So What Sort Of Budget Did You Have In Mind?

[Scottish Business Owner]

Yep that's a question I very rarely hear other businesses asking potential clients.

I guess from a clients point of view they want to protect that for fear that any quote they are given will be in line with that and then how can they ensure value for money.

From the otherside if a client has a budget of say £500 bit your solution costs £5000 then you've probably saved yourself lots of time preparing propsals etc where you're unlikely to win the business anyway.

What's your thoughts on this? Do you ever ask a customer what their budget is? If not why not?

As a customer would this put you off hiring someone if they asked you this?

 

[Pete Brindle]

Our business doesn't really work like that; we have a price and that's it. But I think it's an important discussion to have early on. It would save a heck of a lot of time. Sometimes customers don't like talking about money though, because they don't want to pay too much, but they also won't want to appear rude by undervaluing the service offered by the business. I think prices should be mentioned early on, whether the client gives an approximate quote or the customer is asked. Either way, as you say, it saves time later.

 

[Gemma Rowlands]

I advertise prices along with some of the jobs that I do, but sometimes I have to quote people on other things. I do have some long term clients who know now to tell me their budget in the email when they're asking me if I can do a job, then I can tell them whether I'd be able to do it within budget, and if not whether I could do a slightly lesser job for the price they're asking for.