How to get the client to tell you their budget

“What’s your budget?”

“What’s your rate?” 

This standoff is more cliche for creatives than duels are in western films. You ask the client what their budget is. In return, they ask you what your rates are. The stare-down begins. This can be frustrating at first. But both questions want the same thing: to get the best deal. You want to know their budget so you can get paid the most amount possible for your work. They want to know your rate, so they can find a vendor gives them more for less. 

There is one advantage to stating your number first. The first price acts as an anchor. It’s unlikely that negotiations stray too far from the original number. But can you state your number first to gain these advantages, while also understanding the client’s budget? I think you can.  

I’ve found success with two different strategies that get the client to tell you their budget. 

The first one is to cast a wide net. When a client asks me for a budget, I’ll say something like, “We’ve worked with clients on commercial-quality projects in the $200,000 zone, and we’ve also worked with clients on social projects in the $10,000 zone. We can create quality work for you at any budget, it just depends on what you need. If you have a notion of what budget ballpark you can’t go over, then we can design something for less that maximizes your budget.”

When I cast this wide net, I show the client that there’s a wide range of possibility. I also state a really high number first, which gives them the feeling of getting a deal on any number lower than that. 

The second strategy is more playful. I just throw out a huge number and ask if it will get them in trouble. “I don’t want to quote you a million dollars and have it be way over. Do you have an idea of what kind of budget you’re looking to stay under?” Another approach to this could look like, “I could spend a few weeks building out a budget for a million dollars, but it seems like you’d prefer to have this quote in sooner than that. Do you now what kind of ballpark you’d like to stay in?”

When you say “a million dollars” with a jovial tone and a smile, it’ll break your client out of their shell. They might laugh and say “no, no, a million dollars is too much.” Then they might tell you the budget they’re looking at. 

Still, with these strategies, you might encounter a client who is more seasoned than this, and wants to get you to speak first. In these cases, you can send them a quote with three budget tiers. One that’s way too high, another that’s way too low (and doesn’t give them everything they need), and a third one in the middle. After you send this, they can compare, get a sense of the world you live in, and then they’ll tell you their budget. 

Good luck out there.