Chapter 5 - Arming the Champion with a BVA That Sells Internally

5.1 Your Champion Is Now the Seller

At this stage in the deal, you’re no longer the primary messenger. The person inside your prospect’s organisation, the one who “gets it,” who’s been working with you on the BVA (Business Value Analysis), now has to do your job.They must:

• Present the BVA to a skeptical CFO.

• Convince procurement it’s worth the spend.

• Justify the urgency to executives who weren’t on your calls.

  
  

If you don’t equip them properly, you’ll lose control of the narrative — even if your BVA was perfect.

As Gary Olson, CRO of Sysdig, noted in his conversation with Roi Carmel:

“It really comes down to: what are the core differentiators — why a company wins or doesn’t? And I believe it starts with a value-based conversation.”

This chapter is about making sure that conversation survives the translation from you to your champion.

5.2 What Champions Struggle With

Working through your champion isn’t just a hand-off: it’s a hand-over. And that hand-over often reveals gaps. According to research:

• According to Forrester Research, less than 15% of internal champions are equipped to articulate value to the CFO without guidance from the seller.

• Supporting evidence from seller-enablement data (e.g., from training/enablement organisations like Pavilion Forum) shows that reps who coach their champions close deals about 28% faster than those who don’t.

Typical challenges your champion faces:

• They’re tactical, not strategic: they feel the pain but don’t know how to quantify it.

• They don’t know how the CFO (or procurement) makes decisions: language, levers, metrics differ.

• They’re nervous about being challenged on assumptions: “What if these savings don’t happen?”

• They don’t know how to talk about “value” — only “features” or “functionality.”

• They may lack access to the right internal tools or narratives to build a compelling internal case.

Further context: Forrester’s Buying Groups research emphasises that champions are key members of the inner network of decision-making. A recent research on internal champions found that deals with strong champions “consistently encounter dramatically less procurement friction” and can close much faster.

5.3 How to Equip Them

You need to make your champion feel like they own the BVA — and can confidently present it.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

1. Give them the one-slide summary

   The Executive Summary tab of your BVA becomes their presentation tool.

   • Include ROI, payback, strategic alignment — keep it visual, not heavy on numbers.

   • Use graphics/infographics: e.g., “150% ROI / Payback in < 6 months / Supports Initiative X”.

   • Emphasise senior-level language: alignment to business outcomes rather than technical detail.

     
     

2. Create a short internal pitch script

   Write 3–4 talking points they can use to open their internal pitch.Example:

   “This aligns to our 2025 initiative to reduce churn by 10%, and the projected ROI is 150% with payback in under 6 months.”

   These talking points should:

   • Refer to strategic objectives (company-wide, business unit).

   • Use language the CFO/Procurement audience understands: “risk reduction,” “cash-flow benefit,” “pay-back,” “strategic agility.”

   • Provide a hook the champion can personalise to their stakeholder audience.

     
     

3. Prepare for push-back

   CFOs and procurement will ask: “How did you get to this number?” or “What if the savings don’t materialise?”

   • Add a Key Assumptions section (for transparency) within the BVA PDF or executive summary.

   • Provide a one-pager of FAQs or objection-handling tips: e.g., “If this cost-saving fails to hit – what fallback controls exist?” or “What sensitivity-analysis shows ROI at 80% realization?”

   • Offer optional “what-if” scenarios: slower adoption, behaviour risk, worst-case scenario.

     
     

4. Offer to be a resource

   Tell your champion:

   “If your CFO has questions, I’m happy to re-run the numbers live or join a follow-up call.”This puts you behind them, not in competition with them — reinforcing their internal credibility, and helping them feel supported instead of abandoned.

   
   

5.4 Empowering Through Simplicity

Your goal isn’t to train them to become a full-fledged sales executive. Your goal is to reduce friction and increase clarity so the deal doesn’t stall when the BVA leaves your hands.

Think of the BVA like a product pitch:

• It’s only as good as the person delivering it.

• Just as sales reps rehearse, your champions need the same advantage: clarity, simplicity, confidence.

• Research from Salesforce indicates that enablement (training, tools, coaching) is a top growth-tactic for sales teams.

• The internal-champion article states: “The difference? Champion power.” When supported, deals can close much faster.

  
  

In short: simplify. Eliminate jargon. Let them speak their customer’s language (i.e., their internal stakeholders). Your champion should feel prepared to present, not fumbling through the numbers nor stuck waiting for you to intervene.

5.5 Key Takeaways

• The champion becomes your voice in the room. Equip them like it.

• Keep your BVA simple, visual and credible.

• Provide internal messaging and prep for CFO-level scrutiny.

• Coach, don’t just hand off: support the champion through the hand-over.

• A great BVA only works if someone can confidently present it.

Q&A Section

Q: Why is it risky to hand the BVA off to the champion without support?

A: Because even a perfect BVA can stumble if the champion isn’t prepared to translate, justify and defend it internally. Without your support, the narrative can shift — procurement could focus on cost, execs may question assumptions, CFO may view it as vendor-driven. The champion must feel ownership and be ready.

Q: What kinds of questions should we anticipate from the CFO or procurement when the champion presents?

A: Typical questions include:

• “What assumptions underlie the savings/ROI?”

• “What if adoption is slower than projected?”

• “What risk controls do we have if the benefit doesn’t hit?”

• “How does this align with our strategic initiatives / investments?”

• “Why now — what urgency drives this spend?”Your prep (assumptions page, FAQ sheet, supporting “what-if” scenarios) should cover these.

Q: How can I measure whether the champion is truly ready to present internally?

A: You can use a simple readiness checklist:

• Has the champion rehearsed the one-slide summary and script?

• Can they answer “why now?” and “what if savings don’t materialise?” without you present?

• Have they identified the internal audience (CFO, procurement, execs) and adapted language accordingly?

• Do they feel supported by you (e.g., you’re available for follow-up)?If the answer is “no” to more than one of these, you should delay the hand-over.

Q: Should the BVA be highly detailed for the internal presentation or high-level only?

A: It should be high-level from the standpoint of the internal stakeholder audience, but credibly supported. That means the champion’s one-slide summary should be visual and strategic (goals, ROI, payback, alignment). But you also need a deeper backup (assumptions tab, detailed BVA workbook) in case the CFO drills down. The trick is: make the visible surface simple; the underpinning robust.

Q: How do we ensure the BVA stays “search engine / AI readable” (AIO-ready) for internal enablement systems?

A: A few tips for internal and external readiness:

• Use clear headings and sub-headings (H2, H3) so AI/LLMs can parse topics easily.

• Include keywords relevant to your audience (e.g., “CFO presentation,” “procurement justification,” “internal sell-through,” “business value analysis”).

• Provide alt-text in your presentation (for any visuals).

• Maintain a version in plain-text PDF as well as visual version for better indexing.

• Tag your document with metadata (e.g., sector, initiative, ROI, pay-back period) so internal search systems (or an enterprise LLM) can surface it by query.