Sales tool business case template
Most sales tool business cases take the vendor's ROI slide, add a license quote, and ask for approval. Finance discounts it immediately, and nobody checks a year later whether the promised outcome happened. This template commits to one measurable outcome, cuts every benefit assumption before it is counted, shows the payback arithmetic line by line, and sets a kill criterion in advance.
- Category:
- Vendor & Buying
- Formats:
- PDF + CSV + web view
- Sections:
- 7
- Updated:
What you get
- A full cost table: licenses, implementation, internal time, and ongoing admin
- A benefit table where every vendor claim gets a written haircut before it counts
- A payback and three-year net calculation with the arithmetic shown
- A measurable outcome with a baseline, a target, and a date
- A kill criterion and the contract terms needed to act on it
Who it's for
- RevOps leads asking finance to fund a new sales tool
- VP Sales and CROs sponsoring a purchase
- Finance partners who review and approve software spend
What's inside
- 1
Problem and outcome
7 fields to complete
- 2
Cost
4 columns, 4 worked example rows
- 3
Benefits with haircuts
6 columns, 3 worked example rows
- 4
Payback and three-year view
3 columns, 5 worked example rows
- 5
Kill criterion and review
5 fields to complete
- 6
Before it goes to finance
8-point checklist
- 7
Why business cases lose credibility with finance
Guidance notes
Preview of section 1
Problem and outcome
- Problem in one sentence
- e.g. Reps spend about 1.5 hours a week logging activity and updating opportunities by hand
- How we know
- e.g. Two-week time log from 10 reps (replace with your own data)
- Primary outcome metric
- e.g. Hours per rep per week spent on CRM data entry
The preview shows part of section 1. The full template has all 7 sections (6 not previewed here), with blank rows ready to fill in. Download the full template
How to use it
- 1
Name one outcome you will be measured on
Pick a single metric the tool should move, with today's baseline from your own data and a target date. Three outcomes means none of them is owned. Supporting benefits can be listed but should not carry the payback.
- 2
Count every cost, including your team's time
Licenses are usually the smallest surprise. Add implementation services, internal hours for setup and training, integration work, and the admin time the tool needs every month after launch.
- 3
Cut the vendor's numbers before finance does
Apply a written haircut to every benefit (half is a reasonable starting rule of thumb; replace with your own evidence). Say why. A case that still pays back after the haircut is one finance can approve without redoing it.
- 4
Show the arithmetic
Write payback as one-time cost divided by monthly net benefit, with the numbers filled in. If a reviewer cannot recompute your payback on a calculator, they will not trust it.
- 5
Agree the kill criterion before you sign
State the result at a fixed review date that means you will cut the tool, and negotiate the contract terms (a shorter first term, an opt-out, or seat reduction) that make cutting possible.
Frequently asked questions
What should a software business case include?
The problem with evidence from your own data, options considered, full cost including internal time, benefits with conservative haircuts, a payback calculation that can be recomputed, one measurable outcome with a target date, and a kill criterion.
How do you calculate payback for a software purchase?
Subtract annual recurring cost from annual counted benefit to get annual net benefit, divide by 12 for monthly net benefit, then divide one-time costs by monthly net benefit. The result is the number of months to recover the upfront spend.
Should time savings count as ROI in a business case?
Only as capacity unless a cost actually goes away. Label saved hours as time returned to selling, value them at loaded cost if you must, and make sure the case still makes sense to a reviewer who ignores them.
What is a kill criterion in a business case?
A result, agreed before purchase, that will cause you to stop using the tool at a set review date. It keeps the case honest and tells you which contract terms to negotiate so exit is possible.
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