Mid-market pilots

Mid-market buyers sound serious fast. "Let's run a proof of concept with my team," "we'll get a few seats spun up," and "can you do a 90-day evaluation" feel like pipeline. A convertible mid-market pilot names a BU GM, CFO, or COO as the economic buyer, one BU, plant, or department as scope, finance-readable success criteria, a light security and vendor path in parallel, and a date for the commercial ask.

Keep freemium seats, open-ended sandboxes, and unpaid POCs separate from customer pilots. They can create evidence later. They seldom close this quarter unless you put a paid commercial clock on them.

Hunt for compelling events: a BU misses plan, a plant or region underperforms peers, a competitor win at a similar company, a budget refresh or fiscal-year boundary, a new VP mandate to cut cost or grow output without headcount, or a board ask for measurable ops improvement.

Map the committee early: VP or senior director champion, BU GM / CFO / COO (economic buyer), finance partner who will read the ROI, light procurement or vendor management, IT or security for access and questionnaire, and the day-to-day operator on the floor. A director alone won't get you to a PO.

Mid-market deals die when you single-thread a director who loves the product and never puts finance or the economic buyer in the room. Get the BU GM, CFO, or COO on a call by week two. Ask who signs annual software, when the next budget gate is, and what proof they will accept.

Security and vendor forms are real here, lighter than enterprise theater, heavier than SME. Start the questionnaire, data-access plan, and basic DPA or vendor packet in week one of serious interest so they do not land in the final week.

Budget reality matters. Work backwards from phase-two ACV the BU can fund this fiscal year. If the full rollout needs a number that only corporate can approve, say so and cut scope to one BU before you waste the pilot.

Write criteria a BU GM or CFO will sign, and instrument them on one BU, plant, or department inside a 4 to 8 week window: cost per unit, throughput, cycle time, error or rework rate, overtime hours, revenue per head, or a named conversion metric the finance partner already tracks.

"Team likes it," login counts, and NPS-only lines won't pass a mid-market finance review. Price the pilot when you can, and put phase-two commercial terms (BUs, plants, seats, modules, annual ACV intent) in writing so the pilot cannot become a permanent evaluation.

Land a week-1 or week-2 quick win the economic buyer can see without living in the product. A one-page KPI memo with baseline, target, and current beats another feature demo.

Hold midpoint against the written scorecard with the champion and the BU GM, CFO, or finance partner present. Adjust only against the criteria. Do not expand to every BU or every plant without saying so.

Keep access, security questionnaire, procurement path, and the commercial ask date moving each week. Mid-market pilots die after everyone said yes informally when the team learns in the final week that "we still need finance and a vendor form."

Restate the criteria, the evidence, and the commercial path, then ask for the annual PO or signed order form. "Loved it" without a signature is a stall. Mid-market teams give verbal yeses often; paper seldom arrives until you ask on a set date with finance already briefed.

If budget or attention wobbles, cut to one BU, one plant, fewer seats, or fewer modules. Don't teach the buyer that a successful pilot earns a permanent deep discount.

Name the mid-market stall mode before you improvise.

Treat the pilot scope (one BU, plant, or department) as a proof sample. Expand from the phase-two price in the agreement.

Add adjacent BUs, plants, or modules after production is live. A short champion-to-peer intro inside the account helps you win the next BU. If you keep "pilot pricing" going across the company, each expansion starts at a discount the business can't sustain.

Use this as a pattern drill. It is not a claimed case study, and the numbers are illustrative. Company-size overlay: mid-market (committee-led), separate from SME and enterprise.

Use the mid-market pilot scorecard template for the blank worksheet, a filled example, the security and procurement parallel-path checklist, and a copy-ready AI prompt.