A pricing assistant’s responsibilities include conducting research and determining appropriate pricing structures for a company’s products or services. To come up with price quotes for customer inquiries and potential orders, he will frequently interact with supply vendors and internal sales departments. An assistant may assist in the drafting of the pricing section of rental contracts and portions of other business correspondence in some industries. Administrative support for a company’s sales team, including lead generation and follow-up communication, could be provided assistants.
Although a pricing assistant does not always determine a company’s final pricing structure, he frequently conducts research to determine appropriate product and service price ranges. Prices are influenced raw material and manufacturing costs, as well as supply and demand market forces. An insurance company’s assistant, for example, may assist in determining annual premium prices based on a vehicle’s safety record, model year, and loss prevention features. Pricing structures can be influenced regional differences and competitor activity, as well as temporary reductions due to sales promotions and market introductions.
A pricing assistant’s responsibilities include communicating with vendors and the company’s sales team. The sales team is usually the conduit for data on products and services that require appropriate pricing. These representatives have firsthand knowledge of what the company’s customers want, and they may collaborate with the pricing department to create quotes for customers who are ready to buy. It may be necessary to establish contact with supply vendors in order to compile a list of average production costs as well as non-standard items, such as a custom paint design for an automobile.
A pricing assistant might write the sections of a contract that deal with the customer’s costs in industries that rely on contracts. This is common in mortgage and real estate firms that break down costs such as interest rates, minimum down payments, and mortgage finance fees. While some of these charges are determined the customer’s personal financial history and market rates, others may differ between companies. For example, depending on the organization’s operating expenses, real estate sales commissions and mortgage lender loan origination costs may differ.
A pricing assistant’s additional responsibilities may include sales support. Most of the time, this assistance consists of communicating with customers and assisting with sales prospecting. Customers may be contacted an assistant to discuss price quotes or to negotiate prices. For example, a customer who wants to buy out his car lease can work out a final purchase price with an assistant based on changes in the fair market value of the vehicle.