Win-Loss analysis best practices

In order to improve the marketability of your product, it is essential to understand why potential customers decide to purchase or not to purchase it.

This involves understanding their final decision and the reasons behind it, including any perceived product gaps or other factors that influenced their decision. Additionally, it is important to understand which alternative solutions they considered and how you can win their business in the future.

This process is known as win-loss analysis, and it is becoming increasingly popular among product-led organizations.

What makes an effective win-loss program?

Below are eight best practices your product team should consider.

1- Recognize what's at stake

Knowing why you're winning or losing new sales opportunities is critical to your business and the success of your product offering. A win-loss analysis is the only way to find out what potential buyers want - and that may be very different from what your current customers want. A rigorous win-loss analysis will help you sharpen your product strategy, prioritize your roadmap, align with sales leadership, and keep an eye on key competitors. After some time, you'll see sales win rates improve and product revenue growth accelerate.

2- Secure executive sponsorship

First-rate programs are always cross-functional initiatives that have executive sponsorship. That's because win-loss analysis identifies opportunities for improvement across your entire organization. When these issues arise, you should engage executives to drive positive change throughout the organization.

3- Get direct feedback from buyers

Some companies make the mistake of basing their win-loss analysis on feedback from their sales team. Unfortunately, sales reps are usually wrong about why they win or lose business. To get the most comprehensive and accurate feedback, interview the decision makers on customers won and lost. Let them tell their own story.

4- Give preference to starting small over being perfect

Starting small is better than not starting at all. You can improve and expand your efforts over time as your program gains momentum internally.

5- Highlight and track key themes

If possible, record and write down each win-loss interview. Then highlight the main themes and the positive and negative factors that influenced the buyer's decision. Themes may relate to specific product features, ease of use, company reputation, sales process, price, etc. Summarize the themes and quotes over time to uncover trends worth addressing.

6- Interpret the results in context

As you analyze the themes from the interviews, use relevant account and opportunity data to further explore the themes. Break down your themes by product line, competitor, customer segment, region, business scope, etc. Look for differences in feedback as you change your perspective. For example, do the themes differ across sales regions? Also, pay attention to sample size and resist the urge to make big changes based on feedback from a single conversation.

7- Disseminate the results widely

Companies that get the most value from win-loss analysis tend to disseminate the call transcripts throughout their organization. Don't be afraid to be transparent, even though there will be critical feedback. As you roll out your program, make sure executives and functional leaders, especially sales and marketing leaders, review the feedback regularly so they're able to take action.

8- Calibrate and expand the program over time

The best win-loss programs are ongoing initiatives. That's because the reasons you win and lose are constantly evolving. Refine the program as you collect more data. For example, continually refine your interview questions based on your experience. Also, plan to steadily expand your program over time to cover more business/pipeline. You'll find that executives and functional leaders who recognize the value of your initial efforts are likely to contribute their own budgets to fund a more comprehensive program.

No one cares about the success of your product as much as you do.

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