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The 8 essentials for perfectly managing Proof of Concepts
Execute the perfect sales process, forecast with confidence, and deliver an incredible buying experience.
Successfully managing a Proof of Concept can make or break your deal. And in today's market, every deal matters.
Success requires project managing next steps, stakeholders, success criteria, and more. But that can be extremely difficult.
Especially when every rep has their own process.
Read this guide and learn how to:
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Execute the perfect Proof of Concept
Clearly forecast pilots with success criteria
Deliver an incredible buying experience
Download this guide to learn how your team can repeatedly manage Proof of Concepts, forecast with confidence, and accelerate revenue.
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What is a Proof of Concept?
A Proof of Concept (PoC), also known as a pilot plan or evaluation plan, is critical for proving value and winning deals. It demonstrates whether the product or concept is feasible and can meet customer requirements.
With B2B sales processes becoming increasingly complex, including more stakeholders, longer decision-making cycles, and higher expectations. Proof of Concepts have become an essential tool for sales team.
Our free PoC template is a great starting point to help sellers and buyers collaborate, while also providing a compelling business case for adoption.
We've put together a repeatable playbook of eight essentials for successfully managing proof of concepts.
With B2B sales processes becoming increasingly complex, including more stakeholders, longer decision-making cycles, and higher expectations. Proof of Concepts have become an essential tool for sales team.
Our free PoC template is a great starting point to help sellers and buyers collaborate, while also providing a compelling business case for adoption.
We've put together a repeatable playbook of eight essentials for successfully managing proof of concepts.
- Overview - Current state and desired state
- Stakeholders - Multi-threading stakeholders
- Success Criteria - Leading indicators
- Alignment - Agreement with executive stakeholders
- Setting Expectations - Outline of intentions
- Timeline - Defined length of time
- Milestones - A checklist/action plan
- Client Feedback - (If applicable)
What a Proof of Concept Can Do for You
Proof of Concepts eliminate the risk of customers buying into a solution that doesn't work for them, which can often happen when relying on vendor demos and case studies alone.
A Proof of Concept allows pre-sales and account executives to understand all the client needs and use cases properly. PoCs give structure to the success criteria in a way that creates paths for discoveries throughout the sales process and holds sellers and buyers equally accountable.
It takes the client’s desired business outcomes and creates a roadmap outlining how the product/service features best meet objectives. This roadmap is guided by a defined checklist of standardized steps for the proof of concept, which is essentially a mutual action plan (also known as, MAP, mutual success plan, close plan, joint engagement plan, etc). Mutual action plans give visibility and align all stakeholders to a timeline.
By the end of a PoC, clients should clearly understand how the seller's solution will impact their business and what the return on investment will be. It solidifies their understanding of implementation costs, efforts, and requirements, the ease of use, and all associated risks - giving prospects the data they need to make an informed decision.
Our free PDF template is a great start for your reps to manage PoCs.
A Proof of Concept allows pre-sales and account executives to understand all the client needs and use cases properly. PoCs give structure to the success criteria in a way that creates paths for discoveries throughout the sales process and holds sellers and buyers equally accountable.
It takes the client’s desired business outcomes and creates a roadmap outlining how the product/service features best meet objectives. This roadmap is guided by a defined checklist of standardized steps for the proof of concept, which is essentially a mutual action plan (also known as, MAP, mutual success plan, close plan, joint engagement plan, etc). Mutual action plans give visibility and align all stakeholders to a timeline.
By the end of a PoC, clients should clearly understand how the seller's solution will impact their business and what the return on investment will be. It solidifies their understanding of implementation costs, efforts, and requirements, the ease of use, and all associated risks - giving prospects the data they need to make an informed decision.
Our free PDF template is a great start for your reps to manage PoCs.
⚠️ Mismanagement of the Proof of Concept process often results in failure
Proof of Concepts can become very difficult to manage as they transform into projects or mini-implementations. As sellers, we typically lack the training, framework, and tools to effectively manage projects. Consequently, every rep is trying to follow their own processes, if they even have one!
PDFs are a good starting point to managing PoCs, but when it comes to collaborative sharing, sending them back-and-forth via email, Slack, or other forms of communication is the only option.
Getting stakeholders aligned often involves an abundance of emails and meetings, especially when dealing with PDFs and spreadsheets.
🎯 Never enter into a PoC without defining what every step and meeting will look like and scheduling the dates ahead of time.
However, holding each other accountable can be frustrating when everything is disorganized, leading to buyer friction.
PDFs are a good starting point to managing PoCs, but when it comes to collaborative sharing, sending them back-and-forth via email, Slack, or other forms of communication is the only option.
Getting stakeholders aligned often involves an abundance of emails and meetings, especially when dealing with PDFs and spreadsheets.
🎯 Never enter into a PoC without defining what every step and meeting will look like and scheduling the dates ahead of time.
However, holding each other accountable can be frustrating when everything is disorganized, leading to buyer friction.
If there’s a lack of a standardized process, the PoC will drag out and delay the entire deal. Or worse.
Want to ditch the PDFs,
And level up your Proof of Concepts? 🎯
We created a customer collaboration platform, Recapped, specifically for managing PoCs, pilots, and deals collaboratively with prospects.
This ensures nothing falls through the cracks, and everyone is on the same page.
This ensures nothing falls through the cracks, and everyone is on the same page.
Recapped offers a centralized workspace to operate PoCs at scale.
Reps can document requirements for all stakeholders, build transparent checklists of everything that needs to be done for mutual success, loop in relevant stakeholders, and much more.
Reps can document requirements for all stakeholders, build transparent checklists of everything that needs to be done for mutual success, loop in relevant stakeholders, and much more.
- ✅ Alignment of all stakeholders
- ✅ Consolidation of sales collateral, content, docs, and more
- ✅ Outlined success criteria and business case
- ✅ Checklist of steps for milestones (mutual action plan)
- 🎯 Repeatable playbook that every rep can follow
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TRUSTED BY TOP SALES TEAMS EVERYWHERE
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Accelerate your sales cycles 🎯
Successfully managing a Proof of Concept can increase close rates by 2x or even 3x.
🎯 Recapped simplifies the B2B buying journey.
Your buyers will thank you for having everything in one place, instead of sending information back and forth via communication methods, like emails, Slack messages, texts, and more.
No more wasted time waiting for a rep to send a requested document or searching for information buried in an email inbox.
🔗 Read more about How to Simplify the B2B Buying Journey.
No more wasted time waiting for a rep to send a requested document or searching for information buried in an email inbox.
🔗 Read more about How to Simplify the B2B Buying Journey.
🎯 Multi-threading stakeholders is now easier!
Everyone can get caught up quickly, saving time from unproductive meetings. Clients have the ability to review the entire business case at their own convenience.
🎯 Stay on track with Mutual Action Plans.
Mutual action plans (MAPs) are meant to be 'mutual' and collaborative. MAPs provide visibility into next steps with assigned stakeholders and due dates. Having the whole client-facing roadmap visible with major milestones will instill a sense of urgency and accountability for all stakeholders.
🔗 Read more about How to Create a Sense of Urgency in Deals.
🔗 Read more about How to Create a Sense of Urgency in Deals.
🎯 Standardize your sales playbooks and PoCs at scale.
Replicate your best reps' processes that every rep can follow by templatizing your perfect sales playbook.
Make the whole process easy for your reps and buyers.
🎯 Stand out from the competition with Recapped, and request a demo today.
🎯 Stand out from the competition with Recapped, and request a demo today.
If you are a sales rep and knows this could be great for your team, share this page with your sales leader!
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