How to Write a Business Case for a SaaS Purchase (The AE’s Guide)
The business case is the document that sells the deal internally when you’re not in the room. It’s the champion’s argument, formalised — and the best way to prevent “looks good” deals from dying in finance, security, or procurement.
When to Build the Business Case
Build it after discovery (once Metrics and Pain are quantified) and before you send a commercial proposal.
Trigger: “We’ve established the cost of the problem. Now let’s build the case for the solution.”
Business Case Structure
1) Executive summary (half page)
Written for the Economic Buyer. Include:
- The problem (1 paragraph)
- The recommended solution and why (1 paragraph)
- The three numbers: investment, expected return, payback period
- The requested decision + target date
2) Current state: the cost of inaction
Quantify the problem using the prospect’s own numbers (MEDDPICC Metrics). Example pattern:
- Hours lost × reps × fully-loaded cost = annual cost
- Missed pipeline / slipped deals × ACV = revenue impact
3) Proposed solution
Plain-language description (no marketing copy):
- What you’re buying
- Why it solves this problem
- How it fits the stack (CRM, SEP, call intel, data)
- What implementation looks like in the first 30 days
4) Financial case (conservative)
Investment (Year 1)- Software cost
- Implementation cost (if any)
- Internal resourcing time (if relevant)
Return (Year 1)- Time saved (hours → €)
- Pipeline impact (conservative)
- Risk avoided (if quantified)
Outputs- ROI %
- Payback period (months)
- Optional: 3-year NPV
5) Risk + mitigation
List risks and how you de-risk them:
- Implementation risk
- Adoption risk
- Integration/security risk
- Commercial risk (terms, exit options)
6) Next steps (with owners + dates)
Turn “we should do this” into a plan:
- Decision meeting date
- Paper process steps
- Implementation kickoff
The Champion Collaboration Model
Don’t “send a vendor doc”. Co-build it:
1. AE drafts using discovery metrics
2. Champion edits into internal language + adds context
3. Champion presents it as their analysis
How Brazn Supports Business Case Development
Brazn’s call intelligence extracts and preserves quantified Metrics and Pain from discovery calls, so the financial foundation of the business case is built from the prospect’s own words and numbers (not rep memory or generic ROI claims).
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About the Author
Alex Margarit, Sales AI Expert, SaaS Sales Leader, BMC, ServiceNow, Docusign — 25+ years in SaaS sales.
