1 min lesson
A POC is going great
Talk this through in your own words: "A POC is going great - developers love it and usage is climbing. What should you already have started and why?" Finish with the next move.
Step 1 of 2
The most common self-inflicted loss is treating the POC as the finish line. Active usage proves value to Engineering, but it does nothing for Security or Procurement. If you wait until the trial succeeds to start the security review, you've added weeks of dead time. Run the close-track stakeholders in parallel with the evaluation, not after it.
In the deal-walkthrough with the hiring manager, narrate a real deal across these exact stages and name where it nearly died. Saying “the POC was a slam dunk but I'd kicked off the security questionnaire on day one, so we didn't lose a month” signals that you run a process, not just charm.