Equilibrium has fields for both “Budget” and “Expected Sales Amount” because in working with designers and sales people from across the country, we have found that most projects have both, and they are usually different. The “Budget” field should be obtained during the “Measure” stage of the 4M™ sales process and is usually driven by the prospect. The “Expected Sales Amount” is estimated by the salesperson or designer and is most accurate when the opportunity reaches the “Match” stage. At this point, the designer or salesperson has a better understanding of exactly how much the project will cost the prospect, and can use this as a reference point to their original budget. If the two numbers are close, this can be a strong selling point for your organization over the competition.
It’s also worth noting that the Expected Sales Amount is the value that populates the widgets on your dashboard. So an Opportunity with a Budget value but no Expected Sales Amount will result in a $0 value in those widgets. However, if the Opportunity has quotes, then the value of the quotes populate the widgets on the dashboard, not the Expected Sales Amount.
