Greg Hoy
Finding out a prospect’s actual budget can feel like trying to get into a speakeasy. People are cagey about how much they have to spend, which is a completely different number from how much they want to spend. I’ve run into every version of this. Someone with an arbitrary number in their head who expects you to hit it exactly, like it’s The Price Is Right. Someone with fiscal year dollars that need to be spent before they disappear, which is genuinely one of the best situations to be in, because they want to move fast and they’ll usually tell you exactly what they have. Someone basing their number on a quote they got elsewhere but won’t tell you what it was. And, my personal favorite, someone who just says “we’d prefer not to disclose that.” Yeah. I’d prefer not to disclose I listen to Journey as much as I do, but the facts are the facts.
I ask about budget first. Not third, not after we’ve talked scope and timeline. First.
It’s uncomfortable. Asking a stranger how much money they’re willing to spend feels a little like asking someone to prom before you know if they like you. But sharing budget information early saves an enormous amount of time for everyone involved. It short-circuits the meandering conversation about scope details that don’t matter yet, the tangents, the email threads that go nowhere. When you talk to a realtor, they ask your budget before they show you a single house. You can want the pool and the three-car garage and the chef’s kitchen, but none of that matters if the number doesn’t work. Skipping that question just means having the whole conversation twice.
I’ve spent hours on a proposal only to find out the person had two thousand dollars to spend. I don’t do that anymore.
A website, a piece of custom software, an operations overhaul — none of it is an impulse purchase. It’s usually core to how the business runs, sometimes it is the business. Even when someone tells you they don’t have a budget, they have one. If they won’t share it, I usually move on. This shows up constantly in RFPs: some will ask for background checks on your entire team but somehow never mention what they’re actually willing to spend. Next.
Some prospects won’t give you a number no matter how directly you ask. When that happens, I stop asking and start framing instead. Something like: “Sometimes we talk to organizations looking to spend somewhere between $10,000 and $25,000, and other times their needs are more involved and they’re budgeting between $40,000 and $75,000. Which of those feels closer to where you are?”
More often than not, that gets a real answer. Either they land in one of the two camps, or they tell you neither fits and volunteer their own range instead, which is exactly what you wanted in the first place. People will correct a wrong guess before they’ll offer up a number cold.
Other times the answer is simpler: ask the question plainly, then don’t say anything else. It’ll feel like a long pause. It’s usually about ten seconds. People rush to fill silence, and more often than not, they fill it with a number.
No, what’s your budget, really?
Here’s the part that actually matters. Someone tells you they have $25,000 for a project. You run your numbers and land on $55,000. Not close. The instinct, if you’re eager or conflict-averse, is to immediately chop your number down to match theirs. Don’t. Tversky and Kahneman showed in the 1970s that the first number on the table drags every later number toward it. If you drop to $25,000 immediately, that’s the anchor now, and you’ll never climb back up.
Getting real budget information is a negotiation, not an interrogation. Tell them plainly that your number is $55,000. Do it the way you’d talk if you were sitting on their side of the table, trying to get the number approved internally. Acknowledge you’re over what they said. I’ve told people directly: “If you want to walk away, I understand.” Be on their team, not adversarial to it.
More often than you’d expect, that’s when the real number shows up. “We can’t do $55,000, but we could probably get to $35,000.” Suddenly the budget isn’t $25,000, it’s $35,000. So you go back, trim what you can trim without gutting the work, and come back with something like $42,000: “That’s the best I can do. Still more than you wanted, but I made a real effort because I want to do this project with you.” That’s the conversation that gets you to yes, and it gets you there with someone who now trusts you a little more than they did an hour ago.
Same principle applies to rates. If someone says “we’re used to paying $75 an hour,” that’s fine. I’m used to my coffee a certain way too. Being used to something doesn’t make it correct. Explain why your rate is what it is. Explain what you actually bring that a cheaper option doesn’t. If your rate is $150 and they push back, come back at $140. That shows you’re willing to work with them without discounting what you do.
Don’t be slippery about it. Don’t be short with people. Be direct, be honest, and have this conversation early. Do that consistently and you build the kind of mutual respect that makes the rest of the project go a lot more smoothly.
If someone genuinely never gives you a number, no matter how you ask or how you frame it, that tells you something too. At that point it’s a free consultation, and you get to decide whether that’s a trade you’re willing to make. Sometimes it is. Just make sure it’s a decision you made on purpose, not one you backed into because you were afraid to ask the question.