Chapter 3 - The Anatomy of a Strong BVA: Tactics for Every Tab
- Lolita Trachtengerts
- Oct 1
- 4 min read
3.1 Why Structure Matters
The best BVAs aren’t just “filled out.” They’re constructed intentionally, in collaboration with the buyer, with a clear narrative flow:
Why the buyer cares (pain and goal)
What changes (capabilities and outcomes)
What it’s worth (ROI and payback)
Why now (urgency and alignment)
Each tab in a modern BVA tool — whether in Spotlight or spreadsheet — supports a part of this arc. Reps who understand how to use each tab like a lever, not a form, close faster and with more buyer trust.
3.2 Tab 1: Discovery
Purpose: Capture the buyer’s current state, key metrics, and goals.
Tactics:
Fill in what you can pre-meeting (job titles, company goals, tool stack).
Guide the conversation, not dominate it — ask open-ended questions, and validate assumptions.
Use defaults as conservative estimates only when the buyer isn’t sure.
If using Spotlight or a similar tool, share your screen and explain as you go: “Here’s what I had guessed — let’s tweak it together.”
Avoid: Turning the session into an interrogation. It's okay if a few fields are left blank.
3.3 Tab 2: Investment
Purpose: Set pricing expectations and prepare for ROI calculation.
Tactics:
Start with list price or slightly above expected deal size — this anchors value and cushions future discounting.
Call out what’s included (licenses, services, etc.), so the buyer knows the full scope.
Position investment as part of the business case — not as a quote.
Example Statement:
“We’re plugging in $75K here to model the business case — final pricing may be lower, but this helps us pressure test the ROI conversation.”
3.4 Tab 3: Advanced / ROI
Purpose: Quantify outcomes. Show impact. Make finance lean in.
Tactics:
Focus on 3–5 core value levers: time saved, revenue protected, risk avoided, etc.
Keep ROI within a credible range — 50%–400%. If it’s above 400%, lower assumptions until it feels defensible.
Narrate changes out loud as you adjust: “Let’s be cautious here and reduce the productivity gain — better to be conservative than overpromise.”
Avoid: Optimizing to make ROI look big. Optimize for believability, especially for the CFO.
3.5 Tab 4: Executive Summary
Purpose: Deliver a one-slide, boardroom-ready value snapshot.
Tactics:
Highlight 3 key data points: ROI %, Payback Period, and Strategic Initiative it supports.
Tie it back to the buyer’s language. Example: “This supports your CFO’s 2025 initiative to reduce vendor sprawl while boosting margin.”
Use this tab as a coaching tool for the champion. This is the slide they’ll forward.
Bonus Tip: Add a section for “Assumptions” or “Notes” — transparency builds trust.
3.6 Best Practices Across All Tabs
Tab | Goal | Common Pitfall | Fix |
Discovery | Align on reality | Interrogation vibe | Validate, don’t extract |
Investment | Anchor price + scope | Hiding the real number | Be upfront with list price |
ROI / Advanced | Quantify impact credibly | Overshooting assumptions | Conservative defaults, live edits |
Exec Summary | Tell a clear story | Jargon-heavy, not skimmable | Keep it buyer-facing and visual |
3.7 How the Best Reps Use Each Tab
Guide consensus with structured tools. Gartner defines buyer enablement as giving customers practical, job-completing tools (calculators, diagnostics, benchmarks, simulators) and highlights consensus creation as a core buying job. Suppliers who make buying easier see buyers 3× more likely to choose a bigger deal with less regret.
Make sense of complexity, don’t just pitch. Gartner’s Sense Making Seller research shows that helping buyers sift and prioritize information increases the odds of high-quality, low-regret deals by boosting buyer confidence.
Quantify value with buyer-trusted content. Pavilion + Kickstand’s 2023 survey found 86% of buyers say helpful content accelerates decisions, and executives are significantly more likely to value original data and success metrics—the exact ingredients of a strong BVA.
Use recognized frameworks when you need a formal economic case. Forrester’s TEI methodology is widely used to build objective, quantified business cases and has been shown (in TEI of TEI analyses) to improve conversion outcomes and reduce time to create business-case content—useful when stakeholders request third-party rigor.
3.8 Key Takeaways
Every BVA tab has a job—treat each as a step in the story.
Be conservative, not clever—finance hates inflated ROI.
Use the executive summary to empower your champion.
Calibrate live; don’t bury changes in follow-up emails.
BVA tools aren’t forms. They’re co-creation frameworks.
BVA tools are not forms. They’re co-creation frameworks.
3.9 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What is a BVA (Business Value Assessment) in sales?
A BVA is a collaborative tool that quantifies how a solution impacts a buyer’s business outcomes. It maps current pains and goals, models investment and ROI, and gives executives a clear, board-ready snapshot of value.
Q: Why does BVA structure matter?
Without structure, BVAs become a form-filling exercise. A strong structure creates a narrative: why the buyer cares, what changes, what it’s worth, and why now. This flow drives buyer trust and accelerates consensus.
Q: How should I handle discovery if the buyer doesn’t have all the numbers?
Use conservative defaults and invite them to edit live. The key is co-creation, not interrogation. A partially filled BVA that feels buyer-owned is stronger than a “complete” one built in isolation.
Q: What’s the right ROI to show in a BVA?
Finance leaders trust ROI in a realistic range (50%–400%). Anything higher risks credibility. It’s better to be conservative and believable than inflated and dismissed.
Q: How do I use the Executive Summary tab effectively?
Keep it one slide, board-ready. Highlight ROI %, Payback Period, and alignment with a key initiative. Use buyer’s own language so the champion can confidently forward it internally.
Q: How do BVAs impact deal outcomes?
Research from Gartner, Pavilion, and Forrester shows that quantified business cases increase buyer confidence, reduce discounting, and improve close rates. Sellers who guide buyers with structured, co-created tools consistently outperform those who don’t.
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