Authors note: Please be aware that this blog is being written by a sales person who knows absolutely nothing about marketing. I’m faking it (fake it till you make it) and learning about social media at the same time. Call it “survival instinct” (smile). My hope is that this site may serve to help other sales people in the same boat as I am……struggling to adapt to this new form of networking while at the same time being strangely intrigued (smile). And, it is also about coming to the realization that you either “grow or die”. Right now, I prefer growth (smile). Of course, this could change (smile).
Every now and then, I have the need to clear my mind of all things electronic and marketing and talk about my passion…Selling. After all, no matter what anybody might tell you…..nothing happens until somebody sells something (smile). This is the third chapter of a series. You may wish to refer to Part I and Part II and, even then, please proceed at your own risk and please do not try this at home (smile).
Qualifying For Budget Part III: This post will allow us to get to the meat of the matter. How do you effectively ask for somebody’s budget or……..how do you help them to define it. Once again, everybody has a budget. I might approach the subject in this manner:
“Mr. Smith, as you might guess, there are hundreds of ways to build a sign and the same amount of materials to work with. And, all these methods and materials require a different investment. In order to make sure that we design a sign that meets your expectations, could you please share with me what you have budgeted for this project?” Sometimes, I might even interject… “I’m going to have to ask you a question here. It’s about your budget. Now, you may not want to share that with me because you feel that I will likely spend every penny of it, and I just might do that (smile). My job is to get you the most sign for the dollar that you want to invest. That being said, maybe it might be best if we talked about a budget range. What might that be please?”
The key to the above questions is that we are establishing: 1) reasons for asking the questions and 2) benefits for your client to answer them. Sometimes, these are called “bridge statement”. They provide an orderly transition from one topic into another….budget.
Here comes the fun part (smile). The client says…“I really don’t have a budget.” Here is where you throw out a number and you throw high. “Well, looking at this, I could design you a sign in the $50,000 range. Does that sound about right to you?” Guaranteed. Instant budget (smile). He/she will either fall over dead or come back with a number or start the discussion because …everybody has a budget (smile).
Tech Tips: I tend to be very slow about connecting the dots (smile). We have talked a lot about links. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong, but all the links we have been talking about are pretty much termed as “hyperlinks”. Click on some image or word (typically highlighted in some manner but not always) and you are transmitted at warp speed to another website. And you can hyperlink just about anything. That LinkedIn “profile badge” is nothing more than a .gif image with a “hyperlink” (my Linkedin Public Profile website address/url) attached to it.
