A 2 to 4 week diagnostic sprint to measure the pricing gap, prioritize the fixes, and map the EBITDA impact.
Every PE value creation playbook covers operations, marketing, labor, and site growth. Almost none treat pricing as its own discipline. It sits between revenue and operations, so nobody owns it. Most operators copy a rate card across every site and leave it alone for years. That is a default, not a strategy.
Research on Global 1200 companies shows that a 1% improvement in pricing drives 8 to 11% improvement in operating profit. That is 3 to 4x more powerful than equivalent improvements in volume, variable costs, or fixed costs.
There are 3 reasons this keeps happening.
1. Nobody owns it. Operations has an owner. Marketing has an owner. Pricing sits in the gap between revenue and operations with no dedicated function, no KPIs, and no accountability.
2. The big firms do not serve this market. The major pricing consultancies charge $200K+ and target enterprise accounts. Mid market PE portfolio companies with 5 to 50 locations fall between the cracks. Too small for the big firms, too complex for a generalist consultant.
3. Operators do not know what they do not know. If you have never seen a rigorous pricing diagnostic, you do not know what one would reveal. Most operating partners have deep experience in ops, marketing, and finance. Very few have formal training in pricing strategy or behavioral economics.
A pricing diagnostic is highest leverage when a business has more than 5 locations, recurring revenue, underdeveloped pricing ownership, or clear variation in pricing outcomes across markets. The longer pricing has gone untouched, the more likely there is uncaptured revenue in the existing architecture.
The most common trigger is a revenue plateau that does not respond to marketing spend or operational improvement. When the business has already squeezed costs and already invested in growth, pricing is usually the lever that has been sitting there untouched.
A TMN diagnostic sprint runs 2 to 4 weeks. Each phase builds on the last, and the output is built for execution.
A TMN diagnostic sprint fits inside a PE operating timeline. 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff to implementation ready strategy.
After working with operators across car wash, fitness, med spa, and other recurring revenue verticals, the same mistakes show up repeatedly.
One rate card across all markets with no adjustment for local competitive dynamics, anchoring to under-priced competitors, or customer willingness to pay.
Membership tiers built around operational simplicity instead of how customers actually use the service.
Churn blamed on price when the real issue is value adoption.
Discounting used as a retention tool instead of loss framed protection like pricing lock.
No formal owner for pricing decisions anywhere in the org chart.
For operating partners: If your portfolio company has more than 5 locations and has not had a dedicated pricing review in the last 12 months, there is likely 5 to 15% of revenue left on the table in the current pricing structure. A 30 minute conversation will tell you whether it is worth a closer look. Book a pricing review.
30 minutes. Straight answers about whether the pricing lever is worth pulling in your portfolio.
Book a Pricing Review