Or, having potential clients pick and choose services based on what they want to spend?
Working off someone’s budget makes sense in some cases but for most small businesses, it’s not the best approach and in this episode I’m going to share exactly why that is.
By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:
The key questions to help identify (and even justify) why your top packages are required
What to do if your services exceed your potential clients budget... so you don’t lose them as a client
How to let potential clients make better informed decisions about your services (not so you look good, but because it’s the right thing to do)
Or, having potential clients pick and choose services based on what they want to spend?
Working off someone’s budget makes sense in some cases but for most small businesses, it’s not the best approach and in this episode I’m going to share exactly why that is.
By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:
The key questions to help identify (and even justify) why your top packages are required
What to do if your services exceed your potential clients budget... so you don’t lose them as a client
How to let potential clients make better informed decisions about your services (not so you look good, but because it’s the right thing to do)
If you’d like to work together with me as your 1:1 business and marketing consultant, book a call here.
Shannon Stone:
H ey guys, welcome to the podcast. Super excited to jump into this episode today.
Shannon Stone:
Today we are talking about whether you should work off someone's budget. So when someone reaches out to you for your services and they're either saying, look, this is the budget that I have, or you're asking what budget they have, we're going to talk about what you should do in this scenario and also what I think is the best way to go around it. So I do believe that there's a time and place to have a budget or a budget conversation with people you know, and often when you are purchasing services, especially in B2B services, it depends who your clientele is. Obviously, if you're working with corporations and large organizations, you know they do structure their budgets, they do put together proper budgets in place in their organizations and corporations. But generally, if you're not working with those type of clients, what I would be focusing on is not that someone is looking for a solution to suit their budget. They're looking for a specific result, and what most people avoid doing is finding out what that result actually is. So well, that goal actually is. It's like, though, someone will come to them and say, hey, I'd love to buy this particular thing from you. Could you give me a price Now? To me, that is an opening to find out. Why do you want that? What's the result that you're wanting out of that? How is this thing that you're wanting to buy? How is this going to help you? Because it's really understanding what is the reason someone is wanting to buy this, and if you're only ever presenting services and solutions for a budget, you're very likely leaving out what it is that they truly need, because you don't actually understand what their goal is, what the result is, why they're doing any of this. So I would always recommend to ask people what is it that you're looking for? What's the outcomes that you're looking for. Why are you wanting this and really understanding what is that goal they have in mind, what are the reasons they're wanting to buy this thing from you?
Shannon Stone:
And, based on what they say their goal is, then I would be presenting, or suggesting that you present, a service or solution based on the true goal that they have. So what can often happen is people will almost like give someone a piece of the pie but not the whole pie. That's what it looks like. The goal that someone has is like this whole round circle. They want to grow their business, for example, and you or whether it's them are only providing one piece of the pie, when actually they wanted the whole pie. I hope this analogy makes sense. So you want to know what is the pie, what is it that they actually want? And, based on what they actually want, I would then explain with your services. This is what I think would be best for you. You tell me that you want this thing for XYZ reasons. Based on what I do and how I believe I can really help you, this would be the best solution or this would be the best service in order to help you to achieve that goal. So I would present it to the clients in that kind of way and then let them decide if it actually suits their budget.
Shannon Stone:
Because if you are almost giving people what they want, sometimes people actually don't know what they want. And remember this you are the expert at what you do. You should also be the expert at the problem people go through and also the solutions and the services that you have. So you're better off presenting people a solution that's really going to help them it's going to be the whole pie rather than some of the pie and also for them to be made aware that if they did want to buy this small piece, it's actually not going to get them what they actually want. But a lot of people will not ask what is the reason that you want this? What's the goal? Why are you doing this? All that kind of thing which equips them with the information to then I don't want to say justify your services, but connect the dots between this is what you want and this is what I have, and let's see if it helps you. So another thing I think a big part of this is really slowing down the conversation and also just knowing that someone is not going to run away because you ask them a few extra questions or that you want to book a call with them to really understand what it is that they're looking for. And people will appreciate deeply when you educate them based on what is really going to help them. Obviously and ultimately, you want them to work with you, but if they end up working with someone else, that is okay.
Shannon Stone:
There's going to be plenty of other clients coming your way, but you would be better off working with people in the way that best suits them, selling them the services that are going to fulfill their whole goal, the whole pie, rather than just giving them a small piece of it. It's like the idea. It's like letting go of something good to go for something great. If you have to let go of a small client to get bigger clients, then let it be. But also having these structures in place around asking well, what is the goal? Why are you doing this? How is this going to help you? And then having that conversation with them around what you think of your services, what is actually going to help service them the best? That is going to help you. It's also going to help them as well.
Shannon Stone:
And the last thing I'll say on this is I think it's really if you have been a business who operates around people's budget, well, quick little tip as well I think it'd be more relevant here is if you do present the solution, the best solution that you sell, which was different from what they came in thinking that they wanted to get from you. And they see it. They see, yep, that's exactly what I need, that's exactly what I want. I want to go ahead and buy it, but maybe it is a little beyond what they thought it would be or they can't pay that whole thing in full. Maybe you do a payment plan so you can be flexible on the payment side when people truly need the service they need from you or want from you and this is not about taking money from people that don't have it. I'm a hard no for that. But if someone needs a genuine solution from you and they're saying yes to it, maybe the flexibility needs to come on the payment side rather than on the value or the server side of things Wanted to slip that one in there.
Shannon Stone:
Okay, the last thing I wanted to share with this is if you have been a business that has really focused on either people's budgets or you've asked people what their budgets are, or people come to you almost like Picking something off a menu when they come to work with you. It's like I will take this thing and that thing, and it feels a little bit like your business is a restaurant where the clients are dictating to you what it is that they want. I would almost invite you to almost like turn a leaf in your business and this would be a whole phase, honestly all together To almost like do a little reset and say, well, what kind of business do I actually want? Who are the people that I really do want to help and how is it that that I really do want to help them? And I would rather you focus on giving people a full solution and helping people the way they really need to be helped, rather than helping them in small, transactional ways that can feel like someone just come into your business and picking something off a menu. It's like I'll do one session with you or I'll buy this one small project thing off you, or I'm just gonna work with you in a very transaction based way where I'm just gonna buy this from you one time, even if it is a bigger service of yours, and then never hear from you again. Again, this could be a whole episode in itself where we focus on how to create the solution that people really need. But I think we've got enough information here or ideas to say a little shift needs to be made if you have been operating in a way where clients come in and dictate what it is that they want. But you need to remember that you are the expert at what you do and based on that, you can ask and these are not even the hard questions asking someone what is your goal? Why is it that you're wanting this? Just a little bit of probing, a little bit of insight, because it does Give your clients the best possible outcome, even if they don't end up purchasing from you what you know. Your highest ticket service thing is all your highest package, whatever it might be. At least you've given them the opportunity and the insight that what they do want to buy is just a piece of the pie it's not the whole pie and ultimately letting them make the decision. But it gives you an opportunity to say well, what kind of business do I want to run? How is it that I want to operate my business, operate my sales process, all the pieces in between, and I think it's a really insightful kind of moment that you can have it started off being, you know, do you work off someone's budget or do you just change your whole business altogether? I think that would help you.
Shannon Stone:
The action step for us here today is more of an activity. So the activity that I have for you is and you can do this by yourself, I literally used to do these kind of things by myself in my car and that is to role play, or practice asking your potential clients what their goals are. So you might come up with you know two or three common goals, because you will find you know most of your clients they are actually doing a lot of things. Your clients they all have the same goals or just a variation of the same goal. So come up with two or three of those common goals and practice asking your clients what are those goals and how you would talk about them and how you would ask them questions about it and why would you want it and how is this going to help you. And then, in this role play activity, you want to link their goals to the services you know they need. So they say, okay, this is my goal. You talk about that, your role play, about that. You pretend your potential client is right there with you in the car great place to practice and you want to link that to the service that you know that they need, versus one of the small things that they might have previously picked off the shelf or come into ask you that they wanted. So that's the activity that I have for you today.
Shannon Stone:
This is the episode I have for you today. I hope you found it useful. If you have any questions at all, definitely do reach out. I'm excited to hear what you think about this one and I hope you put it to good use. I hope you have an amazing day and I'll talk to you soon.