Your customer's budget creates a banana bunch of big qualification questions. Can they pay? How much should we ask for? What do we do when they come back with, "That's too much!"?
Unfortunately for salespeople, these are all the wrong questions.
This may be one of the most important ideas I've ever shared. I talk a bit about it in my video training and live calls, but not to this extent. Only with exclusive 1-on-1 clients who are working with me on an extended coaching program have I gone into this level of detail. So listen:
Budget is NOT about your customer's ability to pay!
Yes, that's what I said: how much money your prospect has in their wallet or bank account is not the issue here.
Your Customer's Budget: Not What You Thought It Was
One of those mental 'flips' is coming...
Ready?
Budget is more about YOU than anything else.
Your head trash.
Your limiting beliefs on what your product or service is worth.
Surprise!
Head trash telling you--subconsciously, remember--a certain dollar amount is "a lot of money"? Watch yourself get nervous when you start walking around numbers like that.
Begin noticing when you get nervous. That's the poker tell.
What You Should Be Asking Yourself About Your Customer's Budget
Let's get right into the question you should be asking yourself when it comes to your customer's budget:
Does this prospect have a problem big enough to make it worth my while to solve?
Roll this around for awhile.
Think of the implications.
I'll bet you've been playing it small with your customer's budget. "Well I'll just offer my product or service at a few hundred / a few thousand dollars, and we'll see what happens."
NO!
Can you see how, with this filter putting those blinders on you and blocking out any other opportunities, you're forcing yourself to see only those small opportunities that fit your expectations and head trash?
At the low end of the prospect spectrum, we have those who are nervous about trusting anyone, failing or on their way to failure, don't have any money and are disinclined to talk with other people. Low-end potential clients.
Is this who you've been subconsciously choosing to play the game of sales with? Without making a conscious choice about it? This is your customer's budget?
Consciously applied, Budget is about attracting those prospects who have a problem that's big enough to be worthy of your attention to solve.
Budget always comes down to your self-esteem. I can't say it more plainly than that. And as usual, I'm the only guy saying it, too. You've been looking in the wrong direction all this time. Your customer's budget isn't about them. It's about you.
Conceptually Applying Your Customer's Budget In the Real World
So how do you apply this in the real world?
Choose your income level. Pick your revenue target. Determine how many customers you need to hit that target.
Now spend some of your time--perhaps a lot of your time or maybe even most of your time--looking and filtering for prospects who have problems the size of which are attractive for you to solve.
It's not like this is extra work. After all, you're already doing it...for a much smaller payday.
For prospects on the other end of the spectrum than you're probably used to playing the sales game with, money is not a problem. They aren't scared to talk to someone who can help them. They don't have trust issues with implementatation. They don't question you're every move; they just let you get to work. Money...money to them is a resource, and if the problem is big enough for them they can get the money. Cash can almost always be gotten if the prospect wants the result badly enough. What I'm saying is, budget is almost never the real issue in selling. (So if it's not, then the problem is somewhere else, and that's what I've been telling you through this whole post. Look at that picture at the top: where do you believe that jeep comes from?!)
The money is available.
The choice is yours.
>> Jason Kanigan is a sales force developer. Sign up to learn the secrets of ethical, effective selling with SALES ON FIRE <<
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