One B2B Deal From MEDDPICC Discovery to a CFO-Ready ROI Case and a Dated Close Plan

The pattern I see most often in late-stage deals: the champion likes the product, the account executive sends a deck with a return of several hundred percent, and the CFO asks where that number came from. If the answer is an industry average or the vendor's own calculator, the deal goes back a stage. A cost from the buyer's own finance contact, with a downside case the seller volunteered, reads like an internal investment memo instead.

The second failure is timing. A strong case that reaches the CFO two days before the quarter closes, with procurement and security not started, slips anyway. Build the case and the dated close plan together.

Seven steps, in the order in the table alongside, set by what each tool needs. The ROI tool shows no return without the buyer's figures, so discovery must get them from the right people, which is why the buying group comes first. The champion kit does not read the ROI result, so the numbers go into the brief by hand.

How the ROI tool treats every figure

The tool calculates a return only from the buyer's own figures: an annual value estimate, or a current annual cost with an expected improvement percent. Revenue and headcount are shown, but "this tool does not turn them into a value". Without the buyer's figures it says "No ROI percentage, payback period or headline return is shown". With them, it adds example assumptions and marks each one, as in the table alongside. ROI and payback use the annual price and leave out the one-time cost.

Step 1. Map the buying group before discovery

Input to the ICP Intelligence buyer group analyzer: last-mile delivery routing and dispatch software for third-party logistics companies, Lanehop, $90,000 a year, 800 employees, champion Head of Last-Mile Operations, and the three people I knew: CFO, Head of IT and Dispatch Manager.

What came back: the roles in the table alongside, with finance added as the reviewer and "Chief Operating Officer (budget or sign-off)" listed as usual in the sector but not in my list: "Ask your champion whether they are involved".

How to read it: the map does not settle who signs. The CFO sits in the economic buyer seat because I named the CFO; the COO is only listed as usual in the sector. What it gives you is the open question: does the COO own the operations budget that the CFO approves above $50,000? The same list names the Head of IT as missing although I gave that role; read past it. Hand-off: the COO question and the analyzer's CFO question, "What ROI would make this a clear yes?", go into discovery.

Step 2. Run MEDDPICC discovery to get the buyer's figures

Input to the discovery question bank: MEDDPICC, Head of Last-Mile Operations at a third-party logistics company, three pains (about 1 in 6 deliveries fail on the first attempt, each city plans routes in its own spreadsheet, dispatchers spend hours re-planning) and two gaps: what failed deliveries and re-planning cost a year, and who approves spend above $50,000 and when.

What came back: an opening that quotes the first pain back, a "Gaps to fill first" section, sector questions, MEDDPICC questions and objection answers. How to read it: the economic buyer questions name "the COO or Head of Supply Chain", the sector default, so add the two questions from step 1, as in the table alongside. For the approval gap the tool wrote "What happens if the first problem is not fixed by the end of the quarter?", a timing question. I ask: who approves spend above $50,000, what do they need to see, and when do they next approve spend?

This is an expansion: Example Logistics Co already runs Lanehop in 3 of its 12 cities. My own working rule is to ask for first-attempt delivery and planning time in those 3 next to the other 9, a baseline on the buyer's own routes. The step ends with the two figures: about $500,000 a year, and a 30% saving.

Step 3. Build the ROI case without, then with, the buyer's figures

First run, before the finance contact answered: cost reduction, $90,000 a year, revenue $60M, 800 employees, and the current process as three ways of working separated by semicolons. What came back: no return, "because no buyer cost or value figure was given and this tool does not make one up", each way of working as a cost line to price, and arithmetic on the price alone: the value must be above $90,000 a year for any positive return.

The second run added current annual cost $500,000, expected improvement 30% and, as known metrics, "about 1 in 6 deliveries fail on the first attempt (the buyer said this on the discovery call)". The tool listed that metric under "Customer-Provided Metrics" and said it was "Not used in this calculation". The results are in the table alongside.

How to read it: the CFO reads the conservative line first. At half the saving the return is minus 17% and payback is 14.4 months. Work out the break-even yourself, as the tool does not print it: $90,000 is 18% of $500,000, so the case loses money below an 18% saving. If the finance contact hesitates at 18%, the case is not ready.

Lines that need care: the label "Example figures: replace with your own" above the key metrics covers the threshold column (">100% considered strong"); the 67% and 7.2 months are from your figures. The "Cost of delay: $12,500/month" is marked as an example, but it is the buyer's own $150,000 annual value divided by 12, so relabel it that way. Replace "Full value realization: 6-12 months", the line "Lanehop addresses these challenges." and the example $13,500 implementation before a CFO sees the case.

Step 4. Write the executive brief the champion sends the CFO

Input to the champion enablement kit, first run: executive brief from the Head of Last-Mile Operations to the CFO, three value points, and the budget context from the deal record: "$90,000 a year from the operations budget; the CFO approves spend above $50,000".

What came back: a memo that tells the CFO "the CFO approves spend above $50,000", because the kit writes the budget field into the recommendation, the cost and the decision request, and says "No return figure is stated here, because none was given." How to read it: the kit does not take the ROI result. So in the second run the budget context was the sentence I wanted the CFO to read: price, the $500,000 and 30%, the 67% return, about 7 months, and "At half that saving the return is negative". With Lanehop's parts and the alternatives added, the recommendation led with the numbers.

Clean the second run as in the table alongside before it goes. I also ran the kit's ROI one-pager, with the corrected 3-city line as context and no objections, urgency or champion stake. It printed the same budget text, the same "No return figure is stated here" under the heading "Return", and garbled the 3-city line ("Today we are working with, or weighing, Lanehop already plans routes..."), which must be edited by hand. The brief was the better carrier.

Step 5. Date every step to signature with the mutual action plan

Input: close 2026-12-15, stage evaluation, the champion, the CFO, the Head of IT and two dispatch managers, procurement not yet known, three requirements, four process steps and two blockers. What came back: "36 working days from 2026-10-26, 50 calendar days", five phases with owners on both sides, a test for each requirement with the pass mark agreed first, and "What can move the close date".

How to read it: the tool fits every step into the days you have. Its pilot line, "Run a pilot at one hub for a full cycle of busy and quiet weeks", is due 2026-10-30, four days after the plan starts, with peak season from November. That cannot happen. Move the close date, or use the 3 live cities as the evidence and make the first new city a measured rollout after signature; I would take the second.

Owners shown as "not yet known" for legal and procurement are your real gap. Write both blocker answers yourself. For "the CFO has not yet seen the business case" the tool says "Your inputs hold no fact that answers this question"; for peak season it only says what to confirm. My example answers are below. And "CFO (approves spend above $50,000\)" carries a stray backslash from the brackets in my input; give the role plainly.

• CFO blocker: "The finance contact checks the $500,000 and the 30% first; then the Head of Last-Mile Operations and our account executive present the case to the CFO on 2026-11-16."
• Peak season: "The operations team gives two hours a week until 2026-11-12. The first new city goes live after peak, measured against the 3 live cities."

Step 6. Write the proposal's executive summary

Input to the proposal section writer: executive summary for the C-suite, the three challenges, three differentiators (including "Live in six weeks without IT help"), the price, the approach and three measures. What came back opens "Example Logistics Co told us about 3 problems" and ends with a "Before you send" note asking for evidence for each point.

How to read it: I used this writer because Sales Proposal Builder's strengths are styling from the buyer's branded file and researching the named company, and an invented buyer has neither. I chose the executive summary over the pricing justification because every reader sees it first. It has no ROI field, so add the return and the 50% case yourself. "Without IT help" sits badly in a document the Head of IT reads, when the plan gives that person the integration and the security review. Drop it.

Step 7. Check every claim before the CFO reads it

Input to the Claims fact check skill: the second brief, checked against the discovery notes, the ROI output and the deal record. What came back: a register of 15 rows: 6 match their source, 2 are contradicted, 1 is stronger than its source, 4 are unverified and 2 need tighter wording, with a fix wherever one was needed, plus four open items.

How to read it: the catch that mattered was my own input. I gave the kit "the route planning we use today in 3 cities" as an alternative, but the deal record says those cities run Lanehop. The fix: "Lanehop already plans routes in 3 of our 12 cities. The choice is between extending it to all 12 and keeping the other 9 on city spreadsheets."

Hand-off: the four open items are this week's work, with the owner I would give each:

• The $500,000 split into its three cost lines, starting with the 1 in 6 failed first attempts times the cost of each redelivery: the buyer's finance contact.
• Evidence for "under a minute", timed in one of the 3 live cities: the account executive with the champion.
• The peak season dates: the champion.
• The one-time implementation quote, so Year 1 is shown in full: the account executive.

1. Map the buying group and ask the champion who owns the budget and who approves it.
2. Leave discovery with two figures from the finance contact: the yearly cost of the problem and the share they expect to save.
3. Run the ROI case with them, work out the break-even, and put the 50% case in front of the CFO.
4. Write the budget context as the sentence the CFO should read, then clean the brief.
5. Correct every date and owner in the close plan with the champion, starting with any step squeezed into days.
6. Write the proposal's executive summary, add the return and the 50% case, and drop any claim the close plan contradicts.
7. Check every claim in the brief against your named sources before it reaches finance.

1. Treating revenue or headcount as value. The ROI tool shows both as inputs and turns neither into a return.
2. Sending only the headline. A 67% return that is minus 17% at half the saving is a fair case; hiding the second number loses the CFO.
3. Accepting a plan that squeezes a pilot into four days. Move the date or change the evidence, with the champion.
4. Describing your own product as the alternative in an expansion deal. Check the brief against the deal record.

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