Win / Loss Analysis

Do you simply tally up your wins and losses, then look to see whether the trends are going in the right direction? If so, you’re like many other companies. Some will go a little further and ask the sales reps why the sale was lost. Most likely they’ll tell you it was the price or some other failing of your offering.  

Those companies, however, that take a systematic approach to win/loss analyses gain a wealth of information. Ultimately, it enables them to improve their relationship with prospects and customers as well as the products, services or solutions that they sell.

Win/loss analysis is the systematic process of interviewing new clients and prospects who fell by the wayside to find out why they chose one path or the other. And that’s precisely the information you need to make steps toward ensuring the right prospects choose the path to becoming one of your customers.

So here’s what you can learn.

“The purpose of any business is to create and keep a customer”—Theodore Levitt

Customer-Centric Businesses Will Win

Customer centricity started in the 60s with direct marketing. Since then, the omnipresence of the Internet has increased opportunities for companies and customers to interact. Customers became more connected and empowered and their expectations rose. At the same time, they turned into the main force driving the success (and failure) of businesses.

For instance, it’s now easy for prospects to learn about your products from their peers. Online reviews, LinkedIn discussions and tweets are all at their fingertips.

As a result, organizations that have a laser-like focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences will be tomorrow’s winners. They will align their operations with market needs so they can build products and offer services customers love, deliver them with ease and provide seamless support. In doing so, they will build enduring relationships. 

Implementing a win/loss analysis program, which dissects the sales efforts your company has won or lost, requires thoughtful planning. To be successful and boost your new business win-rate, you need to get all members of your team on the same page.

Here’s a checklist of steps to launch a win/loss program:

The Internal Review

You may believe a win-loss analysis, analyzing why one sales effort won the business and another did not, could be a powerful tool to help you build a stronger business, but how do you get started? First, talk with your salespeople to gather background information. For example, make sure you understand:

Why did you lose…or win…that sale?

What if you could peak under the covers of a lost sale and discover exactly what went wrong? Or perhaps you’d like to know exactly what gave your company the competitive edge in the sales you won. That information would be powerful in developing a strategy to ramp up remarkable sales results.

That’s why I believe in conducting win/loss sales analysis--analyzing why one sales effort won the client over and another did not. You compile data about your buyers’ perceptions of each step in the sales cycle—the marketing messaging, your product or service offering versus the competition, the proposal, the pricing, and more. Then you dissect the data to gain deep insights to what’s working and what’s not and develop a formula for success.