Get Your Next Budget Approved: 6-Step Formula

The 6-Step Formula to Getting Any Budget Approved

Every organizational initiative from projects to new product or service offerings begin life as a budget proposal. But the details and groundwork of what’s possible is determined during the budget conversations that follow. Here’s where budget-seekers and budget-approvers meet to hash out the specifics of spending and align on ROI commitments and deliverables.

It’s where the proverbial sausage gets made and can get equally messy. For budget-seekers, it’s their only opportunity to tell a budget story that makes rubberstamping their proposal the obvious right choice for decision-makers. 

Easy right?

To help cut through the stress and uncertainty of delivering a budget proposal, let our 6-step formula guide your approach.

Tell the Budget Story Your Project Needs 

Projects succeed and fail on the strength of the story behind them. The story of going to the moon united NASA during the Space Race of the 1960s and infamously trickled down to janitorial staff taking pride in the role their service played toward that mission. But before a budget can evolve to reach new heights, budget-seekers need to convince decision-makers that they’re ready to take on the proposed challenge. Building momentum towards any goal starts in these make-or-break conversations. 

Before your next budget discussion, watch the video above to apply Duarte’s 6-step formula to getting any budget approved. Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s covered:

• How to position you proposal as the approver’s win instead of yours 
• Narrow your ask to make one very clear recommendation 
• Show them “what is” vs. “what could be” after your budget is approved 
• Prove to them that the investment is what will bring them from “what is” to “what could be”  
• Show them the other options and prove that this is the best one 
• Give them everything they need to make an easy decision

Setting decision-makers up for success with data-backed analysis and a compelling story that illustrates what’s at stake gives added contour to your budget request. When key stakeholders are invested in your budget story, they’re more inclined to do everything in their power to make it a reality.

Start implementing these steps into your budget talks and see how approvers respond to your story with renewed enthusiasm.