SE Sin #3: Automatic Proof-of-Concepts. Customer: “We’d like to bring this in for a test drive.” Sales rep: “No problem, when do you need it?”. And the poor SE is thinking, “Oh great, there goes another two months of my life”.

Knee-jerk POCs are a huge waste of time considering how many of them do not lead to revenue. To help ensure a high success rate, sales teams should routinely qualify POCs and consider alternatives to POCs.

If a POC is unavoidable, work out a test plan with the customer and get them to commit people and resources to its success. Get some skin in the game — if they don’t commit people and resources, they’re not serious.

Use POCs as a closing tool. Ask the customer to commit that if the POC is successful, they will choose your solution. If they are unwilling to make such a commitment, red flags should go up.

Avoid automatic POCs — They can be a huge waste of time.