The “What’s Your Budget” Qualifying Question

“When should I ask, “What is your budget?” when qualifying a warm (Inbound) lead?”

You want to know when you should ask “What’s Your Budget?” – Let me answer that question with a question.

When you make an inquiry about a product or service you have an interest in, and the salesperson asks you, “What is your budget?” or “What budget did you have in mind?” what is your initial reaction? I can tell you that when I make an inquiry and a salesperson contacts me and asks: “What’s my budget?” I have immediate feelings of distrust.

Is that how you want your prospect to feel about you? I know I don’t.

BUT ISN’T IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW THEIR BUDGET?

Yes. Making sure your prospects can afford your solution to their problem should they decide they want it, is part of the qualifying process.

But as with all things in sales, the sales questions we ask, how we ask them, and when we ask them often makes the difference between winning and losing a deal.

I’ve found the best solution to be to first fully understand what the prospect is trying to accomplish and why, then, identify all the decision-makers involved (if for nothing else to make sure the person I’m speaking with has the power/authority even to answer a budget question) get a complete understanding of their ideal solution and once I have all of that information, I should be able to offer a “price range” of what they are looking at and see if that would be in their budget.

How to Qualify on Budget:

Example:

“Mr. PROSPECT, just so I understand, you’re looking for something that will do _________, _________ and _________ in order to _________ is that correct? (YES)

Typically, our product / service runs between ($____) and ($_______).

Once you learn about our _____ and if you like what we have to offer and you decide you want to move forward with it, is that within your price range? (YES, IT IS!)”

So now that you and your prospect understand what it is that we are trying to solve, you are in a better position to at least offer a range and then find out if that is doable for them should they decide to move forward once they learn about your solution.

You’ll want to ask this question before starting your presentation – BUT ONLY IF YOU’VE PROPERLY ASKED THE NECESSARY QUESTIONS PRECEDING IT – in order to avoid hearing “We don’t have the budget for that” when you go for the close.

Again, “sales” is mostly about knowing what questions to ask, when to ask them, why to ask them, how to ask them, who to ask them to and what to do with the responses you are giving.

– Michael Pedone

Michael Pedone teaches outbound sales teams exactly what to say to get sales conversations started with hard-to-reach decision-makers. He is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – An online sales training company.