Have you allocated a budget for this?
Loosely interpreted, it means “How much can I charge you?”
Which is why many salespeople are reticent to ask the budget question, because they ask it badly, get push back and never ask it again.
And that’s wrong because you need to know what you’re working towards.
- Will you need to discuss the budget with anyone else in the firm?
- What sort of numbers are you working towards?
- Is the solution above or below £10,000?
- Is this a Centre Court solution or a Court Number 6 solution? This works if you understand tennis and it’s Wimbledon.
- Is this a Premiership or Championship solution you’re looking for? That works if you understand the English football league system.
And who would ever have thought that Leicester City would win the Premiership? Ladbrokes were offering odds of 5000/1 at the beginning of the season.
And whilst we’re on a roll with our questions, let’s iron out the decision process:
- What’s the way you bring in suppliers around here?
- What do you look for in a supplier to your business?
- Are there any obstacles in the way for us to do business?
- What impact will our solution have on your business?
- What’s important to you in the solution to this?
- What implementation timescale are you looking towards?
And next season my team Manchester United are 3:1 to win. Worth a bet?
