The art of selling: IT budget approval made easier

I first heard the phrase, “Find a need and fill it,” some years ago at an “art of selling” presentation by a super salesman. Why was I at this presentation, you ask? Because as a young CIO, I was struggling with obtaining budget approvals for a range of IT initiatives.

Sitting in this selling seminar, my persuasive difficulties with the CEO and CFO became immediately apparent to me. And it centered on this phrase, which was originally attributed to philanthropist Ruth Stafford Peale.

What I had been trying to do was to pitch and fund the needs that we inIT felt were urgent, such as new investments in networks, processing, and storage. Unfortunately, understanding the struggles of the IT “engine room” didn’t impress other managers who were more focused on the end business and could care less if we had to creatively manage the nightly batch processing window to be open for business the next morning, as long as we managed it.

Today, technology capabilities deliver significantly greater capability than they did even five years ago, but the basic calculus of “selling” hasn’t changed much for CIOs. A majority of CIOs I speak with dread the budget approval process and breathe a welcome sigh of relief when annual budgeting comes to an end. Presenting requests for IT funding, especially if it involves IT infrastructure, is one of their least favorite things.

But gaining some confidence — and skills — in the art of selling can help make earning approval for investments in new IT initiatives and requests for additional IT funding easier.

Prepping the sell

Merriam-Webster defines sell in part as “to persuade or influence to a course of action or to the acceptance of something.” As fundamental as looking in a dictionary is, fully understanding this facet of the definition of sell is vital for unpacking the goal of your budget presentation — as is recognizing that what you are doing in these meetings is selling.

One of the most persuasive techniques of selling is to actively listen to those you are selling to in an effort to better align on common goals before you make a pitch.

Let’s say you need more storage to keep up with incoming data. Just asking for storage because you relay that you are running out won’t likely win funding. But if you link the need for extra storage, and perhaps additional processing, with specific business needs, you can align organizational business issues with the information technology you seek in ways that everyone can see, exponentially increasing your chances of earning the investment.

These days artificial intelligence has the full attention of the C-suite and board. But to implement AI to better assess markets and competition for a company’s goods, for example, the AI will need access to a wide variety of data from within and outside the company to analyze customers, the market, and products. And at some point, all this data must be brought together in a centralized data repository so it can be probed and processed by AI algorithms.

In other words, the IT resources needed for this project are substantial. They might require new contracts with outside cloud vendors for data; new investments in external and internal security and data tracing products; data cleaning and preparation tools; expanded database software; significant enhancements to processors and networks; and both user and IT training.

You have to explain to other C-suite leaders and the board in plain English why all these resources are necessary to make a successful budget pitch — but you should avoid making this pitch until you know the key decision-makers in the company are already on board with it.

And in the case of our hypothetical AI project, the fact that it will examine company products, company sales, consumer habits, competitor products, and overall market conditions means that the allies you want for your budget pitch are likely to be the VP of marketing, VP of sales, the CEO and CFO, potentially the board, and perhaps even the VPs of engineering and manufacturing.

To secure these allies in advance of your budget proposal, you must be talking to them about the project months in advance so you can assess their enthusiasm and support. If you are unconvinced of where they stand, it’s best to defer the project until you know you have the support.

Avoid the ‘IT-only’ trap

When I think back to the phrase, “Find a need and fill it,” I am reminded that IT isn’t the only department that has technology needs.

There might be a need in Finance for more low-code and no-code tools to assist users with risk assessments, or a need in Field Operations to upgrade servers that fail daily and jeopardize their work.

Don’t ignore these technology needs just because they don’t originate with IT. Remarkably, I know a lot of CIOs who do because they believe users don’t know what they are taking about. Often, however, they do. And because of this, IT budgeters must have open ears.

Moreover, doing so can help develop valued allies for IT-originating initiatives down the road.

Sharpen your storytelling skills

When it comes to the pitch, business storytelling is a good way to sell major projects.

Let’s say you want funding for a zero-trust network.

Why? Not because it’s an IT best practice.

Instead, you want to implement a zero-trust network because the company’s business direction is to move more operations to remote “edge” facilities. The company is also implementing more robots and internet of things (IoT) technologies as it automates its manufacturing plants.

Unfortunately, moving people and operations to enterprise edges increases the attack surface for malicious actors. IoT devices themselves come with major security vulnerabilities and fail points.

A zero-trust network becomes invaluable because it can detect and track every IT asset, activity, and user. It can assist in isolating and mitigating attacks.

By pitching your project this way, you’ve built a case for corporate risk avoidance. That is the sell. The fact that it requires a zero-trust network that can track and mitigate threats from every IT asset and activity as well as every external and internal user is material only in that it solves the business case your storytelling has outlined. Without that story, there is no need for a solution.

Who can argue with that?