When I have chosen what I need, I want it approved, so I do not lose a year waiting without knowing why it stalled.

Job context

Who

Whoever proposes a purchase inside an organisation

When

After the evaluation is finished

Trigger

A proposal deferred to the next quarter for the second time

Situation

Whoever decides has never met the problem being solved

Constraints

Must speak finance about an operational problem

5 Pains

• The approver does not understand the problem

  High

  Because they do not do the work.

  Root cause: Approval authority sits far from the daily work

• The benefit cannot be turned into money

  High

  Time saved does not become a financial line.

  Root cause: Time saved becomes money only when someone is cut

• Too many parties must agree

  High

  And each has a reason to say no.

  Root cause: Each department owns a different kind of risk

• Never told why the proposal stalled

  Medium

  The answer is next cycle, not a reason.

  Root cause: Giving the real reason invites an argument nobody wants

• The seller pushes while internal work is unfinished

  Medium

  And the pushing makes it harder.

  Root cause: The seller runs on their quarter, not on the buyer's rhythm

5 Desired Outcomes

• Have the approver understand the problem

  Social

• Turn the benefit into a financial number

  Functional

• Know which party is not yet agreed and why

  Functional

• Learn the real reason for a delay

  Social

• Control the pace of the purchase

  Functional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Write a business case

  Workaround

  The required language, with numbers that are all assumptions.

• Find a senior sponsor

  Behaviour

  The factor that actually decides, with no process for finding one.

• Ask the seller for supporting material

  Service

  Available and free, in the seller's voice.

• Start small inside the operating budget

  Workaround

  Manufactures evidence, going around the approval process.

• Speak with each party privately first

  Behaviour

  The most effective route, costing one person many weeks.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• There is a process for large purchases and an operating budget for small ones; the middle, too large to decide alone, too small to warrant a committee, has no path.

  Why existing solutions fail: Approval processes are designed for the largest spend to control the largest risk and then applied to everything, so the cost of the process often exceeds the value of a mid-sized purchase.

  Potential opportunity: A separate approval path for mid-sized purchases, with a cap and fewer parties.

• Every sales methodology teaches how to persuade the buyer, while the real battle happens inside the buying organisation, where the seller is not present and cannot help.

  Why existing solutions fail: Sellers supply material written for a buyer already convinced, while what the proposer needs is a way to explain to someone who has never met the problem, and nobody produces that because it sells nothing.

  Potential opportunity: Tools helping the proposer present the problem in their own organisation's data rather than in the seller's material.