Is your pilot project part of a pre-sales evaluation or a mid-to-late onboarding vetting-out exercise?
I think the approach dramatically changes depending on when you conduct the pilot.
@Casey Wilt Great question! We’re trying to get that outlined in our initial call post closing the contract. We find that setting pilot criteria ahead of contract close can lead to being misinformed about what they are truly looking to accomplish (wrong people in the convo at that time, etc.) and if we try to institute it too late in the onboarding then we’re back peddling on things we should have identified initially.
Hopefully that answer the question. Thank you!
Our platform is a construction estimating tool (Material $$, Labor $$, integrated construction drawing quantity takeoff, etc.). It generally requires a significant personalization effort to truly be ready for prime-time use for the average general contractor.
We just introduced a new project plan that “starts with a pilot” for one of our customer types.
We have crafted a completely standard pilot process (approx. 4 sessions) that hits the most important modules of the tool in a logical order. They use standard data and templates, etc - nothing is customized AT ALL to start with. The client supplies the project drawings, and follows our steps to recreate their construction estimate. Because we control the process, we can better control the goals and expectations for each session.
We find that this gives their user group better exposure to how the platform actually works, and gives a basis for really good questions to better inform how the customer actually needs the platform to work. It does not hit on every button by design, but our virtual pilot project working sessions offer a chance to dive into more advanced topics/modules not on the typical path, if desired/appropriate. And subsequent meetings focus on executing on the needs identified during the pilot project.
We currently run pilots late in the game on larger onboarding projects - a change to vet out all the custom work completed. This time, it’s THEIR data, THEIR defined workflows, and the goal is simple - confirm readiness for rolling out to the larger team.
Food for thought, hope it’s helpful!
Thank you so much @Casey Wilt
