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I tend to get excited when meeting a potential client then get frustrated when they are not "the one". Help!
Kimberley,
There are many different pre-quals for different scenarios, enterprise software solutions vs. smaller point solutions, hardware data center upgrade vs. a few blade servers, consulting analysis vs. programming and engineering outsourcing etc. But, at the end of each, no matter which, there will be a common factor and this is the exchange of money for something in return.
So why not pre-qual that one right out the gate and ask, Do you have a budget? What is it? This is the old starting with the end in mind.
I have a friend who drove from PA to Connecticut today to meet a “hot” prospect, the prospect was referred by a previous customer and he had spoken with him by phone several times. He thought this was a closing meeting and he had his proposal in hand. He called me later in the day, and told me that he was driving back and had to re-calibrate his proposal and approach. I asked what happened. He said it was a total mis-match, his price was way too high and the prospect had no clue that his produce/services would cost so much! I was aghast, I kindly berated him, as only a friend could, for the rest of his drive home asking how on earth did you talk to this guy several times, drive all the way to CT. to close him, and you never asked "What's your budget?."
In some cases, if your prospect is very tenured and has made many similar purchases in the past, then he or she will have a price expectation in mind already, and then the most relevant question is "Is this a budgeted project?" This question, allows you to understand and drive more into the buyers buying process. Can you make a purchase if this is not budgeted? What's that exemption process like? Who needs to sign-off on exemptions to the budget? If it's not budgeted then ask "When will it be?", What's your budgeting cycle process? etc. This one question let's you go in many directions to get useful information - and at the end of the dialog, you can make a real business decision that you can share with your prospect on exactly how much "investment" you can make on a expenditure that is "not" budgeted and know exactly when to re-engage with a full pre-sales investment effort when it becomes a "budgeted" project.
Your ultimate job is to get the money, and if it's not even available from the onset, then there is nothing to close, it’s just a sell of “goodwill” on the hopes of a future purchase. You can’t forecast this type of business, except into the category of ‘hope’.
Get these real business basics out of the way early on and it will establish a level of business credibility, you are in-fact running a business and not a non-profit "tire-kicking" service.
Good Luck,
Peter
October 2008