No Budget for Your Product. No Problem.

In enterprise sales, a large company is a powerful river with strong currents and raging rapids. Your startup is a tiny kayak.

And it’s easier to flow with the water than paddle against it. 

This is the single most important lesson I’ve learned in 15+ years of selling to large businesses.

A few years ago, I led a sales team for a company that sold sales & service performance management software. Our #1 target was a large telco. We planned to pitch them on “improving productivity.”

There was one problem: the prospect had no formal project or budget for our type of software. And the execs cared less about our main benefit because they already had lots of productivity tools.

But the prospect did care about something else.

The CEO wanted to stop customer churn. To stop churn, the team had to improve customer service. To improve customer service, the team had to improve First Contact Resolution (FCR). The company dedicated millions of dollars to this initiative.

So what did we do?

We aligned with the customer’s initiative. We showed the prospect how a performance management system could boost FCR. 

By turning our sales and service performance management system into an FCR-boosting solution, we secured a multi-year multi-million dollar relationship. Best of all, the customer raised FCR, satisfied more customers, and lowered churn.

We paddled with the current, not against it.

Next time you approach an account, avoid the urge to pitch YOUR product and YOUR benefits. First ask

• What are the top 2 problems your company wants to solve?
• What initiatives are being funded to solve them?

If you can align with these, you will increase your odds of success and shorten your sales cycle.

If you can’t, you’ll have to persuade the prospect to focus on a problem you do solve. 

Either that or find another river.

I’d love to hear from you. What do you do when a prospect doesn’t have a budget for your product?