START WITH THE LIVE SYMPTOM
A pilot without a decision is a delay with a nicer name.
The customer agrees to try the product. The team celebrates. Months later, there is no contract, no defined owner and no shared view of what the pilot was supposed to prove.
WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING
A pilot is not progress unless the buyer can name the pass criteria, the economic consequence and the decision that follows the result.
THE WORK
Write the proof of value around the buyer’s numbers and agreed pass criteria.
Book the post-pilot decision meeting before the pilot begins.
Give the champion an executive briefing that connects the trial to the business case.
Treat the next meeting as a buyer milestone, not an administrative step.
THE TEST
A proof of concept shows that the button makes coffee. A proof of value shows what the coffee is worth to this company.
THE NEXT MOVE
Do not start with a programme. Start with the one live deal, account or operating problem that tells you where the motion is missing.
PRINCIPLES TO APPLY
The thinking behind the move.
08
Sweep the table — see the whole picture through their eyes.
See the customer’s entire picture, including the eighty percent you do not solve. Play it back until they say you got it right. You can only see the full table from the customer’s side of it.
Read in the manifesto10
Every complex deal has a next decision.
The sales job is not to generate activity. It is to identify the one decision that must happen now and choose the move that makes it more likely.
Read in the manifesto11
Measure Buyer Activity, not seller activity
Whether the buyer articulated their problem back to you, gave you access to power or sent the first message after reaching the product. One hundred emails that produce one qualified conversation count as one.
Read in the manifesto