To pilot, or not to pilot, that is the question

Ami Arad

You're onboarding 6sense and your models are close to being complete. Sales rollout is approaching quickly, and you haven't decided if you should start with a pilot to a small team of sellers? Or just roll the whole thing out to all of them at once?

The good news is there is no right or wrong answer. This post seeks to lay out the pros and cons of starting with a pilot so you can make an informed decision for your company.

Pilot Pros

• Work out kinks. As many times as we've done this, this is our first time doing it with you. As much as you and your adoption team may think you've thought of everything, something almost always slips through the cracks. Enlisting a tiger team of sellers to use it prior to rolling it out to all sellers gives us all the opportunity to find little issues to fix before the big introduction.
• Anticipate questions. 6sensors know the frequently asked questions about Sales Intelligence, but the nuances of your sales cycle, products, sales roles, or processes may result in questions we aren't often asked. Flush those out in the pilot so they can be answered preemptively for the big rollout.
• 1st person success stories. A 6sensor can tell your sales team a success story about our use of the product, but nothing beats your sellers hearing a success story from one of their peers. Only possible if you pilot first.
• Creates FOMO. If the pilot goes well, the sellers that are part of the pilot will have a hard time not saying anything to their peers. Word is likely to spread about 6sense, building enthusiasm amongst others for what is to come. Undeniably a good thing.

Pilot Cons

• Delays value. Even if the pilot only runs a couple weeks, it puts off some of the most consequential value that can be achieved through 6sense. A pilot doesn't have to run more than a week or two, but two weeks or more would be considered best practice. Assuming you can schedule a full rollout soon after the pilot, the wait isn't a big deal, but if not, we understand your desire to get it into sellers' hands as quickly as possible.
• Requires time and effort. This is not a big deal, but someone does need to pick the pilot group, get approval from their manager(s) to participate, schedule an extra training session or two, and be prepared to do some handholding. We would recommend a daily check-in with pilot sellers to see if they have any questions or concerns, what are they noticing so far, and do any have a great story to share yet? None of these things take hours out of a day, but they do demand a little time and effort.
• Crash and burn. While it doesn't happen often, a negative experience from even one seller in the pilot can cause skepticism or pessimism to spread to other sellers before the product has even had a chance. Don't pick the pilot team at random; choose top sellers with good attitudes that are open to new ideas to prevent this.