Leaving the business case in the hands of a buyer or sales person can negatively impact sales. According to IDC’s annual 2012 Buyer Experience Study financial justification/ROI is critical to purchasing decisions, with more that 90% of buyers requiring formal ROI justification.
Two-thirds of buyers indicated that they do not have the time, knowledge or tools needed to do business value assessments and calculations. In addition, 81% of buyers expect vendors to quantify the business value of proposed solutions.
Give Buyers a Reason to Invest
According to Tom Pisello, a serial entrepreneur known as “The ROI Guy”, there are four things to look for in an ROI calculator:
- Good ROI sales tools provide the ability for sales teams and customers to collaborate on the analysis, providing customisation of the case to match the specific customer profile, buyer roles and challenges. These tools offer the ability to review and edit all assumptions and details of all calculations to gain buy-in.
- The tools must be developed using a methodology to identify the unique differentiators and tie them to value realisation. The tools should be delivered with distinctive value calculations and documented impacts, providing third-party research and success stories to prove that the savings are achievable.
- They must provide diagnostic assessments to help sales teams and customers uncover issues and quantify the current costs of “do nothing” before discussing potential solutions or quantifying potential benefits.
- They must use the numbers to cement the value messaging, combining emotional storytelling with rational justification. This is the best approach earlier in the engagement process.
