One of the hardest things to talk about in sales is money. Unfortunately, this is always a pain that needs to be addressed. Everybody has money issues, and it is your job as a salesperson to be completely comfortable with talking about this pain point.
This is such a tough thing to do because each prospect is different and each prospect has their very own money sensitivity level. Some of your prospects may be very frugal spenders who are very careful with their money. Other prospects may not mind spending money at all. When it comes to the frugal spender prospects, you may have the tendency to be a little bit more sensitive towards them, but when you get a more care free spender, you may have the tendency to be somewhat insensitive towards price.
No matter what kind of spender you are dealing with, budget discussions only make sense in the context of a true assessment of the real pain of the prospect, and the perception of the prospect that your solution can solve the pain and is worth the cost. You want the prospect to perceive the pain of cost as less than the perceived pain of not spending money on your solution to their pain.
There are a few techniques that can be vital towards your discussion of budget:
The first is that you have to be honest and delicate when this discussion comes about. Trying to give the prospect the answers they want to hear, even though it is not the answer you believe in, is not going to help you or the customer. It may sound easy to be honest during a sale, but in all reality, it is not when you have to be delicate at the same time. Finding a proper balance between honesty and delicacy is extremely important because you do not want to be brutally honest and show no delicacy, but at the same time, you do not want to be so delicate that you just say what the customer wants.
The second is that you have to have a good opening budget question that coincides with the first technique. An opening budget question could be as simple as “Mind if we talk about budget for a minute,” or “Have you thought about what something like this might cost?” The questions do not show aggression in trying to close the sale, but at the same time, it still gets the point across that you are okay to talk about money with them.
A third and final technique involves getting to a number. As a salesperson, we want to get a real number, range or threshold. We can do this by asking more questions.
“If I were to come back with a number between ___ and ___ what would happen?”
“If it cost between $5,000 and $10,000, what do you think you would get for that?”
These questions help you to create a price bracket that you can use and then narrow down the number from there.
While discussing budgeting and price is never easy or comfortable, it can be done. As long as you’re honest, delicate, and ask questions, it makes for a much easier discussion and helps your prospect feel more comfortable as well.
BoweryJE22
This is so important when making a sale. I think it is important to make sure you are on the same page as your client so you are one, not assuming, and two more likely to make a sale. Having a proper budget can make or break a sale and I like how you emphasized this. I think it is also important to do proper prospecting before so you can even put it in a better ball park.
This is and probably always will be an awkward situation. I know that the part I dread most after I’ve babysat some kids is when the parents pay me. It’s just uncomfortable. But, it’s clearly an important part of a sales process. Great insight.