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Better pricing starts with better data—but that doesn't mean your data has to be perfect.
In this episode of If Prices Could Talk, Holden Advisors' Richard Klein and Patrick McCullough sit down with Donna Burbank, Founder and Managing Director of Global Data Strategy, to explore the connection between data quality, pricing strategy, profitability, business valuation, and AI.
Donna has spent more than 25 years helping organizations turn data into business value. Her message for leaders is straightforward: before you build a sophisticatedpricing model, analytics platform, or AI strategy, you need to understand the data underneath it.
But waiting for perfect data isn't the answer either.
The conversation explores:
- Why companies shouldn't wait for perfect data before taking action
- How better supplier data can create negotiating leverage
- The connection between data strategy and business strategy
- Why shared definitions of customers, products, and segments matter
- Why AI initiatives struggle when the underlying data isn't ready
- Why finance and pricing often require deterministic, auditable answers
- How too much data - and too many variables - can actually make pricing worse
- How a pocket margin analysis can uncover hidden profitability leakage
- What customer and usage data businesses should start collecting today
One theme comes through clearly: AI can make businesses more sophisticated, but sophistication doesn't replace fundamentals.
Start with the data that matters. Understand what you trust. Connect it to the decisions you're trying to make. Then build from there.
Chapters:
00:00 Introducing Donna Burbank: Data, Pricing & AI
01:48 Why Better Pricing Starts With Better Data
03:28 What "Data Quality" Actually Means
05:40 Master Data: The Information That Runs Your Business
07:10 How Data Impacts Company Valuation
08:46 Why Bad Data Creates Expensive Surprises
10:25 What Your Pricing Data Can—and Can't—Tell You
12:16 When Data Challenges What You Think You Know About Customers
13:37 Why Companies Struggle to Fix Their Data
15:13 Start With the Data You Already Trust
16:13 How Better Supplier Data Creates Negotiating Power
18:00 Why You Don't Need Perfect Data to Get Started
20:30 Connecting Data Strategy to Business Strategy
25:00 Customer Data, Segmentation & Commercial Strategy
32:20 Why Shared Data Definitions Matter
34:08 What Davos Revealed About AI and Data Quality
35:22 "AI Is Just Math on Top of Data"
36:30 Why AI Pilots Struggle to Scale
37:05 Choosing the Right AI for Pricing and Finance
38:15 Analytical vs. Agentic vs. Generative AI
40:28 Why Pricing Decisions Still Need an Audit Trail
41:51 Practical Ways to Use AI Today
43:37 Too Much Data Can Hurt Your Pricing
45:32 Start With the Data That Drives the Business
46:39 Why More Pricing Variables Aren't Always Better
48:34 When AI Makes a Pricing Model Too Complicated
51:05 Pocket Margin: Finding Hidden Profit Leakage
53:50 What Data Should You Start Collecting Today?
56:50 Build Customer Usage Data Before You Need It
57:32 The Best Time to Start Collecting Data
59:46 Are You Behind on Data Quality?
01:00:25 Why Nobody Has Perfect Data
Connect with Donna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnaburbank/
Connect with Richard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardfgklein/
Connect with Patrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmccullough-holdenadvisors/
About Holden Advisors
Holden Advisors is a boutique consulting firm specializing in B2B pricing and sales performance. We help companies understand their value through the eyes of their customers and use these insights to develop, price, and sell solutions that meet evolving market demands.
Our tailored strategies are designed to improve differential value and go-to-market execution. With decades of expertise in value-based pricing, sales implementation, and negotiation, we partner with companies to build and protect their pricing power.
