VALUE Business Case
Turn discovery into a business case that survives finance and procurement.
WHEN IT RUNS · ONCE CLEAN HAS LANDED. CLEAN'S OUTCOMES FEED VALUE'S PICTURE OF WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE.
The deal was alive until finance saw the spreadsheet you built for it.
Your reps' business cases are optimistic math, and finance has seen a thousand of them.
Every deal above a certain size stalls at the same desk, and the fix is not a bigger discount. It is a case the buyer can defend without us in the room.
Every deal eventually meets someone whose job is to say no. Finance has seen a thousand seller-built spreadsheets of optimistic math and believes none of them. VALUE exists to build the case that survives that meeting: a validated baseline, a measurable picture of good, conservative outcomes tied to their priorities, and a timeline a skeptic finds believable.
The rule that makes it work: build it with the prospect, not for them. A business case the champion co-authored is a business case the champion defends, in the rooms you will never enter.
And it is not only a new-business tool. Run as a renewal review, VALUE is how a save defends the number instead of discounting it: real product usage linked to the outcome the customer actually bought, months before the renewal date. It is also how a price increase holds. When we repriced around value, reps led with what the tier unlocks, so the price landed as a consequence of value, not a number in a vacuum.
Every letter is a question about the buyer.
The current problems, why they persist, and their quantified impact. The baseline the whole case is measured against.
The ideal future state, in measurable terms. If good cannot be measured, the case cannot be defended.
Specific, measurable business outcomes tied to their priorities. Conservative numbers survive scrutiny; optimistic ones invite it.
Why you, against the alternatives and against doing nothing, in their context. Generic differentiation is no differentiation.
A credible implementation plan with milestones and time-to-value. The case closes when the path is believable.
How it runs well, and how it dies.
Build it with the prospect, not for them. A business case the champion co-authored is a business case the champion defends.
The seller's spreadsheet of optimistic math. Finance has seen a thousand of them, and believes none.
Not a definition. A standard.
The standard: when your champion presents the case internally, they can defend every number in the room without calling you. A business case is not a sales document; it is a decision document, and the best ones feel like the buyer wrote them.
“Industry studies show teams lose 30% of selling time.”
“Fourteen AEs, 35% of their time on admin, at their loaded cost. Their numbers, attributed to the conversation they came from, confirmed with the champion before they went in the deck.”
“Optimistic assumptions stacked into a hockey stick.”
“Conservative, expected, and optimistic scenarios with every step of the math visible. When in doubt, round down. Even cut in half, the case should still clear the bar.”
“A feature checklist against the competitor.”
“Method against their stated constraints: implementation in weeks not quarters, adoption evidence across real customers, and honesty about the tradeoffs.”
“Hoping procurement moves fast.”
“To hit October 1 with results before the board meeting, contract by July 31, decision by July 14. Their deadline, built backward from their date. What could get in the way?”
The failure modes to check before it ships: the inflated ROI that collapses under finance scrutiny and makes your champion look foolish, the sales document dressed as a decision document, the missing alternative, the vague timeline, and any number the buyer did not source. Your job is not to sell. Your job is to make buying easy.
One run, start to finish.
The one-page case for the illustrative deal running through this whole cycle: fourteen AEs, a forecast nobody trusts, a board date on the calendar. This is the page the champion presents when the seller is not in the room.
The baseline: fourteen AEs, 35% of their time on admin, at their loaded cost, and a forecast that missed by 35% last quarter. Every number theirs, attributed to the conversation it came from, confirmed with the champion before it went on the page.
What good looks like, in measurable terms: admin under 10% of the week, the forecast within 10%, ramp at sixty days. If good cannot be measured, the case cannot be defended.
Outcomes in three scenarios, conservative first, with every step of the math visible. The test applied before it shipped: cut the numbers in half, and the case still clears the bar.
Why this, against the alternatives and against doing nothing: live in weeks instead of quarters against their planning date, adoption evidence from companies like them, and the tradeoffs named out loud before finance names them first.
Results before the board meeting means live October 1, contract by July 31, decision by July 14. Their deadline, walked backward, with owners on every date.
The test it has to pass: the champion presents every number in that room without calling anyone. That is the difference between a sales document and a decision document, and the best decision documents read like the buyer wrote them.
Not theory. Receipts.
The framework is yours. The scorecard and the AI skill that runs it come with the subscribe.
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