Seven tips for an awesome win-loss analysis

Having provided win-loss analysis as-a-service for multiple clients, here are seven practical tips I would offer for an awesome win-loss analysis:

1. The right ratio of interviews with won vs lost accounts: I recommend combining both – quantitative analysis (insights from CRM data) and qualitative analysis (insights from detailed customer interviews) for your quarterly win-loss analysis. When doing customer interviews for your qualitative analysis, it is easier to get an interview with an account where you won vs. an account where you recently lost the deal. Given that issue, a question that I always get is what is the right ratio of interviews with won vs lost accounts, so the resulting qualitative analysis is relevant?  My recommendation is to use a reverse ratio – so if your win-rate in the quarter was 35%, try to get at least 35% of your interviews with lost accounts.  If you can get more interviews with them than 35%, that’s great, but you are doing well (in this win rate scenario) if you can speak with at least 35% of the lost accounts.
2. Filter on core use cases: When you look at your customer portfolio, you will always find some customers using your solution for what I would call ‘edge use cases’.  These are not the target use cases that your product marketing uses to position the product, or your product organization uses to determine their product roadmap. Even your sales engineers don’t consider these edge cases when they build their standard sales demos.  So, I use a filter for use cases in my win-loss analysis.  I am not saying exclude edge use cases from your overall win-loss analysis, but track your win-loss analysis separately by core use cases as well.  It will provide you with meaningful insights into how you are doing competitively with respect to your product investments and go-to-market strategy (i.e., your core use cases).
3. Trend charts: Maintain a quarterly trend chart of wins and losses by top 5 competitors, as well as a win-loss trend chart across all competitors in your top 5 geographies. Also maintain a quarterly distribution chart of the primary reason behind wins and losses for each quarter in your top 5 geographies.  You can do this by maintaining a primary reason code for every win and loss – either based on customer interviews or from your sales rep (if you can’t get this information from a customer), and then charting that information for each quarter. This will give you good birds eye-view into how you are trending vs key competitors in your key geographies, as well as why you win and lose in those geos.
4. Change in perceptions: In my qualitative interviews I always try to ask what the customer’s perceptions about the vendor were before the sales cycle started and what, if any, changed during the sales cycle.  Such open-ended questions help us understand a) how our marketing positioning is working in terms of setting perceptions in the market (before you start a sales cycle with them) and b) what we are doing well or not doing well in the sales cycle to change that perception.
5. Win-loss analysis on renewals: I recommend doing a separate win-loss analysis on renewals.  Most companies have a renewal rate of 92%+, but these are the customers who have used the product and understand its strengths and weaknesses very well. Interviews with them is a goldmine for product marketing and product management.
6. Most important question #1: I always ask two questions in win loss interviews that I consider very important.  The first question is “If there was one thing you would like to see us do better, what would that be”.  The answers are worth their weight in gold.
7. Most important question #2: The second question is “What do you remember the most about competitor X from their sales cycle”.  Most customers are hesitant to provide much information about competitors even if they selected you, but this question seems so innocuous that you will be surprised with the details in the answer you get from them.

If you have any questions, please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/applicationsmarketing/