Playbook

Price First: how Belkins runs this inbox

A Controller who asks about money before he asks what you do. The client, the prospect and every figure in the thread are fiction; the method for a price-first buyer is how Belkins SDRs handle finance every week.

1. Beat 1

   The opener: the operational detail

   In the game: The draft that names the real operational gap earns the reply. The ROI-upfront subject line is the longest option and burns the thread.

   The Belkins method

   • An interest question while the prospect is cold outperforms an ask for time, and the detail has to be specific to the account. source
   • A business trigger, such as a tooling change already under way, is the personalisation Belkins names as the right kind. source

2. Beat 2

   Price first: give the range

   In the game: Dodging the price question or pivoting to a call loses the Controller. A plain range with the one variable that moves it keeps him.

   The Belkins method

   • Finance buyers ask price early to decide whether the conversation is worth their time. Belkins answers with the range and the driver, then asks one qualifying question.
   • Repeating a statistic the prospect just questioned is the fastest way to a one-sentence rejection.

3. Beat 3

   The qualifying reply: honest scope

   In the game: Overselling here looks fine through the boss round and detonates on the close.

   The Belkins method

   • Say what the product does not do. A trap that pays later is still a trap; the buyer remembers the promise at contract time.

4. Beat 4

   Silence and the out-of-office

   In the game: The out-of-office beat makes Wait the best move. Follow-ups that add nothing spend a pip and go to spam.

   The Belkins method

   • Belkins caps follow-ups at three per thread because stacking sends into silence drives spam complaints. source
   • A new thread resets the pips at a cost; use it once, with a reason the prospect can see.

5. Beat 5

   Recovery: answer, do not deck

   In the game: Sending the deck instead of the answer routes into a second silence. The short reply that answers the open question recovers the thread.

   The Belkins method

   • A deck is a deflection in the other direction. Answer the question in the email; the deck can follow the meeting.

6. Beat 6

   The close: the sign-off screen

   In the game: A specific slot books when the Controller is warm enough; the same ask while he is lukewarm parks the deal.

   The Belkins method

   • Specific-time asks win once the deal is engaged, 37% against 25%, and only then. source
   • Bring what the buyer asked to see. A Controller who says 'bring the sign-off screen' has told you the agenda.

Prospects and clients in the game are fictional. How scoring works