Understanding your client’s budget is the key to making a sale and a having a productive working relationship. Many salespeople worry that asking the client how much they want to spend is bad form. Homeowners assume the price will always be raised to match the budget.
The budget is almost always too low for the project they want. Knowing this during the sales process is crucial. Without knowing the budget, you may estimate a job only to hear the price is too high.
Educating your client on the process of the job and how their material selections can affect the price will help you avoid any uncomfortable conversations in the future. There’s a fine line between holding them to their budge and telling them what they can do with their own money.
Project Budget Management
One of the best options for budget management is to encourage the customer to finance their project. That way you can talk in monthly payments instead of overall cost. Most customers will have a better handle on what they can spend monthly as opposed to the full project cost.
By offering low monthly payments, your client can make the selections they want for their project instead of defaulting to a low budget. This allows the homeowner to upgrade the project or materials for only a few more dollars a month.
For more information on selling with financing, take a look at these posts:
3 Tips for Selling with Financing
Promotional Programs – Proven Selling Tools
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