What is budget season?
Budget season is the months when buyers set next year's service and capital budgets. Work left out of the budget often waits for the next cycle. Its timing follows each buyer's fiscal year. Public entities such as school districts and municipalities often run a formal budget calendar, one of the recommended budget practices published through the Government Finance Officers Association.
Why it matters to a revenue leader
Commercial services buyers usually fund agreements and repairs from operating budgets and fund replacements and large retrofits from capital budgets, which are planned further ahead and scrutinized harder. Investopedia notes that operating budgets often cover one year while capital budgets can span several. A seller who brings a replacement recommendation after the capital plan is set often waits a year. For a revenue leader, budget season shapes the forecast: large projects that miss it should move out, and the months before it are when sellers must put evidence, such as inspection findings and equipment age, in the buyer's hands.
Example
A mechanical seller learns in June that a university's facilities department submits capital requests in September for the next fiscal year. The seller delivers a chiller replacement proposal with failure history in August. The project is funded the following July, and the seller's forecast reflects that timing.
"Which large opportunities in our forecast depend on budgets the customer has yet to approve?"