The Sales Process IS…Building the Business Case
- Scott Peterson
- Sep 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 15
I used to believe that running a good, effective sales process was enough of a differentiator. If you had clearly defined stages, if you took and maintained control of the process, if you included the right stakeholders at the right time, and if you helped them better understand their pains and problems through thoughtful discovery…that alone would separate you from the competition and win the deal.
But I realized something: those things might help you stand out, but they still don’t guarantee the buying group will make a decision. Too many times, even after “doing everything right,” I’d watch opportunities end in the dreaded No Decision.
That’s when I came across Nate Nasralla’s book Selling With. While it was written with enterprise sales in mind, his approach is critical for every seller. He reframes B2B sales as internal communication—the work of finding and framing a problem, then aligning multiple stakeholders with conflicting opinions about how to solve it. In other words, what happens in the buyer’s internal meetings—when you’re not in the room—matters most.
The lightbulb moment for me was this: the sales process IS building the business case.
Why: Sales isn’t about selling—it’s about aligning
As Nasralla puts it: “Sales reps don’t close deals. Buyers do.” Your job isn’t to pressure or pitch your way to a close—it’s to equip the buying group to close themselves. That means giving them the clarity, structure, and narrative they can carry into their internal conversations about strategy, priorities, risks, and investments.
When you shift from “How do I close?” to “How do I enable alignment and decision?”, each step stops being about checking boxes and becomes about uncovering the priority problem (or opportunity)—the foundation of a compelling business case.
No alignment on the problem, no alignment on the solution.
How: Build the business case in public, not in private
Too many salespeople treat the proposal as the grand reveal. They collect information quietly, craft a polished deck, and present it at the end—only to learn too late that the buying group isn’t aligned.
Instead, share your business case incrementally at every step. After qualification, send a one-page summary of the problem and urgency. After discovery, update it with cost-of-inaction math and stakeholder perspectives.
This “build in public” approach:
Earns feedback and ownership along the way.
Prevents misalignment from festering until it’s too late.
The more your buyers help build the case, the more they’ll believe in it.
Who: Arm your champion for their internal meetings
The most critical conversations happen when you’re not present—when your champion sits down with the buying group. That’s where deals are won or lost.
Your job is to make sure your champion walks into those meetings equipped with:
A one-page executive summary / business case, including:
The current state and situation
The desired future state
The challenge, impact, and cost of inaction
The only way a buying group can align on a solution is if they first agree on the problem. That’s why it’s critical to equip your champion with a clear articulation of the problem and its impact.
And when that problem sits squarely in your area of expertise, you can show—through the business case—exactly how your solution is best positioned to solve it.
Conclusion
The sales process isn’t about pushing deals from stage to stage—it’s about building alignment, creating clarity, and enabling champions.
Why → A buying group can only align on a solution once they’re aligned on the problem.
How → The business case is built openly and iteratively so buyers see their fingerprints on it and believe in it.
Who → Champions carry that case into the room, equipped to show how your solution directly addresses the problem that matters most.
When you put these together, the sales process transforms. If the business case is strong, the deal moves forward. If it’s not, it’s better to part ways. Either way, you leave buyers with clarity instead of confusion, and alignment instead of drift—while positioning your solution as the natural answer to their priority problem.
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