The 5 biggest pitfalls of the budget round

The budget round seems far away. But behind the scenes, things are already starting to stir: templates for gathering the right input are popping up in inboxes, and expectations are slowly becoming noticeable. And that creates tension. Because what should you focus on? How much can it cost? And what should wait?

In this blog, you can read about the five most common mistakes made during the budget round and what you can do to avoid them.

1. No shared direction

It starts at the top: each team has to submit its plans, but what is the overarching goal?

Management wants to allocate the total budget wisely, so that proposals reinforce each other and contribute to the bigger picture. But if that shared direction is missing, something else emerges: separate plans that compete with each other rather than reinforce each other. Marketing wants more visibility, sales focuses on faster conversion, product development calls for innovation. All defensible, but without a common course, you will never achieve the optimal distribution. The result: disappointment, replanning, delays.

Strong plans only emerge when you know what the bigger goal is and how your team contributes to it. So work from a single common basis. When everyone builds from the same insight, you get less noise and more direction.

2. Sloppiness due to time pressure

As soon as the templates arrive, the race against the clock begins. So what happens? You take last year's plans, throw in some new figures, change a few headings here and there, and call it an update. Check, another difficult task ticked off your to-do list.

And let's be honest: you're not the only one. For many commercial professionals, the budget round feels like a burden. Something that “has to be done,” while the real focus is on today's goals.

But a plan that is put together too quickly often lacks the sharpness and conviction needed to land. Especially if you have to explain why your team is entitled to the requested budget.

So start with a fixed structure that saves time. Know what information matters and carefully substantiate your choices. That way, you'll come across as sharp, even under pressure.

3. No clear process

Management needs to be able to compare insights about the market. That's why growing companies often switch to templates at some point. This makes it clear to everyone who needs to provide input what is required. But such a template usually asks for information that you or your team don't have at your fingertips. Finding it takes too much time, but if you don't fill anything in, it looks like you don't have your affairs in order...

So you take a shortcut: you create your own version with data that you do have. Handy, you think. Until it comes back with comments, questions, and additions. Before you know it, the document is being passed back and forth like a ping-pong ball, and the turnaround time doubles. Your entire team feels frustrated, tired, and powerless.

A strong process prevents that. A clear structure, clear guidelines, and frameworks eliminate uncertainty and noise. That way, all attention goes to the content, not to filling in formats.

4. You lack strong justification

You have submitted your plans. But then the inevitable question arises: “Why do you think this will work?”

Without solid justification, your plan remains vulnerable. You are asking for money, but you cannot demonstrate why it will be well spent.

Substantiation is indispensable, especially in the hectic budget round. It makes the difference between a convincing story and a gamble. With up-to-date, substantiated insights, you really know what meets market needs. This shows that your choices are not random, but strategic.

5. You lack focus - a little bit of everything, nothing really

Congratulations, you've been given a budget. Time to get started. But that's when it really begins. What exactly are you going to do?

Many plans actually consist of a long list of separate ideas. Everything sounds good, so you try to do something with everything. The result? Fragmentation. Teams that divide their energy and don't really achieve anything.

It may seem strategic to take a broad approach, but in reality, you're not choosing anything. And without clear choices, the plan falls apart.

Prioritize based on hard data and segmentation. Where are the most opportunities? What really appeals to the customer? With focus, you increase the chance of results and approval.

Finally: make your plan rock solid

The budget round is not an administrative obstacle, but an opportunity. An opportunity to sharpen your focus as a team on what you are investing in, why, and what it will deliver.

Not every plan has to be perfect. But if it has a clear direction, is well-founded, and shows focus, you have gold in your hands.

Want to make it even easier? SpotOpp helps you make the right choices quickly and clearly, based on market data, customer insight, and segmentation. No more error-prone Excel sheets or endless discussions, but a clear process that you go through together. This not only gives you insight and substantiation, but also support.