Beat Do-Nothing (& Straw-Man DIY) Without Drama

Most deals don't lose to competitors; they lose to Do Nothing or a vague promise to DIY "soon." You don't beat those by turning up the volume. You beat them by treating both paths fairly, quantifying them on a steady frame, and asking for the smallest, safest step. When RevOps and CROs see that you price inertia honestly and write DIY like a respectful Ops plan—not a caricature—you become the adult in the room. That integrity is what gets forwarded to Finance and approved.

Best practice 1: Price Do Nothing as the cost of the problem (over time)

Do Nothing is always the easiest option. Make it a conscious one. Start with the urgent, important problem your sponsor already feels—late-stage slips in the same bands, forecast noise from weak stage exits, renewals that start too late—and quantify the drag per month or per quarter. Keep the math operational first (volume into a stage, % meeting a defined Canary, conversion X→Close, average cycle) and then summarize in dollars. If the Canary trend is worsening, show compounding inside the same horizon. You're not fearmongering; you're naming the carry cost of staying put so every alternative has a fair baseline.

Best practice 2: Write DIY like you're their Ops lead

DIY is your real price ceiling. Treat it with respect. Document the fix exactly as an internal team would:

• Mechanics: the workflow, artifact, or governance you'll install (e.g., stage exits that require a one-page business case with three options; renewal prep opened at T–120 and complete by T–90; a security readiness checklist by a fixed milestone).
• People & ownership: who writes templates, who owns fields, who runs the weekly cadence; name an exec sponsor and an operator owner.
• Calendar time: realistic time for learning curves, cross-functional coordination, and approvals.
• Risk controls: early warnings, validation cadence, and an escalation path if blockers linger.
• Costs: people time, enablement/governance work, and any tooling—mapped to the same horizon as the benefits.

If you wouldn't sign your name to that plan as their Ops lead, it's a straw-man. Rewrite it. A credible DIY makes your advantage—faster time to first proof, lower execution risk—feel like a relief, not a pitch.

Best practice 3: Hold one steady frame for all three paths

Fair comparisons require a fixed frame before you touch any knobs:

• Horizon: 6, 9, or 12 months—pick what matches how they decide and hold it across Do Nothing, DIY, and Vendor.
• Adoption assumptions: who changes behavior by when; keep them identical across options.
• Risk definitions: the buyer's own risk categories (adoption drift, data gaps, integration, continuity) and how you'll detect them.
• Cost categories: people time, enablement/governance, tooling, and cash—same buckets everywhere.

Only then vary inputs. If a parameter truly differs (e.g., calendar time under DIY vs. Vendor), say why in plain language. A steady frame keeps the comparison honest and stops "tuning to the answer."

Best practice 4: Use one causal Canary (and make it observable)

Anchor the model with a single Canary—a direct, early indicator that should move if the approach is working and that lives in the system of record. Examples: "By stage 3, a one-page business case with three options and a quantified problem statement acknowledged by the champion," or "Security readiness checklist completed by T–30 with proof artifacts," or "Renewal prep artifact opened at T–120 and completed by T–90 with owner and timestamps." If the Canary moves, conversion and cycle follow. If it doesn't move, you have truth you can act on—no happy ears required.

Best practice 5: Keep the math simple and buyer-owned

If Finance can't reproduce your number, it won't travel. Build a simple spreadsheet the buyer owns:

• Inputs: volume into a stage; % meeting the Canary; conversion X→Close; average cycle time; average selling price.
• Causal link: how moving the Canary changes conversion and/or cycle inside the fixed horizon.
• Range with reasons: adoption ramp, data quality, and scope as the explicit variance drivers.
• Costs on the same horizon: people time, enablement/governance, vendor fees.

No hidden cells. No "proprietary multipliers." Assumptions sit next to numbers. The goal isn't to "win the spreadsheet"; it's to make trade-offs visible so the buyer can choose their own adventure—eyes open.

Best practice 6: Ask for first proof—not the rollout

Do Nothing and DIY are sticky because they feel safe. Make Vendor the safer path by shrinking the decision. Ask to approve the first proof that should move the Canary for one team or segment, inside a short timebox, with named owners and a written exit (continue, change scope, or stop). This is a decision experiment, not a mini-deployment: smallest artifact that proves the approach, measured weekly in the system of record, with a mid-window variance check. When "yes" is that small and that safe, inertia loses its grip.

Best practice 7: Put ranges next to reasons (so Finance nods)

Executives trust ranges when the why is on the page. Present conservative / expected / best case for each option with the variance drivers labeled the same way across options (adoption, data quality, scope). Tie each driver to governance: what you'll watch weekly, how you'll mitigate, and when you'll decide. Ranges without reasons look like hope; ranges with reasons look like risk management.

Best practice 8: Don't give away PS while "proving" value

A common trap in beating DIY is… doing DIY for them during the pilot. Keep the proof small enough that professional services aren't required to succeed. If success requires a quasi-rollout, you'll either overinvest without a commitment or end up negotiating from a weak position because "most of it is already set up." Prove the principle; keep rollout as a separate, governed decision.

Best practice 9: Publish a one-page CFO summary on top

Whether the buyer chooses DIY or Vendor, the CFO wants the same page: problem & Canary, approach in operator language, impact range with assumptions, three options on one frame, time-to-first-proof, risks & controls, and the decision requested. When that page stands alone, your champion can get to "approved" without corralling another meeting. That's how you beat Do Nothing: you make action administratively easier than inertia.

Best practice 10: Respect the buyer's agency (tone matters)

You're not trying to shame a team out of DIY or scare them out of Do Nothing. You're giving them a fair frame and asking for the smallest step that reveals truth quickly and cheaply. When you treat their alternatives like viable choices—and then calmly show why your path compresses time and risk to the same fix—you earn the only currency that matters in a consensus sale: trust.

What this prevents (and why it works)

• Inertia-by-default becomes a priced choice with visible carry cost.
• DIY fantasies become a real plan with calendar time, owners, and risk—your practical price ceiling.
• Spin becomes signal because the Canary is causal and observable in their tools.
• Spreadsheet games become buyer-owned math with transparent assumptions.
• Big asks become small, safe decisions that are easy to approve.

You're not competing with alternatives; you're stewarding a decision that fits how companies actually buy.

The checklist (printable)

☐ Do Nothing priced as the cost of the problem over a fixed horizon (compounding shown if relevant)

☐ DIY written credibly (mechanics, owners, calendar, risk controls, costs)

☐ One steady frame across options (horizon, adoption, risk, costs)

☐ Single causal Canary captured in the system of record

☐ Buyer-owned spreadsheet (operational → finance; ranges with reasons)

☐ Ask = first proof (one team/segment, time-boxed, named owners, written exit)

☐ No PS giveaway during proof

☐ CFO one-pager that can be forwarded and approved

Close: Make action the easiest path

You don't beat Do Nothing and straw-man DIY with drama. You beat them with a fair baseline, a credible in-house plan, a steady frame, and a tiny ask. When your case reads like that, Finance sees bounded risk, Ops sees a fix they could run, and your champion has everything they need to pick the safer path—now.