Budget is Always a Consideration

Have you ever reviewed pricing initially with a prospect and gotten a response like “no problem”? It’s not a common experience for most sales people so feels great when it happens because it implies that you are at or below what they have budgeted for the product or service. That implication can put a sales person at ease because common pricing stalls and objections seem to be eliminated right off the bat. Unfortunately, it’s often a false sense of ease as price considerations will always need to be diligently handled in the sales process.

We have adopted a saying at our firm, “If the prospect says money is no problem . . . then it isn’t. Because they aren’t planning to give you any.” Of course, this doesn’t mean walk away from the potential sale but it does mean that the sales person needs to get clarification on what “no problem” means.

I was reading that the State of Maryland certified Summit Business Technologies as a qualified cybersecurity seller. That qualification means that their small business clients can claim up to %50 of the purchase as a tax credit. What an opportunity! Imagine effectively selling your product or service at half the price but maintaining all the margins.

As I considered it further though, I realized that Summit’s sales team will need to be very diligent as they take this offer to market. While the sales team will view the tax credits as a significant buying opportunity, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the client base will because many prospects have nothing to compare it to. From their perspective, it will still be a new expense whose value needs to be weighed and prioritized.

It doesn’t take something as striking as a government funding program to let a lack of diligence creep in for uncovering a prospect’s budget. Many sales people are uncomfortable addressing money directly so the same problems arise when sales people leverage more commonplace legitimate discounting options like limited time deals or bulk pricing. The sales person has the benefit of comparing that pricing to what other clients have paid and assumes that benefit is obvious to the prospect. Unfortunately, it won’t be. The prospect has no transparency into those other sales. Even if they had full insight into your pricing models, skepticism would still be present because underhanded sales tactics like offering discounts on inflated prices have tainted prospects’ perception.

Even if a prospect says pricing is not a problem, salespeople need to be careful in assuming is true. Budgeting should never be overlooked, even in the most advantageous situations.