For a technology company, a pilot is often the way in to an industrial customer. Well designed, it shows that your solution works in their environment and opens the way to a purchase. Badly designed, it drags on for months, uses up resources and ends without a decision.
Before accepting a pilot
Check that there is a real problem, a person responsible on the customer’s side and an intention to buy if the pilot goes well. A pilot with no owner and no budget in sight usually becomes a free trial with no end.
What should be agreed in writing
- Goal. What problem you want to solve and why it matters to the customer.
- Scope. Where it is tested (a line, a plant, a process) and what is left out.
- Success criteria. What specific result will count as a success and how it will be measured.
- Timing. Start date, interim reviews and end date.
- Resources. What each party contributes: equipment, data, people, access.
- Terms. Whether the pilot has a cost, who owns the data and the results, and confidentiality.
- Next step. What happens if the criteria are met: an order, an extension or a contract.
During the pilot
Hold short, regular meetings with the person responsible at the customer, record results from day one and remove blockers quickly. Involve the person who will decide the purchase early on, not just the technical team.
At the close
Present the results against the agreed criteria, with data, and propose the agreed next step. If the criteria were not met, explain why and what would be needed. A good close, even if it does not end in a sale, leaves the door open.
Common mistakes
- Pilots with no success criteria or end date.
- Widening the scope along the way without agreeing it.
- Working only with the technical team and not with the decision-maker.
- Not agreeing on what happens next.
How we help
With IBD Technology we identify the industrial customers that make most sense for your technology and put you in touch with the person who has the problem and the person who decides. To see the whole path, read from product to first industrial customer.
