The Largest Crater on Earth is 250 Miles Wide

I'd been working on the deal for six months.

It was worth about $6 million.

More importantly, it answered an unmet customer need - and would leave the competition flatfooted. 

Business and technical due diligence teams had found no major issues.

The deal had been presented to the CEO and Board. 

The contract was sitting on the CEO's desk waiting to be signed.

So why did I kill the deal?

Small Meteors Leave Big Craters

Sometimes the smallest issues can have enormous impact to your business. In this case, I realized at the eleventh hour -- 11:58 to be exact - that my company had different revenue recognition rules than those of my alliance partner. The differences would have a material effect on company profits. Neither side could make accommodations that would mitigate the profit impact for one or the other of us.

How had we missed something so fundamental? Assumptions: each side was so indoctrinated in its own business models that we simply assumed everyone used the same models. It wasn't until we actually started working on implementation - thankfully, in this case, before the contract had been signed - that we could see the invalid assumptions we'd all made.

The Walk Through

Today, I use a simple - but highly effective - process that I call the Walk Through to deflect those small meteors that can cause huge craters.

At the heart of the Walk Through sits a cross-functional business team. Counterparts from potential alliance partners are also part of the cross-functional team. We walk through every single operational step of the deal from start to finish, paying particular attention to departmental handoffs and exception handling.

I've also used the Walk Through to identify potential risks in go-to-market plans and complex customer agreements. 

The process is resource intensive. But, when a small meteor can make a 250-mile wide crater in your business, it's well worth the investment.