My webinar with Mediafly gave a detailed overview on how to create a business case for sales enablement. I received requests for more detail around the steps associated with a business case. In general, the steps for a business case are the same regardless of what investment you are going after, but sales enablement does require special attention in a few spots.
1. Identify Stakeholders
Sales enablement is a new concept, which makes stakeholders a more diverse group than you initially might think. Sales and sales management by default are key stakeholders, but marketing needs to be considered one too. The reality is your stakeholders most likely includes sales operations, which handles your CRM and other sales systems. Make sure you know the players and the advocates in each organization.
2. Obtain Executive Sponsor
Executive sponsors are required for pretty much any project, therefore sales enablement is no exception. Best practice is to get an exec sponsor outside your current organization.
3. Benchmark Current State
Sales enablement is a new function and KPIs or other metrics might not be as robust or even exist. Identify your metrics. I have talked about that here and here, to help you obtain those metrics. However, be careful as sometimes sales can be guarded on these metrics so use your executive sponsor to clear roadblocks.
4. Make a Hypothesis
The next step is to make a hypothesis for what value sales enablement will bring to your organization. Will it improve efficiency? Effectiveness? Both? What will the overall change be for the organization? Are you looking for more opportunities or wins? Work with a vendor that can give you examples in your industry that model your’s.
5. Model Hypothetical Changes
This is where you get your Excel geekiness on. Dive into spreadsheets and build a model. Try not to invent new metrics or terms, use industry benchmarks. Google is your friend for that. Document your assumptions.
6. Calculate ROI
You need to get good data from your vendor about the costs involved. Aside from focusing on revenue increase or efficiency gains, also include the cost to deploy a solution. Make sure you gather your product price quotes, but don’t forget about implementation (consulting) costs and the manpower your team will deploy to implement.
7. Peer, Stakeholder and Management Review
Keep your peers, boss(es) and stakeholders up to date on your progress and business case. This involves walking them through the business case in the process. It’s vital to take their feedback to improve the business case. One issue that you will run into often is getting contradictory feedback from various stakeholders. This is where attention to company politics helps. Identify your allies and antagonists. Adjust your business case to keep your allies on board, and to address your antagonists’ concerns.
8. Finalize Business Case
After the reviews, create a final version of the business case. Make sure to use any templates that finance provides.
9. Present Business Case
The last step is to present. Make sure to do at least three dry runs, and one of those dry runs with a friendly audience. I know this sounds silly but make sure you eat right and get a good night’s sleep. Also, don’t forget to have every last detail in your back pocket during the presentation.
10. Revisit the Business Case
The reality is with any investment, it is never over. You need to revisit the business case at certain intervals (every six months is a good benchmark). Keep your stakeholders up to date, and measure your business case against actuals. Even if it doesn’t meet your projections, share it. It is better to be honest about these things than to be seen as unreliable.
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Watch our webinar on the “10 Steps to Build your Sales Enablement Business Case”.
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