── SKILL
business-case✓ APPROVED

Put a one-page business case in the committee's hands.

Frames the cost of the problem, the change, the value model, and the risk of doing nothing, in the buyer's own numbers.

Inside: The cost-of-problem, the value math, the cost of inaction, and flagged assumptions.

01 / HOW TO USE

Install it in one line, or paste it in.

1
In Claude Code (one command)
Copy the install line, paste it into your terminal, and restart Claude Code. The skill installs itself to ~/.claude/skills/ and runs automatically when it is relevant.
2
In Claude, ChatGPT, or a Project (no terminal)
Open the file, then upload it to your chat or paste its contents in. A skill is just a markdown file of instructions, so any capable AI can follow it.
New to skills? A skill is a plain-text file that teaches your AI a workflow. Point any capable assistant at it and it follows the steps, on your data.
02 / MAKE IT YOURS

Connect your context. Set it to your motion.

CONNECT YOUR CONTEXT · AND WHY IT HELPS
a meeting or transcription tool

it pulls the buyer's own quantified pain from discovery, so the value model is built on their numbers, not yours.

Sharper connected to a CRM

it reads the deal size, the stage, and the qualification fields, so the case matches the deal the pipeline already holds.

SET IT TO YOUR MOTION

This was built for a B2B SaaS org selling into a buying committee. Set these to your stack:

Build the case on the buyer's value drivers, not your feature list. The skill labels every number so the committee trusts the page.

Set thisWhat it isDefault / Example
VALUE drivershow your product creates valuetime savedrevenue gainedcost avoidedrisk reduced
PAIN metricsthe units you quantify inhoursdollarsheadcountchurn rate
PRICE inputyour cost to the buyerlist priceexpected deal size
DEAL fieldswhere deal context livesAmountStageNamequalification fields
HORIZONthe payback window you show12 months (re-tune to your buyer)
ASSUMPTION logwhere you list every inputshown on the pagenot hidden
03 / THE FULL SKILL

Everything the skill does, in full.

── WHAT THIS DOES

Writes the one-page business case that a champion carries into a committee and a budget holder approves. It states what the problem costs today, the change you enable, a value model in the buyer's own numbers, and the risk of doing nothing. It is built to be defended by someone who is not you, in a room you are not in.

── THE METHOD
  1. 1
    The cost of the problem

    Start with what the status quo costs today, in the buyer's numbers. Not what your product does, what the problem does. If the buyer gave you "roughly 6 hours a week per rep," that becomes the annualized cost of doing nothing. No stated pain, no case.

  2. 2
    The change you enable

    State plainly what is different after they buy: the workflow that goes away, the time that comes back, the revenue that stops leaking. One paragraph, concrete, in their language, no adjectives.

  3. 3
    The value model

    Show the math. Cost of the problem, minus the price of the solution, over the horizon, equals the value. Keep it simple enough that the champion can defend every line without you. Label each input as the buyer's number, a stated assumption, or illustrative. An illustrative example: "~6 hrs/wk x 20 reps x loaded rate" makes the assumption visible so the committee can test it, not swallow it.

  4. 4
    The risk of doing nothing

    Name what happens if they defer: the pain compounds, the cost keeps running, the quarter they wanted to fix passes. Doing nothing is a decision with a price. The case shows that price.

  5. 5
    One page, one owner

    It fits on one page because a champion has to carry it into a room and defend it fast. Anything that will not fit is a leave-behind, not the case. The page is built to be forwarded and defended without you present.

── QUALITY GATES
  • Every number is labeled: the buyer's, a stated assumption, or illustrative. Nothing invented as real.
  • The value model math is shown, not asserted, and simple enough to defend without you.
  • The cost of doing nothing is quantified, not just described.
  • The case fits on one page, and the single load-bearing assumption is called out.
── OUTPUT (EXAMPLE)
EXAMPLE OUTPUT
BUSINESS CASE · illustrative deal · one page

The problem, today
  ~6 hrs/wk/rep lost to manual prospecting. At 20 reps, that is roughly
  6,000 hours a year not spent selling. [buyer's number: 6 hrs; assumption: 20 reps]

The change
  Reps stop building lists by hand. That time returns to selling.

The value (12-month horizon)
  Cost of problem:   ~6,000 hrs/yr x loaded rate   [illustrative]
  Cost of solution:  annual price                   [list price]
  Net:               value over 12 months, payback inside the year

The risk of doing nothing
  The 6 hours keep leaking every week. The ramp problem repeats next
  cohort. The quarter you wanted to fix passes unfixed.

Load-bearing assumption: the 20-rep count. Confirm before committee.
── EXAMPLE CHAT
EXAMPLE CHAT
You
My champion needs to take this to their VP. Build the business case. Here's what I got in discovery: about 6 hrs/wk per rep lost to manual prospecting, 20 reps.
CLAUDE
One page, built to be defended without you in the room. The problem, today ~6 hrs/wk/rep lost to manual prospecting. At 20 reps, that is roughly 6,000 hours a year not spent selling. [buyer's number: 6 hrs; assumption: 20 reps] The value (12-month horizon) Cost of problem: ~6,000 hrs/yr x loaded rate [illustrative] Cost of solution: annual price [list price] Net: value over 12 months, payback inside the year Load-bearing assumption: the 20-rep count. Confirm before committee. The part that actually protects your champion: every number is labeled as theirs, an assumption, or illustrative. When the committee pokes at the math, they're not defending a black box, they're defending exactly one number, the rep count, and you told them that upfront.
You
Should I include the loaded rate calculation?
CLAUDE
Only if you have it as a real number, otherwise leave it illustrative and let the champion fill in their own comp data. A rep's actual loaded rate is something the finance person in the room will know better than you do. One sharpener: get the buyer to confirm the 20-rep count before the committee meeting, that's the single assumption the whole case rests on.
04 / GO FURTHER

Where an operator takes this next.

Building one case by hand proves your champion can defend it. Here's the version that scales across every deal.

A defensible case built once by hand becomes a habit the pipeline expects at every deal.

01
Pull the pain metrics from the call automatically

Connect Gong or your meeting tool so the discovery numbers feed the value model directly instead of you re-typing them from notes.

02
Match the case to the deal in flight

Wire Salesforce deal size and stage into the template so the case's price and horizon always match what's actually in the pipeline.

03
Generate it the moment discovery closes

Set a scheduled Claude task that drafts the one-pager the day a deal enters the Validation stage, so the case exists before the champion has to ask for it.

05 / PART OF A BIGGER PLAY

One skill is the on-ramp.

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