Not every pricing expert started out hunting for hidden patterns in data. But after years building pricing strategies across industries, Daniela León Cornejo spotted something most companies miss: they’re drowning in data but starving for insights. She noticed teams getting stuck on surface-level metrics while goldmines of information sat untapped in their systems. Through her work driving organizational change and boosting profitability, Daniela developed three core strategies that changed how she looks at data – and transformed the way companies make pricing decisions.
Her approach? Stop looking at averages and start digging for stories hiding in the details.
1. Finding Patterns Beyond Averages
The first lesson hit home when Daniela noticed companies getting stuck looking at surface-level data. “Insights are not in the averages,” she explains. “You need to go deep in a more granular level.” Take the financial industry, where conventional wisdom says higher risk should mean higher profits. “Higher risk clients should bring more profitability because you’re giving yourself the responsibility to manage that kind of clients,” Daniela points out. When that pattern breaks down, it signals trouble.
The same principle works across industries. “There’s a very important relationship, or there should be an important relationship, between the size of the ticket, the size of the client, and also the profitability or the level of prices,” she notes. When small clients bring tiny percentage profits, that’s a red flag. But high-volume clients with strong profits? That’s either an opportunity to grow or a relationship worth protecting.
2. Seeking Data That Challenges Assumptions
Most companies fall into a common trap – they only look for data that makes them feel good about their decisions. Daniela takes a different approach. “We tend to look at the prove you right information,” she says. “But we don’t tend to look at the prove you wrong data, which is the most important.”
She saw this play out with market share analysis. Instead of just tracking overall market share trends, her team dug deeper. “What we did was we look at the whole market, then we narrowed it down to the market that we were supposed to be winning in by design, what its known as ‘fair market share'” she explains. This meant focusing on areas where they had strong client relationships and competitive advantages. The results were eye-opening. “What that allowed us to learn was that we were losing a lot of clients in a specific segment of that relevant market,” Daniela reveals. This insight led to targeted pricing adjustments – raising prices in some segments while getting more aggressive in others.
3. Turning Information Into Actionable Insights
Data sitting unused might as well not exist. “Data is power if we use that data in an insightful way,” Daniela emphasizes. She’s seen too many companies let valuable information slip through their fingers. Take competitive intelligence from sales teams. “A lot of times our sales force has this kind of information, but that lies only in their emails or in physical paper and then it’s lost,” she notes. That’s gold going down the drain.
Sometimes you need to build new data sources. “More and more companies are investing in market studies about the value perception from their clients,” Daniela says. This matters because “you cannot capture value that it’s not there.” Understanding how customers value your offering directly impacts their willingness to pay.
For Daniela, driving revenue growth comes down to three things: knowing what data you have (or could have), working it at a granular level, and actively looking for information that challenges your assumptions. Her approach shows that the real value of data isn’t in collecting it – it’s in using it to spot opportunities others miss. Sometimes that means questioning conventional wisdom. Other times it means building new ways to track and measure success.
The key is staying curious and willing to dig deeper. As Daniela puts it, “Data plus the correct use to get insights is power.” Simple averages won’t cut it anymore. The real insights – and the real money – lie in the details.
To learn more about Daniela León Cornejo and her approach, check out her LinkedIn profile.
