When a CEO Asks, “What Can We Do With Pricing This Year?”

The real question is: Are we prepared for what 2026 is about to demand?

By the Board of ChiefPricingOfficer.com

2026 is coming at CEOs faster than anyone would like to admit.

Headlines may suggest stability, but the numbers inside most companies tell a different story: tightening margins, unpredictable volume, AI investments with unclear payoff, deals priced on optimism rather than analysis, and boards beginning to dig more deeply into commercial discipline.

The pressure is real — and every CEO feels it.

So when a CEO asks, “What can we do with pricing this year?” they are rarely asking about price increases.

They’re asking something deeper:

“Are we actually prepared for what’s coming?”

Most companies have a pricing function.Very few have a pricing capability — the kind that actively shapes outcomes, protects margin, and guides the organization through volatility.

That’s not a critique of the teams doing the work.

It’s a reflection of how pricing has historically been positioned: administrative, reactive, reasonable-but-limited.

But 2026 will not reward reasonable or reactive.It will reward clarity, capability, and commercial courage.

Below are eight questions every CEO should be able to answer heading into 2026.

If even one of them lands uncomfortably, you are not alone — and you are not behind.

But you are exposed.

And the good news is: pricing can help.

If — and only if — it is elevated to do so.

1. Do you have a pricing playbook for volatility?

Volatility is not a surprise anymore; it’s a feature of the operating environment.Tariffs, supply disruptions, shifting competitor behavior — they all demand rapid, coordinated response.

Without a defined pricing playbook, every shock becomes a scramble.

And scrambles cost margin.

2. Do you know your bottom 10% of customers or SKUs?

Every company has a bottom tier quietly draining profitability — customers who absorb resources, SKUs that dilute mix.Most leadership teams suspect this, but can’t quantify it.

If you can’t see the bottom 10%, you can’t fix it.

And it’s costing you every quarter.

3. Do your teams agree on how the business grows?

Volume?

Margin?

Mix?

Customer quality?

Portfolio evolution?

If the leadership team isn’t aligned on the definition of growth, then pricing — which sits at the intersection of all these forces — ends up guessing.

And guessing is expensive.

4. Are AI budgets chasing breakthroughs instead of strengthening pricing data?

A lot of companies are pouring money into AI initiatives meant to “transform” pricing.

But the truth is simple: AI cannot compensate for weak data foundations.

If your pricing data, discount logic, customer attributes, product definitions, or segmentation are a mess, AI will only accelerate the confusion.

Pricing is still operating with one hand tied behind its back — not because the models are wrong, but because the inputs are.

5. Are you tracking what your discounts are actually buying?

Sales often frames discounts as “investments.”Investments in growth, in loyalty, in share, in strategic accounts.

But an investment without visibility is just cost.

If you can’t tie discounts to outcomes, you’re not investing — you’re spending.And likely in ways that don’t pay back.

6. Is pricing part of your M&A synergy model?

Pricing is one of the fastest levers for synergy capture — but also one of the easiest to get wrong.If pricing is not embedded into diligence, integration, and portfolio strategy, value is left on the table.

Often millions.

The deal doesn’t fail because the thesis was wrong.

It fails because the commercial mechanics were never aligned.

7. Does your board ever see commercial risk?

Boards are increasingly equipped for operational and financial oversight — but commercial risk often stays buried inside functions.

Buying patterns shift long before the P&L shows distress.

Discount behavior spikes before revenue does.

Competitors send price signals before market share moves.

If your board isn’t seeing these indicators, they are flying with less instrumentation than they think.

8. Can your teams communicate your value well enough to hold the price?

This may be the most telling question in the entire list.

If your teams cannot articulate the value of your product or service — clearly, consistently, and confidently — then pricing becomes a reflexive crutch.

Discounts become a tax on weak value communication.

And that tax shows up in margin.

Every day.

Pricing is no longer an administrative function.

Pricing is a strategic capability — when it is given strategic conditions.

If even one of these questions hit uncomfortably close to home, the answer is not panic.It’s preparation.

2026 will reward the companies that elevate pricing from a back-office function to a strategic partner in growth, risk navigation, and value realization.

The board of ChiefPricingOfficer.com will continue sharing perspective, discipline, and guidance throughout the year — because pricing leadership is no longer optional.

It’s foundational.