Price Bracketing

Bracketing Is for More than Madness

Around this time of year, just about everyone is talking about brackets. It’s NCAA Basketball time, and March Madness is in full swing. Brackets are everywhere… online, hanging on refrigerators, posted on bulletin boards – you name it.

But, did you know there’s a much more important bracket when it comes to sales?

Keep reading to find out how price bracketing can help increase sales.  

Price Bracketing for Budgets

If you have a hard time discussing budget, the concept of bracketing could be a lifesaver. Price bracketing allows you to take a prospect from complete vagueness to a pretty good understanding of an acceptable budget range.

It would go something like this…

You: I don’t suppose you’ve had a chance to put a budget aside to take care of this have you?

Prospect: No. I really haven’t. I was hoping you’d be able to help me with that.

You: Okay. Based on what we’ve seen in situations like this before, what we’ve talked about can either fall in the $3,000-5,000 range or possibly the $5,000-10,000 range, depending on the specifics of implementation. Which of those sounds like where you’d be comfortable?

Yes, they’ll typically hear the lower of the two ranges.

But, as long as your lower range is a number that works for you and will provide the solution he needs, that’s okay. And, it’s a great place to start, because you just took him from no budget at all to $3-5K (or whatever your number might be)!

Price bracketing only works, of course, if you’ve clearly identified the prospect’s pains and can truly offer a solution within the bracketed budget range you’re suggesting. When that’s the case, a bracket budget allows you to get money out of the way up front and moves you and the buyer closer to the development of a solution that he knows will be within his acceptable range of investment and you know you’re not wasting your time.

Budget brackets have a purpose outside of March. Try using bracketing to address budget the next time you’re in front of a prospect and be sure to let us know how it goes.

► Learn more about sales bracketing in Sales Foundations Boot Camp or Contact Us.