Whether you’re selling to startups or enterprise giants, buyers today demand stronger cost justification than ever before. CFOs, finance teams, and procurement are increasingly stepping in – not just on big-ticket deals, but on mid-market and SMB purchases too. If you’re not building business cases as part of your sales process, you’re almost certainly leaving money on the table.

Let’s dive into the common mistakes, what your business case needs to include, and finish with a practical exercise you can do today to sharpen this skill.

The Problem: Business Cases Are Missing in Action

Many salespeople are still relying on outdated tactics when it comes to cost justification. And it's costing them deals. Let’s break down the most common mistakes:

1. Sending Bullet Point Pricing

You’ve had a solid call, built some rapport… and then you send a bland follow-up email with nothing more than:

“Thanks for your time – here’s our pricing: 75 users at £50 per user.”

Sound familiar?

This leaves your champion with nothing to work with. It gives them no ammunition to go and sell your solution internally. You’ve essentially handed over a price tag with zero context, and hoped for the best.

2. Hiding Value in a 30-Slide Deck

Pitch decks have their place. But let’s be honest, when a buyer sees a 30-slide PDF, they skip straight to the pricing slide. Everything else gets ignored. That means all the compelling insights and differentiation you thought you were including? They’re lost in the noise.

3. Expecting Your Champion to Do the Selling

Your champion is not a trained sales professional. Often, it’s their first time going through an internal procurement process. Expecting them to sell your solution internally with little more than your deck or email is unrealistic. Your job is to enable them, and that starts with a simple, sharp business case they can confidently walk into a room with.

What a Great Business Case Looks Like

A business case isn’t a pitch deck. It’s not a pricing sheet either. It’s a concise, co-created justification for budget, rooted in the customer’s actual problems and desired outcomes.

Here’s how to do it well:

Co-Create, Don’t Just Create

The business case should be built with your champion, not for them. Get on a call, share a doc (Google Docs works great), and build it together. Studies show that when champions edit and help shape a business case, win rates skyrocket. It creates ownership, alignment, and confidence.

Keep It Short (But Impactful)

Aim for one to two pages max. This isn’t War and Peace, it’s a strategic narrative that decision-makers can quickly digest. Use plain language, avoid fluff, and get to the point fast.

Nail the Hook

Your buyer’s average attention span? Around 8 seconds. If the first few lines of your business case don’t hook the reader, they’ll scroll straight to the price. Open with a bold, relevant, high-impact headline that speaks to a measurable business pain or opportunity.

Highlight the Real Problem

Go beyond surface-level symptoms. For example:

“Marketing leads are low quality.”
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That’s not the real problem. What’s causing it? Poor ICP alignment? Weak lead scoring? Misaligned campaigns? Uncover the root cause, and lead with that. CFOs don’t mind creating budget for the right solution, they just need to believe you're solving the real issue.

Present a Clear, Simple Plan

Now that you’ve framed the problem, share how you’ll fix it. This isn’t a feature list. It’s a 2–3 sentence summary of your approach, enough to reassure them you’ve got a proven method without drowning them in jargon.

Show Business Impact

Here’s where it all comes together. Add a simple outcomes table that includes:

• The metric (e.g. win rate, time-to-close)
• Current state
• Target state
• Financial impact

Whether you sell HR software, cyber security, or financial tools, every solution should link to business outcomes. If you can't identify them, you're either moving too fast or not digging deep enough in discovery.

Include Proof Points

If you’re making big claims, back them up. Include micro-stories, short testimonials, links to case studies, and even reference customers if needed. Build trust and reduce perceived risk.

The Bottom Line

If your business case can’t be 80% completed after your first proper discovery call, you probably haven’t earned the right to move the deal forward. That’s not a blocker, it’s an opportunity. Slowing down at this stage can lead to a huge increase in win rate down the line.

When done right, business cases aren’t just internal documents, they’re sales weapons. We’ve seen teams using this framework hit 70–80% win rates consistently. It works.

Your Business Case Exercise

Here’s how you can take action today:

1. Block time
Open your calendar and schedule one hour this week.

2. Pick two live deals
Choose two high-priority deals you want to close this quarter.

3. Draft the business case
Start filling out a simple doc for each deal:

• Write a compelling headline (the “hook”)
• Describe the root cause of the business problem
• Outline your plan to solve it
• Add target outcomes and metrics
• Drop in relevant proof points or references

4. Book a call with your champion
Review the business case together. Ask them to edit, add comments, and help you refine the message.

5. Agree on a plan to present
Work together to present the business case to the economic buyer and make a formal ask for budget.

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