Selling The Business Case: Plaid Jacket Not Required

Mark Mullaly is president of Interthink Consulting Incorporated, an organizational development and change firm specializing in the creation of effective organizational project management solutions. Since 1990, it has worked with companies throughout North America to develop, enhance and implement effective project management tools, processes, structures and capabilities. Mark was most recently co-lead investigator of the Value of Project Management research project sponsored by PMI. You can read more of his writing at markmullaly.com.

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Let's face it: You didn't go into project management in order to sell. If your perception of "selling" involves bad hallucinations of plaid jackets, slimy personalities and a smile a little too wide to seem totally sincere, welcome to the club.

This means the last thing you want to be involved in is "selling" your business case to the powers that be--or anyone, for that matter. Like it or not, getting buy-in to your business case requires a sales process of sorts, but approached effectively it can be a far less painful and far more straightforward process than you might imagine. Plaid jacket not required.

As we've discussed in previous columns, the role of the business case is primarily as a decision-making tool. Its intention is to evaluate an alternative or a range of alternatives in financial terms, in order to determine the most appropriate and cost-effective solution. While this may be an accurate definition of a business case, the purpose of a business case is often viewed by both writers and audiences as extending beyond this decision-making function to one of selling, of creating a compelling argument for a project, an approach or a strategy. The fact is that both of these dimensions are true. One person's "sales job" is another person's compelling argument. Bottom line, we need executive support to proceed forward with our project, and for most of us the business…

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