Unlocking Potential Profits: How Turning 'No Budget' into 'Cost of Inaction' Can Win You Business Deals

Contrarian take:

“I don’t have a budget” Is not an objection.

Storytime

Many moons ago, I spoke with the head of digital strategy at Verizon.

He wanted to boost sales of FIOS.

We discussed a solution, and he said, “I cant put this in place right now. I dont have the budget.”

So, I asked what the cost would be if he did nothing.

We were able to figure out how many potential customers they would lose every month if they couldnt increase conversion rates.

That was the COI, or cost of inaction - the number of customers lost per month multiplied by the lifetime value of each customer.

By not making the investment, we knew they were losing $X every month.

The cost to fix the problem was a fraction of the cost of the problem.

We won the deal.

The lesson?

We know from Prospect Theory that the pain of losing is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining.

The switch?

”If I make this investment, what will happen?” (ROI) ---> “If I dont make this investment, what will happen?” (COI)