As we head into the 4th quarter of the financial year, many companies start to review how they are tracking to the financial budget in more detail, and for those that are a little more organised they start to plan for the following years budget.
This can often lead to one of 2 outcomes with your sales effort.
For those entities that still have room in this year’s budget, they may look to pull forward certain acquisitions that had been factored into the following year. This results in mid to late April often being a fantastic time to get back in front of you prospects, suspects, clients, whatever you define them as.
However, at the alternative end of the scale some entities who are concerned with how they are tracking this financial year will start to slow the buying cycle down.
You start to hear comments such as;
- “We have decided to include this in next year’s budget”,
- “We won’t be considering any new solutions in this financial year”,
- “Sorry, it has not been budgeted for this year”.
There are many more iterations of the above, that can put even the most experienced sales people on the back foot. It is a polite way of saying No.
But for those that are successful in sales, we all know that a No, does not always mean a literal No. In fact, in the B2B or PRT world as I like to refer to it (see pervious Blog) a No can often simply mean, not now, as is often the case with the above.
If your value proposition is strong and the client needs have been satisfied, then budget constraints can be as frustrating for your clients as it is for you.
It does not need to be frustrating.
People often tend to think that finance solutions can be very rigid. If it does not fit within the standard box, then don’t bother.
Unfortunately for other well-known organisations this can often be the reality.
Which ironically is a great thing for our business. Thinking differently and or by challenging the status quo, we will do things differently.
Budget constraints I say blah.
Provide your client a payment holiday. Restructure the solution so it does not impact on this year’s budget. Again these things are not that difficult and most partners should be able to assist you in overcoming a number of different sales objections.
It’s just a matter of working with the right partner who is focused on growing your business as opposed to finding efficiencies within their own.
3E Advantage – “It’s about the people.”
Author – Craig Birchall