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Let’s build our first business case. In value selling you develop an ability to align your product with the strategic objectives and pain points of your customers. When you can clearly illustrate how your solution translates to tangible benefits, you create a persuasive narrative that drives decision-making and, ultimately, closes deals. Typically, business cases are made after an initial discovery call. This works to our benefit, it means we don’t have to start from scratch. The transcripts of your call(s) provide context for Minoa AI. We’ll start by clicking Create business case on an open opportunity either in Salesforce or directly in the Minoa platform. In both cases, this new business case will be linked to the Salesforce opportunity and be accessible to other people in your Salesforce instance.

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Adding Context

The first thing you see in a business case is the context window. This is your chance to prompt Minoa AI with information about the opportunity so it can recommend a strong executive summary and the right use cases to sell. You can choose from calls connected through a recording software like Gong or Chorus, or paste supportive text like Salesforce notes and one or more call transcripts.

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Drafting a Summary

The next step ensures that anyone who opens the business case—a teammate or the prospect’s CFO—will understand why this deal exists. Choose one of the three available summary templates. This will ask Minoa AI to analyze your call transcript using a popular framework for outlining a deal. Graphic - Choosing a Template.png

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Minoa Framework

The Minoa Framework provides a comprehensive structure for your executive summary by addressing the full scope of a deal - from initial context through implementation planning. By following these five key components, you can create a clear narrative that demonstrates value, addresses risks, and outlines a concrete path forward for your prospect.
  1. Executive Overview: A brief summary of the client’s business and how your solution helps them achieve their goals.
  2. Current Situation: A list of 1-3 key challenges the client faces that impact their business.
  3. Future Benefits: An outline of 1-2 specific improvements your solution will deliver.
  4. Risks of Inaction: 1-2 key risks of not implementing a solution.
  5. Implementation Plan: Your approach, timeline, and what makes your solution unique.

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The Three Whys

The 3 Whys framework is a powerful technique for uncovering the deeper business drivers and challenges that motivate a buyer to invest in a solution. By asking a series of “why” questions, you can progressively uncover the buyer’s underlying goals and pain points, allowing you to position your offering as the strategic answer.
  1. Identify the Immediate Need: What specific problem or opportunity is the buyer looking to address?
  2. Uncover the Underlying Cause: Why is this problem or opportunity important to the buyer’s business?
  3. Determine the Strategic Imperative: Why is it crucial for the buyer to solve this problem or seize this opportunity now?

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Command of the Message

The Command of the Message framework is a structured approach to crafting a compelling, value-driven sales pitch. By following this framework, you can ensure your message is clear, concise, and tailored to the buyer’s specific needs and objectives.
  1. The Current State: Identify and articulate the customer’s existing situation or challenges. This helps set the context for the conversation.
  2. Negative Consequences: Highlight the potential negative impacts of the current state on the business. This amplifies urgency and demonstrates why change is necessary.
  3. Desired State: Define what success looks like for the customer. Discuss their goals and vision for improvement, creating a frame of reference for your solution.
  4. Positive Outcomes: Associate your solution with the positive outcomes that align with the desired state. Make it clear how your offering can help the customer achieve these results.
  5. Required Capabilities: Identify the features and capabilities necessary to achieve the desired state. This step links the customer’s needs with the specific functionalities your product offers.
  6. Positioning Your Solution: Clearly articulate how your solution meets the customer’s needs based on the previous steps. Tailor your messaging to align with their specific context and priorities.

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Editing your Summary

Once your summary has been generated you have a few options. By clicking into the editor you can make adjustments to the text. As you read, be sure that company names and industry terms have been spelled correctly. If you want to link an additional call recording—maybe there were two discovery sessions—you can Add Context to the summary in the original context window. When you’re ready to add the summary to your business case click Save Summary Graphic - Editing the Summary.png You’ve just added a qualitative justification for your deal. In reading the summary you should already feel a sharper understanding of how your business can add value to the buyer’s organization. In the next step you’ll select use cases to outline what the buyer will purchase. The use cases have already been built by your value engineering team and come with value-based summaries, connected resources to justify their claims, and all the quantitative magic for your ROI calculation.