Closing a deal with a long and/or complex sales cycle can take a great deal of time and effort. However, it should always include a persuasive, value-focused business case. Why? Because a comprehensive business case provides your customers with the financial logic of investing in your solution.
Decision makers in B2B companies want to know how your solution will either make or save them money. The numbers contained in a business case are often the persuading factors that helps your internal stakeholder secure budget approval from their finance team.
The Advantage of Customer Dialogues
Another reason I endorse using business cases is because they facilitate an in-depth dialogue between you and your customer. That dialogue can lead to a number of advantages for you.
First, dialogues are a valuable way to build rapport with your customer. The complex sale typically requires salespeople to establish relationships with multiple stakeholders across different teams within an organization. It can take a lot to manage those relationships. The more you can interact with your contacts and their teams, the more you can learn about their business challenges, preferences, and goals. These are all important aspects of creating a strong relationship.
Second, dialogues give you the opportunity to ask questions. Great salespeople ask probing questions for a reason—the more information they have, the better their chances of uncovering and addressing objections that might otherwise stall or spoil the deal. (In that regard, building a business case can be far more effective than delivering a sales demo or presentation.)
Overcoming the Fear-Based Objection
Consider this example from a sales executive whose team spent about six months selling an ERP system to a company in the beverage industry. They conducted multiple demos, built a business case, and brought in other users to demonstrate value. When it came time to talk proposals, they met with the principals and discussed the ROI of the purchase. Before long, the CFO piped up and said, “I’m just not sure we can justify the expense of this solution right now.”
The objection itself was not surprising because CFOs are primarily concerned with expenses. What was surprising was the realization that the team had obviously not yet done enough to instill confidence in the CFO about purchasing their solution.
Because the sales executive had established a rapport with the CFO and his team during the sales process, the CFO was more willing to open up and answer more questions about his concerns. They discovered that he had closely followed a recent news story about a failed ERP implementation at a high-profile company that created major product supply problems. The CFO’s true concern was that his implementation would also fail and somehow tank the company. His objection wasn’t about timing, and it wasn’t primarily about cost. It was about fear.
Although the CFO’s perception did not align with reality, the sales team needed to help him feel secure that he was making a wise decision. They arranged for the CFO to talk with another client who had gone through the same process with their organization. The client had generated similar ROI calculations and gotten excellent results. The CFO’s fear dissipated, and he gained confidence in the numbers that were included in the proposal. A few weeks later, he signed the deal.
Creating a Confident Customer
If a customer is going to make a purchase, they must have complete faith in your ROI estimate. As much as B2B decision makers are influenced by dollars and cents, they are not immune to emotion. The process of building a business case can help you identify that emotion, examine it, and help the customer create the confidence necessary to move forward.
Does it take more time to build a business case? Yes. Does it add to the weighty to-do list of salespeople who are also attending meetings, prospecting, updating CRM, and writing proposals? Probably, but it’s time well spent. Experience shows that investing time and energy yields valuable insight that can help you move the deal across the goal line.
This post was updated on January 14, 2025 to reflect the latest industry trends.
Resources
Connect with David Svigel on LinkedIn.
Join the Value Selling for B2B Marketing and Sales Leaders LinkedIn Group.
Visit the ROI Selling Resource Center.
