7 Tips to Insure the Success of Your Win/Loss Analysis Program

Win/Loss analysis is my favorite research practice as it offers the best ROI of any customer intelligence tool. You gain intelligence by interviewing your customers shortly after their buying decision to find out why they chose to do business with you or a competitor. The data gathered combines knowledge from sales, customers, competitors, and your marketplace.

Consider these 7 tips to develop a successful and cooperative B2B Win/Loss process:

1. Clearly identify objectives for conducting Win/Loss
2. Invest the time to develop the questions you want answered
3. Include Sales
4. Maintain professionalism throughout the process
5. Don't survey your customers in Win/Loss interviews
6. Don't just interview lost business
7. Communicate Win/Loss findings broadly

Clearly Identify Objective for Conducting Win/Loss

Be very clear about what you hope to learn through Win/Loss analysis so you conduct interviews with the right customers. Be specific about your goals and don't just aimlessly interview customers.

Invest the Time to Develop the Questions You Want Answered

Once you have established your learning objectives, assemble the right people to develop the questions you want answered through Win/Loss interviews. As a team, develop a company SWOT of why you think customers buy or don't buy from you. Ideally this exercise is done with Sales, Marketing, Product Development and at least one Sales VP. The questions you want answered will flow out of this exercise.

Include Sales

Win/Loss can be threatening to Sales. Do not have Sales conduct Win/Loss interviews as customers typically respond better to a third party. Yet Sales buy-in is essential. You need Sales' input on who you should interview in their account and that person's predisposition. Marketing and Competitive Intelligence (CI) need to show Sales how they can win more deals, if armed with intelligence from their customers collectively. Win/Loss is to win and retain more business, not to critique Sales.

Maintain Professionalism throughout the Process

There are three levels of professionalism to consider: your company's, the customer's, and the interviewer's. Make sure all involved parties in your company clearly understand the objectives and implementation of your Win/Loss analysis process. That includes Sales VPs, Sales Managers, Account Reps and Product Managers. Let Sales tell their customer to expect the Win/Loss interviewer's first communication. Insist that the interviewer clearly explain your company's intentions for their interview and is sensitive to your customer's time commitments.

Don't Survey Your Customers in Win/Loss Interviews

While the survey process allows you to collect trends which are valuable, you may be missing other insights the customer is willing to share during each interview. Get your money's worth and enable your interviewers to use their intuitive skills to collect that insight!

Don't Just Interview Lost Business

Loss analysis is like conducting an unbalanced SWOT analysis where you just focus on your weaknesses and threats. You gain balance and perspective as you interview those customers who chose your solution, particularly if the sale was competitive. Furthermore, you want to continue those practices that help you retain and gain business. You leave Sales with a negative feeling about their performance if you just focus on their losses.

Communicate Win/Loss Findings Broadly

Communicate what you have learned soon after conducting the interviews. Armed with enough Win/Loss data, you can observe trends among buying and non-buying customers. Put on your critical thinking cap along with a team of Product Managers, Sales, Marketing and Strategy folks to analyze this data further.

On a final point, if at all possible, end your Win/Loss analysis report to your sales organization on a positive note, since Sales is an essential market intelligence source. Adopt these cooperative intelligence practices and I guarantee you, your B2B win/loss process will be successful!

Ellen Naylor is one of America’s pioneers in competitive intelligence (CI) and Win/Loss analysis. She initiated Bell Atlantic’s (Verizon) competitive intelligence operation for enterprise marketing in 1985. Her passion for Win/Loss analysis stems from her extensive sales experience.

Ellen formed The Business Intelligence Source, a CI consultancy in 1993. Her clients range from small businesses to the Fortune 500. She recently published Win/Loss Analysis: How to Capture and Keep the Business You Want available on-line. Connect with Ellen Naylor @EllenNaylor or 720-480-9499 for training and help in setting up your Win/Loss program.