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92 • The 100 Greatest Ideas for Building the Business of Your Dreams

The rationale could look like this:

Customer need (score 7)
There is a good primafacie requirement that is agreed by the decision maker to
be strategically desirable. It will be well worth our effort. The only problem
here is that we do not understand the process for deciding on return on invest-
ment.
Finance (score 3)
The decision maker has said that he will make the money available, if his
people come to him with a business case. It is not in a budget yet.
Key people (score 4)
We know who the key people are, but have no further access to the decision
maker until the time of proposal. The technical recommender, who is taking
the lead, is trying to block us from the user recommenders.
Timescale (score 8)
Good news here as the timescale is driven by a product launch which the
customer is planning as a key date. The pressure on the launch date comes
from legislation, so it is highly unlikely to be postponed.
Solution (score 5)
We have done this sort of thing many times before, but we are going to have to
work with a third party with whom we have had no dealings. Once we agree
the way ahead with the third party, the situation should improve.
Basis of decision (score 4)
We do not know the financial basis of decision. The technical basis is clear but
contains no unique reason why they should buy from us. Our lack of contact
with the user recommenders means that we do not understand the practical
issues to be covered.
Implementation practicality (score 3)
It is a bit early in the campaign to be able to allocate resources. On the face of
it does not look too difficult.