When is the best stage in the consultative sales cycle to ask about budget and timing? There are as many different opinions regarding the proper point to understand the buyer’s time frame and budget parameters as there are sales people.
One major contingent believes that it is rude to ask before you have a solid relationship and that buyers would not ask for help unless they already had the necessary funds allocated. This group believes that sales people risk overstepping their bounds unless they wait until the end of the sales cycle.
The other camp believes that it is imperative to understand your buyer’s budget and timeline as early in the sales process as possible so that you do not waste precious time on unqualified prospects.
We have found that the most successful consultative sales reps live in the second camp. They excel at quickly identifying their prospects desired results while simultaneously (and unapologetically) qualifying and understanding seven key areas before moving forward:
- Budget
- Decision maker(s)
- Decision making process
- Decision making criteria
- Stage in the buying process
- Competition
- Timeline
