John Garvens

Matt Stevenson, the founder and managing partner of Platform 6, a recruiting firm, interviewed me for a podcast episode last week.

We covered many topics during the interview. One of which was getting a budget for Salesforce implementation projects.

I shared a story about two companies—one prospect and one customer—that approach project budgeting in wildly different ways. One wants the most enormous budget estimate possible, while the other wants the opposite.

Most Salesforce customers hire consultants to complete implementation projects. Still, they struggle to get funding for those projects, especially today when inflation is high, budgets are tight, and purse strings have been tied in a Gordian knot.

Without budget approval, nothing happens. Given current economic conditions and the tendency for implementation projects—and their budgets—to spiral out of control, how can you get budget approval for implementation projects?

Getting budget approval depends on your business and how it makes decisions. So, it is impossible to answer without context about your organization’s politics, policy, and power dynamics. Suffice it to say that “it depends” is the only correct answer.

That said, you can enumerate the steps of your purchasing process and address them one at a time. Here are some questions to get you started:

• Who makes purchasing decisions for your company? What matters to them?
• What dependencies exist for this implementation project? Is it dependent on a software purchase, roadmap project, proof of concept, etc.?
• When are budgets created and approved? Will you target this year or next year?
• What criteria must be met to develop and approve a budget? Do you meet them? What is missing, and how can you fill those gaps?
• Should you ask for a mountain of money now to avoid returning to the well later? Or should you request a small sum to start the project and refill your budget bucket as needed?

Those questions are the tip of the iceberg; there is more to discover before a budget can or will be approved. However, you can begin with those questions and drill deeper into each as you learn more about your business and how it develops budgets and makes purchasing decisions.

An outside perspective can be helpful here, especially without a well-established purchasing process. Paradoxically, getting outside help requires getting budget approval and a purchasing decision. However, an outsider with experience helping clients develop project budgets and make purchasing decisions can save you months of indecision, mountains of stress, and substantial amounts of money.

Feel free to reach out if your organization needs help getting budget approval for an implementation project. I am happy to help you develop a plan for getting the budget you need, selecting the right consulting firm for the job, and creating the roadmap to deliver what you need on a reasonable timeline with minimal stress.

Purchasing implementation projects does not have to be a chaotic mess. A bit of strategic thinking and organizational planning go a long way. Start by addressing the questions I outlined in this article and go from there. You got this.