Budget calendar
For most operators, in October. Managers write next year's capital requests in the fall, they are approved or cut, and the money is set for the year; it usually lands in February. A company on a July fiscal year runs the same cycle shifted by the gap.
Built from the show, not from a survey: the word budget comes up 191 times across 49 episodes. Every quote below is checked word for word against its transcript each time the site is built. The months assume a fiscal year that follows the calendar, which the show says is most companies.
OctoberYou are here
This is the window. Managers fill in what they want to spend next year, it is rolled up and approved or cut, and whatever is not on a line now is hard to buy with capital until the next round. If you want a line, the buyer needs your numbers for the spreadsheet this month.
“typically in the fall around October, your management starts asking you to fill an Excel spreadsheet and want you to spend money on next year. All that is rolled up. Somebody goes through it and approves or doesn't approve it. And that money is set for the next year.”
Source: Educating your buyers and reaching the decision-making team, episode 4 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
November and DecemberYou are here
Two things at once. Budgets that are not spent tend to shrink, so some buyers want to commit what is left, which is where work sold now and delivered later fits. And from mid-November the holidays leave about four working weeks, so a pipeline full of December 31 close dates is mostly fiction.
“a lot of times they're trying to spend all their money by the end of the year, right? So they keep the same budget for next year. And so I've run across that a lot in November, December.”
Source: Educating your buyers and reaching the decision-making team, episode 4 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
“If you have 30 opportunities that all have the same expected close date of December 31st, you know that's not legit.”
Source: Ending the Year Strong Part 1 of a 2 part series, episode 59 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
January and FebruaryYou are here
The lines approved in October are now real, though the show's experience is that cash often reaches the account in February rather than January 1. Planning for this quarter was last quarter's job; January is for working the accounts that already have money.
“So new budgets have been released. Most companies' fiscal year runs along the calendar year. That money actually doesn't usually hit the bank account until February”
Source: Hitting the Ground Running for 2024, episode 39 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
March to SeptemberYou are here
Capital is committed. A buyer who wants you now and has no line is the lease conversation: the same thing, rented, lands in operating budget. Use these months to get into next fall's planning round by name.
“When they say yes, you let them know that you can take the same thing that normally they would buy and you can lease it to them and it will hit their operational budget.”
Source: Educating your buyers and reaching the decision-making team, episode 4 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
Shift every row above by the gap. The show's example is a buyer whose year ends in June: nothing new gets spent in May, and a seller pushing through the summer would have stalled the deal without knowing why. The fix is one question on the first call.
“Their fiscal year ended in June, and it starts brand new in July, which means that there was no new spending at the company in May”
Source: How to Accelerate Deal Closure in Oil and Gas, episode 98 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
“What is your capital planning calendar? When do we need to get into that planning cycle to be able to buy?”
Source: How to Accelerate Deal Closure in Oil and Gas, episode 98 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
The dates hold; the size of the budgets does not. Upstream, midstream and downstream can be in different years at the same moment, so the same month means different things depending on which part of the industry you sell to.
“we're in a commodities market. So budget cycles swing. Some parts of this industry, like right now, the upstream side of this industry is booming.”
Source: Breaking into Oil and Gas, a Five Step Process, episode 100 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.
The next step
If the way energy buyers actually buy is costing you deals, talk it through with ModalPoint, the go-to-market firm Matthew Bertram runs. A 30-minute discovery call: no scope, no commitment, and a mutual NDA before anything substantive. You get a reply within one business day, and the first call is with someone who works in the sector.