ACT PlaybookPlaybook: Align on Value
Pricing, ROI & Business Case: Prove that change is worth more than it costs
Customers invest in better business outcomes. The business case turns your value architecture into the financial argument an executive can act on, and value-based pricing ties your price to the outcome it creates.
Why It Matters
Every investment needs a business justification
A business case is the financial argument that the cost of change is lower than the cost of staying where the customer is today. Without it, your price is the only number in the room, and procurement compares it line by line with every alternative.
Every deal has to answer three questions: why change anything, why this solution, and why now. The business case answers them in the language of the economic buyer. You start it during scoping, refine it through the go/no-go meeting, and use it to support the decision to buy.
Key Benefits
What value-based pricing and a solid business case enable
Price against the value you create
When the buyer sees the annual value of solving the problem, your price becomes a fraction of that value, and the conversation moves from cost to return.
Give your champion numbers to sell internally
Your champion walks into the budget discussion with a business case the economic buyer can read in thirty seconds and defend in front of the board.
Hold your price through procurement
Conservative, transparent assumptions that the customer validated hold up under a finance or procurement review, so discounting stops being the only lever.
Create urgency with the cost of delay
A value model over three years shows what every month of waiting costs, which answers the question "why now?" in numbers.
Know early whether the deal is real
If there is no measurable impact, there is no business case. You find out during scoping, long before the proposal.
From Value Architecture to Business Case
Your value architecture already holds the inputs
A business case compares the current state with the future state and makes the difference measurable. Each part of that comparison comes from a component you already defined.
Value Drivers→The cost of the status quo
Each value driver names a pain with a real cost attached, grouped in the same five areas: regulation, competitive edge, risk and security, productivity, cost and quality, and reputation.
Metrics→Baseline and targets
The metrics your customers already use give you the current numbers and the improvement you can credibly promise.
Key Capabilities→The future state
The capabilities describe how the business runs once the problem is solved, tailored to the customer’s environment.
Case Studies→Proof for the targets
Results from real customers turn your targets from a forecast into a promise the buyer can believe.
How It Works
Build the business case in four steps
- 1
Understand the current situation
Map how work happens today, which systems are in place, and who spends how much time on the problem. These are the inputs to your model.
- 2
Define the cost of the status quo
Pick the two or three value drivers that match the pain your champion described, and quantify what staying put costs. Three strong numbers beat six weak ones.
- 3
Describe how the business improves
Mirror every problem with its future state: deployment time, team effort, infrastructure, in the customer’s own metrics.
- 4
Translate the improvement into business value
Multiply a business metric by the measurable improvement and its financial impact, then sum it up to investment, value, payback, and ROI.
Business metric × measurable improvement × financial impact
For example: 10 engineers × $130k salary × 35% of their time on maintenance × 50% less maintenance work = $227,500 in annual productivity value.
An Example
What an executive sees in thirty seconds
An illustrative business value model from the playbook, with five value drivers adding up to the four numbers every executive asks for.
$745,000
Annual value at full run rate
$420,000
Investment over three years
397%
Return on investment over three years
3.6 months
Payback period
Where the annual value comes from
At full run rate, reached in year 2. Year 1 delivers 80% of it while the solution rolls out.
Competitive Edge
$300,000
Releasing 10% faster captures new-feature revenue earlier
Productivity, Cost & Quality
$227,500
Less maintenance frees engineers for higher-value work
Reputation
$120,000
Better reliability reduces lost customers
Regulation
$49,500
Automated reporting reduces audit workload
Risk & Security
$48,000
Better resilience lowers expected incident losses
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual value | $596,000 | $745,000 | $745,000 |
| Annual investment | $180,000 | $120,000 | $120,000 |
| Annual net benefit | $416,000 | $625,000 | $625,000 |
Choose the Method
Match the depth of the business case to the deal
3 Whys
Early stage and smaller deals
Why change anything, why this solution, why now: structured, specific, and grounded in the customer’s numbers.
TCO Comparison
Cost is the main driver, larger deals
A direct comparison against what the customer spends today, including the hidden costs they have not accounted for.
Business Value Assessment
Strategic and large deals
A model that quantifies the impact across several value drivers and gives the executive team something to take to the board.
Executive Ready
A business case that survives the finance review
Your business case is ready when it covers…
Business problem
Impact of the status quo
Desired future state
Value drivers
Financial model
Key assumptions: conservative, transparent, and validated with the customer
ROI summary: investment, value, payback, and return
Keep Reading
Know where you win, and what drives the value
The business case builds on your value architecture and gets sharper once you know where you win against the alternatives.
Find out how well your value translates into numbers today
Take the free Value Architecture & Sales Motion Assessment. It shows which parts are already in place and where to start.