Money, Money, Money, Money, Moonnneeyy

Chrometophobia (or Chrematophobia) is the intense fear of money. I don’t know about you, but I hate talking about money. “Alayna how much money is on your credit card bill?” ugh. “How much money am I going to owe on my student loan?” even more ugh. From our sales class I have learned that most people really don’t like to talk about money. BUT I have also learned that everyone has money issues. As a salesperson (which we will all eventually be in some way), you have to become totally comfortable with talking about money.

Instead of having this irrational fear of money, we just need to face it and deal with it. Truth is, having the awkward budget talk will be beneficial. These budget discussions make sense in two contexts: 1. a true assessment of the real pain of the prospect and 2. the prospect’s perception that your solution that can solve the pain is worth the cost.

Like almost everything in sales, there are do’s and don’t’s. DON’T let your money issues project onto the prospect. If you a frugal and come from a frugal family – that is great – but don’t be hyper-sensitive to price on behalf of the client. In the same way, if you enjoy spending money, don’t overlook pricing sensitivity body language or cues your prospect is giving you. DO be honest and delicate, and evaluate as you go if your prospect seems comfortable, if it gets weird, or if they suddenly act in a different manner when money comes up.

At this point, you might be thinking, “how am I supposed to bring up the subject of money since people react so differently to it?” Luckily, we’ve got some questions that are delicate enough and straight-forward enough to start a budget conversation. And remember, you have to earn the right to talk about this through the bonding and rapport stages we have learned about! Here are a few of the questions: “Mind if we talk about budget for a minute?”, “Have you thought about what something like this might cost?”, “What if you did nothing? Would you see costs showing up in other places?”

Lastly, and importantly, avoid surprises. You don’t want to shock your prospect with a crazy number you put out there without leading with a few questions to get the feel for where they’re at during your conversation. Leave your chrometophobia at home, get out there, and have a conversation about budgets!