No Budget

“We don’t have the budget for it.” Sound familiar? I’m sure many of you have come across this objection when trying to get efficiency projects approved. It’s true that many organizations don’t have a budget specifically for efficiency; however, there are many ways to fund efficiency improvements, and you need to be prepared to put those options on the table the minute your prospect expresses this concern.

The first question you want to ask your prospect in this situation is: “What budget are you referencing – capital or operating?” You want to make it clear that your prospect is spending plenty of money now (on unnecessarily large utility bills) and that you may be able to repurpose those dollars to cover the debt service to purchase new, efficient equipment with no additional monthly outlay – and perhaps even wind up with positive cash flow each month. Put another way, if they have budget to pay for overly large utility bills each month, they probably have the budget to finance the solution – provided they are credit-worthy, of course.

We mentioned loans, leases, and performance contracting earlier this month. In case you missed those blogs, you can view them here: Funding Efficiency, Part One and Funding Efficiency, Part Two. In a future blog we’ll discuss PACE financing, an avenue that is growing in popularity as building owners seek to accelerate the pace (pun intended) and magnitude of efficiency-related capital improvements.

Ultimately, there’s almost always a way to come up with the capital necessary for efficiency improvements. Don’t walk away when your prospect tells you he or she doesn’t have the budget. Sometimes it’s as simple as moving dollars from one budget line item (“Utilities”) to another (“Debt Service on New Efficient Equipment”).
 

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