Value selling worksheet
A value case the buyer helped build is a value case they defend to their CFO. This worksheet keeps you honest and collaborative.
Keep the estimates conservative; a credible modest return beats an unbelievable huge one.
Short answer
A value selling worksheet structures your value hypothesis: the metric that matters, the quantified current-state cost, the improved future state, and the resulting ROI, all in the buyer's numbers. Fill it in during discovery so the buyer owns the math and can defend the spend internally. Template below.
The worksheet
Fill in each line with the buyer, using their real data.
- Target metric: ________ (the outcome the buyer cares about)
- Current state cost: ________ per month/year (what the problem costs today)
- How we calculated it: ________ (the inputs and assumptions, confirmed by the buyer)
- Future state: ________ (the improved metric after implementation)
- Estimated gain: ________ per year (conservative)
- Investment: ________ (your price plus their effort)
- ROI / payback: ________ (gain divided by investment, and time to break even)
How to use it
Co-create, do not assert.
- Propose the inputs, then let the buyer correct them so they own the numbers.
- Attach the finished worksheet to the proposal as the business case.
- Return to it when a discount request appears; the ROI reframes price.
Use this in Ardovo
You do not have to start from a blank page. Tell Rook, Ardovo's AI operator, what you need (for example, "value selling worksheet") and it drafts a version grounded in your real pipeline, personalizes it to the specific deal or contact, and saves it to the record in one step. Every framework lives in one shared library, so the whole team runs the same play.
Frequently asked questions
What goes in a value selling worksheet?
The target metric, the quantified current-state cost, the improved future state, the estimated annual gain, the investment, and the resulting ROI and payback period, all in the buyer's own numbers and confirmed with their data.
Why build the value case with the buyer instead of for them?
Because a case the buyer helped build is one they will defend internally to finance and other stakeholders. If you assert the numbers, they are yours to argue; if the buyer confirms the inputs, the math becomes theirs to champion.
How does the worksheet help with pricing pressure?
It reframes price as a fraction of return. When a discount request appears, you point back to an ROI of several times the investment, making a small price cut look trivial next to the outcome the buyer already agreed to.