Eric DeeranOne mission — help agency owners build businesses they actually love running.

Why clients say "We don't have the budget"

19 Feb 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:41

In this brief talk, Eric Deeran explains why prospective video clients repeatedly claim they lack budget for a project. He attributes the objection to the client’s inability to see a clear return on investment (ROI) from the video content. Deeran argues that when clients can visualize a concrete ROI—e.g., spending $1 to earn $2—they are far more willing to allocate funds. He advises video creators to reframe their pitches around measurable business results, emphasizing how the video package will generate specific outcomes and financial returns for the client, thereby turning the budget conversation into an investment discussion.

Chapters

Here's why clients say we don't have the budget for your video project. I know that's frustrating, but here's why. It's something that we see time and time again. Clients don't have the budget. They push you to next month, next quarter, next year. And a lot of times you could feel like you're hitting a wall because no one says yes. Here's the reason why they don't see an ROI in working with you and shooting the content that you want to shoot. And when they don't see an roi, they don't find the budget. Imagine if they did see the ROI though. Like if you could put in $1 and get $2 out, you would spend $1 as much as you could. It's the same thing. You have to focus on the results and how by investing in this video package they're going to get a result in their business and they're going to make an ROI.