Most proof-of-concepts fail quietly. Nobody declares them dead. They just drift: the trial period expires, the champion goes quiet, and everyone moves on without ever agreeing on what a win would have looked like. This template exists to stop that from happening.
What's inside
The document is built around seven sections, and you fill in every one of them with your prospect, not for them.
- Objective: the problem statement and business cost driving the evaluation, so everyone stays anchored to why this matters
- Project participants: named people and roles on both sides, including an explicit executive sponsor slot, so that question gets asked early instead of late
- Success criteria: a table of specific, testable criteria with a yes/no outcome column, not vague goals
- Timing: start and end dates, budget availability, and your technical meeting cadence
- Project scope: the product-specific boundaries of what's actually being evaluated
- Procurement: EULA review, InfoSec requirements, purchase order approval, and partner vs. direct
- Support: where the prospect sends issues during the evaluation, and who else should be looped in
How to use it
Open this at kickoff, not after. Walk through it live with your champion and, if you can get them in the room, their economic buyer. The value isn't the document. It's the conversation it forces you to have before either side has sunk real time into the evaluation.
Delivered as an editable Word document, so you can drop in your own branding and adjust the fields to fit your process.
Download the templateWant a second set of eyes on how you're running it? Book an intro call and I'll walk through it with you.