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Your Strategic Friend, Mrs. Win/Loss Analysis

January 13th, 2009 | Win/Loss Analysis

win loss analysisSo you ask, what is the most strategic activity I can do? What is the one thing that will have the largest impact in helping me identify what is working, what is not working and what is missing? Good questions. Answer, win/loss analysis.

Here is a simple definition of win/loss analysis from Graff Group:

A Win/Loss Analysis is a business-to-business research tool that gives you the highest quality information fast and cost-effectively. We tactfully find out, from the mouths of your current and prospective clients, why you did or did not make a sale.

You have been tasked with creating or updating a roadmap, you have done your diligence to understand the business drivers and you have some semblance as to what it means to be successful. What changes do you need to make to your product to help you achieve the success that you strive for? I suppose you could talk to some customers or root through your inbox for all your feature requests. Just keep building what they ask for, right? Maybe, see assumption below. A big part of being successful is to refine what is working today and make it better. Not so much from a “make faster horses” perspective, but maybe you can extend the reach to a new market or better enable the sales team to win some of the losses with stronger positioning.

It is well documented that your largest market out there is not a bigger slice of the market currently with a solution but the market prospects who seek a solution. How can you possibly engage them without changes that directly enable you to engage them or without solutions that benefit them? Generally the feature gaps or process deficiencies that are identified from your loss analysis can have the largest positive effect on your product. They are also easier to quantify for ROI and are easier to get support for.

The key take away from the win/loss method is to understand: 1) who the prospective buyers are; 2) what they looking for; and 3) what criteria and methods are used in their buying process.

The big assumption in all of this is that your business driver and success statement push you towards new customers and new revenue. If it is customer satisfaction and retention you seek, then maybe you better start looking at those feature requests.

Last two notes on win/loss analysis: 1) it is WIN/loss analysis and not just LOSS analysis; and 2) to understand why you are doing win/loss analysis.

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    • Who better to tell us what we do right (and wrong) in selling than someone who recently bought your product. I like a sports analogy that Alan Armstrong (www.eigenworks.com) shared with me. The players don't really know what happened in the play until they review the game films on Monday. And you can't review the game films unless somebody planned for it and set up cameras during the game. So plan for win/loss analysis as a KEY PART of the selling cycle, long BEFORE the sales game begins.
    • As the creators of Trigger Event Selling™ we have developed and provide at no charge a Trigger Event Analysis Template called 'Won Sales Analysis'.

      We believe the best analysis is the analysis of the sales you won not the sales you have lost.

      Conducting a Won Sales Analysis tells you which Trigger Events lead up to the purchase, what made the customer choose you, and how can you make it easier to get more customers.

      The template and instructions can be downloaded from http://www.wonsalesanalysis.com/.

      Feel free to contact me via phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias) or our contact form (http://www.ShiftSelling.com/Contact) if you have ANY questions after downloading the template.

      Have an eventful week!

      Craig Elias
      -----------------------------------
      Creator of Trigger Event Selling™
      Chief Catalyst, Shift Selling, Inc.
      Author of the upcoming book SHiFT! The SILVER BULLET in Sales
    • @StewartRogers

      Good post. I am a firm believer in Product Management owning the Win/Loss process, since it is such a great tool for understanding trends in how the market is changing (or not) and how your product's positioning and capabilities map to that market.

      I do them quarterly based on feedback from Sales and Customer Support and then distribute the results and some analysis/recommendations to the Leadership team.

      Two caveats when using them, though:

      1. Win/Loss analysis has to be longitudinal. If you only look at a slice of the data, your results will be skewed. If you are not already collecting the data, start now, but reserve any significant strategic or tactical changes until you have a large enough sample size.

      2. Recognize that win/loss data is inherently biased and incomplete. The voices are loudest at either end of the spectrum and you are relying heavily on others to provide the data. Sales, Support, Partners, and others may distort the information that they report to better reflect on them.

      Even with those two issues, it's still a valuable tool for every Product Manager's toolkit. Just remember that it's only part of the story.

      Ivan Chalif
      http://theproductologist.com/
    • Further to your point (#2)... unless the Product Manager (or a 3rd party on behalf of the Product Manager) is talking directly to the Buyer you are likely getting opinions. - Stewart
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