As we discussed in Chapter 4, in most competitive sales, a budget has already been established for the inner circle by the time that you and your competitors are contacted. With the budget in place, one of the
most common mistakes that salespeople make is to first inquire what the budget is and then to build their proposal around the budget num- ber. They automatically assume that the budget represents the maxi- mum amount that the company is willing to spend to get what it needs. This is simply not true, and competitors who build their rec- ommendations exclusively around the budget are doing a disservice to both themselves and the buyer.
Dominant predators do not sell to the budget; they sell to what they deem appropriate to the situation. They build solutions around the needs of the client first and then determine whether or not the rec- ommendations they have prepared happen to fall under the budget limits set by the buyers. If this is the case, so much the better. If not, the situation is not viewed as an obstacle. They simply adjust their sell- ing strategy, as we will discuss shortly.
PREDATOR POINT
Most competitors will sell to the budget. The dominant predator ignores it.
In the competitive sale, recognize any budget for what it is: a pre- liminary purchase estimate that is submitted by the inner circle and approved by the decision maker. The group makes its best guess as to what it will need to spend to acquire the desired outcome, usually “pads” it a bit to allow for unforeseen expenses, and submits it for approval. Once the budget is approved, the inner circle is expected to stay within those guidelines. However, in no way does this mean that the group is prevented from getting additional funding if it cannot get what it wants within the original budget—or if its perceived needs change during the course of making the decision.
A simple example of this process is the way most of us purchase a new automobile. We do our research (in most cases online), and then we go to the dealership with our “budget” set, thinking that we know both exactly what we are going to buy and what we are going to spend. At the dealership, this initial position often changes. We discuss our known needs and spending limit with a skilled salesperson, who makes us aware of options and other available add-ons for the model that we had not considered or did not fully understand in terms of buyer ben- efit. We might not have realized, for example, just how pleasant a heated driver’s seat would be in the dead of winter until our salesper- son activated this feature during the test drive. Or, in my case, I never considered adding the rear-view camera option in my last new vehi- cle until the salesperson showed me how much easier backing up to my boat trailer would be when using this feature. Once these addi- tional options are introduced into the decision process, our original purchase plan—and spending limit—has changed. We have new needs that we had not identified previously, and in many cases we end up investing more than the initial budget to satisfy those needs.
The process that your inner circle uses to make its buying decision is no different. Keep in mind here that the inner circle budget was based on “known”—public information—needs. These were the ini- tially identified issues that prompted the opportunity but do not include any private information areas that you uncovered with your secondary needs analysis questions. The only real issue here—and the one that dominant predators seize on—is whether or not the best solu- tion for the full spectrum of customer needs—public and private— can be obtained within the budgetary boundaries. If the client wants something that will exceed the budget—a result, in most cases, of your private information needs analysis—he or she almost always will ask for, and receive, the additional money to obtain it.
This does not mean that you should try to sell a solution that exceeds the budget. It simply means that you should take into account that the ideal solution may or may not fall within the budget guidelines. You should therefore be prepared to set aside the budget number in order to deliver the ideal solution for the client.
PREDATOR POINT
Dominant predators use private information topics to make the budget inadequate for the needs of the client.
Don’t assume, however, that the prospective client is going to sim- ply treat the budget as a nonissue in the buying decision. The com- pany has established a maximum expenditure number for the purchase, and we are obligated to respect, and address, that number. However, we are by no means limited to selling to it.