 10 metrics.
2. Generate the agenda
Output the 6-section agenda with the operator's actual metrics populated. Highlight anomalies (any metric ≥1 SD from the trailing 4-quarter mean).
3. After the meeting
Capture the verdict + actions + next-review-date. Update
brand-config.json review log.
4. Schedule
- Calendar next quarterly
- Calendar any 30-day check-ins on ITERATE actions
- Calendar tribunal kick-off if ESCALATE
Self-check
- Agenda covers all 6 sections
- Data pull is complete or data gaps flagged
- Attendees include all 4 roles
- Verdict is HOLD / ITERATE / ESCALATE (no "let's revisit next quarter" vagueness)
- Actions are specific (not "improve pricing")
- Next review calendared
Reference
../../pricing/references/pricing-framework.md— operating-practice section../pricing-pocket-waterfall/SKILL.md— the waterfall refresh../pricing-tribunal/SKILL.md— for ESCALATE decisions../pricing-renewal-discipline/SKILL.md— for renewal price changes