By: Ben Garden, Managing Director, Iris Pricing Solutions

Across dozens of conversations from CFOs to pricing leaders to strategy teams, one theme keeps surfacing: Uncertainty is slowing decisions, but growth expectations haven’t slowed at all. For many organizations, 2024-2025 felt like managing through fog. Leaders are being asked to deliver margin, hit aggressive revenue targets, and defend pricing, all while macro forces make it harder to know the right next move.

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Across sectors, this is what we’ve been hearing most consistently:

1. Economic instability is making planning harder.

Inflation, tariff fluctuations, rising costs, and customer fatigue have made it difficult for teams to determine how aggressively (or cautiously) to move. Not every sector is hit equally, but almost everyone is feeling the drag on confidence and timing.

2. Growth targets continue to rise, even as internal capacity shrinks.

Commercial teams are stretched. Strategy teams are stretched. Finance is stretched. Yet the expectation to deliver more with less hasn’t eased.

3. A lot of 2025/26 priorities are being revisited.

Some projects are being delayed. Some are being reduced. Others are being re-scoped entirely. But leaders still need a path forward — just one that fits today’s reality rather than last year’s assumptions.

4. Many organizations know pricing is a lever but haven’t had space to evaluate it.

We’re hearing variations of:
“Pricing is probably the biggest near-term opportunity we have… but we haven’t had the time or clarity to assess it properly.”

Explore the full 2026 Organizational Planning Outlook with sector-by-sector insights, trends, and risks we’re seeing across manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and more.
[Download the PDF]

How Teams Are Creating Clarity, Fast

To help clients move decisively without requiring a large internal lift, we’ve been running a series of short, focused pricing engagements that deliver practical clarity in a matter of weeks.

These sprints and diagnostics typically:

  • Evaluate the health of the current pricing strategy and governance

  • Benchmark against competitors and market dynamics

  • Identify 2–3 tangible revenue or margin opportunities

  • Strengthen pricing narratives for boards, internal approvals, and 2026 planning

  • Build confidence around upcoming price changes (especially for commercial teams)

Depending on the specific need, this work can take several forms:

Rapid Diagnostic Options

  • Pricing Health Check

  • Tariff Readiness & Cost Pass-Through Review

  • Promotion & Discount Effectiveness Diagnostic

  • Pricing Optimization Sprint

  • Pricing & Packaging Diagnostics (innovation, new offers, value messaging)

Commercial Enablement

  • Value Communication Training
    (Helping commercial teams confidently land 2026 price increases and communicate value more consistently)

Each of these is intentionally built to move quickly with lean client time.

Where This Leaves You Heading Into 2026

Most leaders we talk to are asking some version of the same question:

“Where should we focus first to stabilize margin and drive growth without overextending the team?”

The right answer varies, but the common thread is that the next 8–12 weeks are critical for setting the tone for 2026. Pricing is one of the few levers that can deliver meaningful impact quickly without requiring full-scale transformation. If it would be helpful, we can walk your team through the approaches organizations are using to protect margin and plan pricing for 2026. A short conversation can clarify whether a sprint, diagnostic, or training is the right starting point, and what kind of impact you can expect.

Feel free to reach out directly, and we can set something up.