Failing Deal Recovery Paths
Recovery: Your POC Failed on a Single Technical Criterion
Five-week POC, one criterion missed. The buying committee is leaning toward 'no decision' even though the rest passed.
The situation
Your POC ran 5 weeks against 7 success criteria. You passed 6, including all the business-critical ones. You missed criterion #4 (a specific bulk-export latency target) by 30%. The technical evaluator is recommending 'no decision — revisit in 6 months.' The CIO sponsor is silent.
Key stakeholders
- Lana YuskepticTechnical EvaluatorWrote the criteria. Personally invested in #4.
- CIO SponsorneutralExecutive Sponsor
- VP Operations (Champion)championBusiness owner
Step 1
Decision pointLana's report is circulating internally. Your forwards it with a one-line: 'How do we save this?'
What's your move?