Win Loss Analysis

 

Win Loss Analysis: Need help setting up your program 720-480-9499

Win Loss AnalysisWin loss analysis is my favorite analysis technique as it improves our client’s win rates, every time. You find out why you are really winning business, and also why you’re really losing it.

You gain intelligence through customer interviews shortly after the buying decision to find out why they chose to do business with you or why they decided on a competitor. The data gathered combines knowledge from sales, customers, competitors and your marketplace. Over time, Win Loss analysis uncovers some powerful trends and insight, especially if these interviews are conducted quarterly, and the Win Loss interviews and analysis are conducted for at least a year or two.

 

Interview Both Wins and Losses

Many companies insist that they know why they win deals, but not why they lose them. As a result, they just want to focus on their losses in Win Loss interviews. We have learned that why you think you win, isn’t always true.

This can be a huge blind spot that Win Loss interviewers uncover. You also don’t learn about your customer service, implementation and follow-up if you only interview lost business. While you learn about your competitor’s implementation and customer service, you get an unbalanced view of your own company’s Win Loss track record.

Let’s face it: loss customers are gone, unless they buy other products or services from your company. In all cases those who continue to be your customers often care for your well being, and usually give deeper answers that you can use to improve product development and so much more. Psychologically, your customers like to think they made the right buying decision in selecting your company’s product or solution.


B2B Decision-Making Is Increasingly Complex

Undecided customers are a growing trend. According to the CEB, executives describe their purchase process as painful, long, inefficient and frustrating. Fueling this indecision in B2B selling, is that customer decision-making is overwhelmed by an increasingly large and diverse number of customer stakeholders who can’t agree on a common course of action. Perhaps the biggest competitor to closing the deal is internal stakeholders inability to agree.

CEB research indicates that in B2B purchases, an average of 5.4 different people are involved in a typical buying decision. The CEB suggests that companies carefully examine past deals, both win and losses, to learn the customer’s step by step buying process in order to effectively identify what steps to take to drive change and win consensus among the 5.4and win more deals.

Here is the link to a video presentation with Jason Voiovich, CEO of Agent Zero. It’s entitled, “You Didn’t Really Win: How to Use Customer Journey Mapping to Supercharge Win/Loss Analysis.” This will give you an idea of how Win/Loss fits in the Customer Journey–that it’s a small, but important process to learn how your customer perceives your company versus the competition after the sale. However, you need to check in with your customers all along the customer journey. We also go into some bad practices to avoid and why: Don’t just interview losses. Don’t expect to get comparable results and insight from digital Win/Loss surveys that you get from conversations with customers and prospects.


Need more convincing?

Research indicates that companies which have implemented a formal Win Loss program, and make the recommended changes from Win Loss analysis, can look forward to a 15-30% improvement in close rates. Can you afford not to be doing Win Loss analysis?

 

Does Your Win Loss Program Need a Boost?

Has management changed? Are you not getting the results you expected from your Win/Loss program? We can help refocus your Win Loss program so you get the knowledge to make operational improvements. We can arm you with the structure to revise your goals and approach, for example. Sometimes, it just takes an outside expert to put your program back on track.


Win Loss Analysis bookLearn how to set up your own world-class Win Loss program by reading Win Loss: How to Capture and Keep the Business You Want.

We gave a webinar on Win Loss Analysis as part of the IntelCollab family. Check out the slides from the Win Loss book.


Testimonial

Susan Tull, Vice President, Marketing

Susan TullI wholeheartedly recommend Ellen Naylor for her competitive intelligence skills and Win Loss analysis expertise. Again and again, Ellen has found ways to successfully engage our customers and prospects in candid dialog about their experience with our technology—and in the fast-paced world of digital marketing, connecting with decision makers is no small feat! Ellen drives projects from conception through to completion and provides actionable information that we’ve used to affect measurable sales improvements. 


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Contact Ellen Naylor

Need help developing your Win/Loss program?

Please contact us at 720-480-9499

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ellen@ellennaylor.com

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