What sort of genius do I need to hire, and where can I find them?
February 1, 2016 11:52 PM Subscribe
I am in the process of trying to create a complex pricing calculator for internal use in our business. I have most of the data, however I am hoping to engage someone on a freelance basis to help me complete the data set, as well as give some expanded detail on how this data (pricing) can change geographically. What specific professions should I be engaging, and where can I find them? More information below the fold.
Assume that we sell a product that is highly customisable. There could be hundreds, if not thousands, of different combinations and variations. The closest thing that comes close to what we want to do would be the Getty Images Pricing Calculator (To view it, go to getty images, click on an image, and then get the calculator open to see the options).
Now assume that I have general data points of pricing for the territory that I am in, and a few other major territories. I might not have all the data, but I might have the lowest price, the highest price and the medium price. I might also have some other generalised ideas on how the other prices could be calculated (i.e, on a percentage basis), and how certain stacking of options could lead to discounts. Either way, the general prices have been set, and this process would be like 'tweening' (Think of Flash Animating - You set a beginning state, and end state, and then Flash generates the in-between states)
This tool that we want to develop is really more for estimating purposes rather than looking at hard costs etc. It would not be public facing, and it's really just a way that we can hopefully speed up our quoting process.
Off the top of my head, I thought I would need to engage a Mathematician for the core function above, and perhaps some sort of economist, in terms of trying to apply those pricing estimates to different global regions. That said, both of these fields are pretty much greek to me, and I'm not even sure these would be the appropriate parties, and if they are, where and how to find them, apart from Metafilter jobs for example.
If this makes even a bit of a sense to anyone else other than me, please chime in or memail me! Thank you :)
Assume that we sell a product that is highly customisable. There could be hundreds, if not thousands, of different combinations and variations. The closest thing that comes close to what we want to do would be the Getty Images Pricing Calculator (To view it, go to getty images, click on an image, and then get the calculator open to see the options).
Now assume that I have general data points of pricing for the territory that I am in, and a few other major territories. I might not have all the data, but I might have the lowest price, the highest price and the medium price. I might also have some other generalised ideas on how the other prices could be calculated (i.e, on a percentage basis), and how certain stacking of options could lead to discounts. Either way, the general prices have been set, and this process would be like 'tweening' (Think of Flash Animating - You set a beginning state, and end state, and then Flash generates the in-between states)
This tool that we want to develop is really more for estimating purposes rather than looking at hard costs etc. It would not be public facing, and it's really just a way that we can hopefully speed up our quoting process.
Off the top of my head, I thought I would need to engage a Mathematician for the core function above, and perhaps some sort of economist, in terms of trying to apply those pricing estimates to different global regions. That said, both of these fields are pretty much greek to me, and I'm not even sure these would be the appropriate parties, and if they are, where and how to find them, apart from Metafilter jobs for example.
If this makes even a bit of a sense to anyone else other than me, please chime in or memail me! Thank you :)
Response by poster: Interesting observation TheAdamist - I actually had never heard of pricing consultants before this. From my cursory research though, our business might be too small and niche to benefit from those sorts of services. That said, someone like that would be a great person
Just for further clarification, our business strategy and pricing policies are sound for the most part. We've been in business for nearly a decade, however this part of out estimating is incredibly manual, time consuming, and in some ways, subjective, so we're really looking for a way to automate it, but part of that process will involve filling in some of the pricing blanks so to speak.
posted by sxtrumpeto at 3:57 AM on February 2, 2016
Just for further clarification, our business strategy and pricing policies are sound for the most part. We've been in business for nearly a decade, however this part of out estimating is incredibly manual, time consuming, and in some ways, subjective, so we're really looking for a way to automate it, but part of that process will involve filling in some of the pricing blanks so to speak.
posted by sxtrumpeto at 3:57 AM on February 2, 2016
Building a tool like that is pretty much what I used to do. I called it management science, or if was really gritty, operations research. A lot of the effort in that sort of thing is now done by all-purpose programming shops on the theory that programmers can build anything. The theory is often wrong.
I would look for a consultant who called himself a management scientist.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:59 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would look for a consultant who called himself a management scientist.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:59 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
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Once the business strategies and pricing policies are determined, the math probably will be fairly simple, so you won't need a mathematician. I'm not sure what an economist would do for you unless you are so big you have an impact on national gdp or are constructing a living video game economy.
posted by TheAdamist at 3:20 AM on February 2, 2016