How will this save money or make money?

While your circumstances may be unique, the underlying question driving all business cases is the same: How will this save money or make money?

Businesses exist to make money by creating value for customers. The closer you are to generating revenue for your organization, the more leverage you have. Addressing this can be the difference between your idea being labeled as tactical vs strategic.

If you play out the logic behind your recommendation, it’s very likely that your idea already makes or saves the company money. That’s great news. But you have to make this connection explicit. Ideally, you can quantify the impact, but even if you can’t, you’ll want to make the connection as concrete and obvious as possible.