Fortunately, disclosing your budget isn’t as problematic as, say, showing your hand in a poker game and there are definitely scenarios where it’s more advantageous to keep the figures close to your pocket: buying a car, home improvement contractors, and the like.
What about digital marketing and development? One could argue keeping it close to your chest promotes competition. After all, there’s some power behind being quoted a price and then walking out of the meeting just after saying, “Thank you for your time.” Perhaps not the most productive use of time but it does leave a lot to the seller’s consternation.
Now that we’ve had our “Mad Men” moment, in the real world, a budget (and disclosing it) is a good thing. When building an eCommerce site, it’s a lot like building a house and the budget is the guardrails keeping the build on track, in scope, and anxiety low, if not altogether alleviated.
Whether building a house or an eCommerce site, inherent outcomes for each are predetermined. Let’s look at it one-to-one:
Undefined Budget:
Short-sightedness; dynamic/defensive maneuvering; next phase of the build is dependent on the current phase and what’s left over (if anything); you just don’t know what you’re going to end up with.
Defined Budget:
Full project visibility; no surprises (with room for contingencies if they arise); you end up with exactly what you want; and with the right planning and insight, come in under budget!
It’s also about equitable offset: best ROI and the costs for time and expertise of work.
There is a reasonable expectation of cost for this kind of work. Like a home, the more customized, technical, and robust the eCommerce site, the more money that needs to be allotted. However, what separates the best agency (or homebuilder) from the rest is using skill and expertise to “solve” the question rather than just “answer” it.
When the budget is disclosed upfront, the right questions can be asked, and expectations identified, the scope of work begins to take shape, allowing us to specifically identify functionality, performance, and the necessary development to make it all happen.
We ask the questions. We do the discovery. We solve all of the problems upfront to mitigate problems, manage expectations and give our clients the best value for their money – without wasting any of it – so disclosing your budget is never a card game.
To Disclose or not to disclose. With Brand Labs, it all leads to the same place.
So, step right up and let us guess your budget. Brand Labs gets it right every time.