Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Folks,

The question of "Getting a Budget" just came up in another topic and I can`t resist starting a topic on this alone. If you are not getting budgets when you try to sell something, a huge opportunity is being missed. File this under "qualifying". I`d be interested in hearing your experiences in trying to get a budget out of a prospective client, techniques you have had success with, failures and obstacles, and final results when you managed to get one and when you did not.

I`ll start it out with one of my favorite stories. I was the sales manager for an audio visual firm. One of our target markets was churches. Projectors, sound systems, all that stuff. We made a call on a small church that wanted to upgrade their sound system. After meeting with the pastor and getting an idea of what they were looking for, we popped the question. "What has the church budgeted for this work?" He responded: "We haven`t set a budget and, for that matter, really have no idea of what this would cost". We told him: "Gee. We could spend $100,000 to do this". "$100,000?! When the board met we only allotted $10,000 to get this done. What can we get for that?". A pastor, in his church, and in front of God and everybody (smile).

Thanks!

Craig

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Craig M. Jamieson
Sales Results LLC
NetWorks! Boise
http://www.networksboise.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigjamieson

LOL!! And then a bolt of lightning came out of the sky and incinerated the pastor, right there in the room! 

I remember when I was doing my time in retail, one of the very early-on questions I`d ask was, "So...about how much are you lookin` to spend?" I sold consumer electronics at Penney`s, so there were some fairly high-ticket items.

I suppose another way to phrase it would be, "So how much money ya got?" But, being a sensitive then-somewhat-slimmer kinda guy, I applied tact and diplomacy.

A financial planner I knew a long time ago observed that for some reason, in America, money is one of the most taboo subjects of all things. We casually talk about sex, mental problems, diseases, divorces, disasters, and so forth. But when it comes to money, people just go silent.

Not only do we fail to ask someone how much they`ve budgeted for something, we often don`t even ask, "How much is this gonna cost me," where it comes to huge expenses like healthcare, legal matters, and other professional services.

So how does a budding entrepreneur get through a habit of being shy about asking for prices? Is it a skill, a learned behavior?

Aw, Craig. Now you are going back to another topic related to selling fundamentals (smile). Learned behavior combined with deft skill only achievable with confidence through repeated application (smile). Probably, in 30 plus years of selling one of the most common tasks that sales people have trouble in achieving. Makes them and everybody else uncomfortable. Kind of like poker. Nobody wants to show their hand (smile). Let`s see if anybody else has some thoughts and we will reveal more from there (smile).

Thanks!

Craig

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Craig M. Jamieson
Sales Results LLC
NetWorks! Boise
http://www.networksboise.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigjamieson

I`ve learned from experience, that you`ve got to ask up front. So you`re not running around trying to get it together, and then have them turn you down. Some places ask for a proposal in writing and then ask the competion to do better. Or others, you have to put in your bid.

If you ask the customer "what`s the maximum they want to spend, they think you`ll charge them the maximum amount.

I think right out with, "What do you want to spend?" is going to be the best approach.

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kkrafts
"Treat every day as a new adventure"

Yep, saves a lot of time for everybody involved if you get that up front. And you are right. The thought process that the buyer goes through is that "If I tell them my budget, they`ll spend all of it." So, I tell them "You`re right about that and, with a little luck, I`ll maybe even get you to pay a little more!" (smile). I`m not joking. I tell them that right out and just like that. And I also tell them that "The reason is that "it is my job, as your representative, to get you the most of "x" for whatever you want to invest." No dancing. No jockying for position. Straight out and get it out of the way and on the table. Of course, you have to set the scenario up first. That is done with a "bridge statement".

More later. Thanks!

Craig

P.S. I call "bid" the "b" word. That, too, could be a whole new topic (smile)

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Craig M. Jamieson
Sales Results LLC
NetWorks! Boise
http://www.networksboise.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigjamieson

Craig (Not me...the other one...you!) :-D

I`m thinking about that poker example, and not wanting to show one`s hand. But in poker, the secrecy is basic to the game, and part of the betting process.

Would we say that a sale transaction is a secret game of strategy and chance? I wonder. What about Bridge, where two partners join forces to win the hand or game?

More importantly, what about building an airplane in various different factories all over the world. Would it be a good idea if none of the factories knew what the other was doing?

Thinking about it, I`m thinking there may be two very different ways to approach the whole concept of sales, buying, proposals, and bids:

1. Sales and Buying as war, where each person attempts to overcome the other, or
2. Sales and Buying as mutually satisfactory creative endeavor, where both parties walk away highly pleased with what they got.
   

I choose war (smile). Of course not. We always look for the mutually satisfactory outcome. The "win win" situation. And it is very tough when both parties are not willing to share their respective hands. My personal selling style involves very little pretense. I like to lay my cards out on the table. My clients know that if they need my product and my product will serve them well, I have every intention of separating them from their money (smile). That`s my job. That`s how I earn my living. And guess what. They love knowing that! And when they start enjoying my product, they love that too! Conversly, if it is not a good fit, I am also the first person to tell them that. I may be a sales person but I do have a conscience (smile). It takes a lot of the "game out". The strategy comes when they are unwilling to play according to Hoyle`s rules (smile).

Craig, thought provoking as always (smile). thanks!

Craig

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Craig M. Jamieson
Sales Results LLC
NetWorks! Boise
http://www.networksboise.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigjamieson

:-) No, see I disagree. I don`t think everyone is looking for a win-win situation. Many people are looking for a "me first" or "what`s in it for me" situation. Many others are looking for a "control" situation, and "getting the best of" event.

Consider the many people who as soon as you say you bought something, tell you they "coulda got it wholesale!" Or people who love to brag about how they knocked someone`s price down to rock bottom.

Point being that I think getting a budget up front is going to be directly related to the perception of sales each person is holding. Now if only there were some litmus paper one could apply to a palm that would tell the perception! :-D

Oh oh! Brain overload again (smile). Here`s a given: Everybody listens to the same radio station ...WIFM (What`s In it For Me). Now, if everybody thinks they won, that`s a win-win. And whose to say that everybody didn`t win? Very few people will buy if they do not feel that they got a "fair" price and we all know that somewhere, someplace, we could have found it cheaper. And then we could have found it cheaper still (smile). Is what it is.

You`re going to have to clarify your last statement about budget being related to perception of sales. I can`t translate it (smile).

Thanks!

Craig

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Craig M. Jamieson
Sales Results LLC
NetWorks! Boise
http://www.networksboise.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/craigjamieson

Alright, suppose it`s the buyer who wins, but the seller who feels they lost a war? Isn`t that what some of the topics have discussed? An artist puts together a spec proposal, the buyer slams it, the artist feels insecure, and keeps lowering prices.

Or the handbasket business proposes a price, the hospital pushes and pushes. It`s definitely not a win-win situation. There`s another radio station out there a whole lot of people listen to: "WMT -- Money Talks."

So there`s the idealist view of life, where everyone would like to have win-win situations. But there`s also the more pragmatic view, where someone wins at the expense of someone else who isn`t as psychologically certain. That`s what I mean.

To clarify further: If you go into life with a war attitude, it`s quite different from having a "let`s get along" attitude. It`s when the two attitudes clash that there are problems. In my statement about perception of sales, I mean to say that the seller may be an idealist, and then gets run over by the warrior buyer.

In fact, it can go the other way too, where someone buys something, comes home, and realizes they have no idea why they bought it. The seller was the warrior and the buyer got run over.