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Editor's note: Jim Kraus is vice president and principal at research firm KS&R, Syracuse, N.Y.

Traditional win-loss programs continue to provide significant value to organizations that sell to other businesses (B2B) and represent an untapped opportunity to improve win rates for those that have yet to implement such a program. However, there are three distinct ways that win-loss efforts can deliver even more value:

First, by implementing a strategic win-loss program that involves interviews with recent prospects but takes a broader and more robust view that focuses on an organization’s entire value proposition and ability to compete for business rather than focusing on the performance of sales professionals alone.

Second, by adding an internal and past-deal perspective to these programs to better pinpoint specific actions an organization can take to improve win rates and prioritize sales opportunities that have a better chance of closing.

Third, by enhancing efforts to activate win-loss insights to bolster idea-sharing and accountability across the organization that leads to improved sales performance (rather than just “reporting out results”).

Not coincidentally, each of these opportunities is focused on improving the ROI of win-loss programs by creating a tighter linkage between learnings, actions and, ultimately, performance.

Three battlegrounds

Undoubtedly, there is work to be done for any organization that wants to build brand awareness and consideration for its products and services. However, once you are in the consideration set along with other companies vying for the same opportunity, closing new business fundamentally comes down to the three battlegrounds shown in Figure 1.

Companies that are able to close more business excel in each of these areas and get ongoing feedback from prospects that tells them exactly how they’re doing and where they can improve.

A strategic win-loss program involves ongoing interviews with decision-makers at prospect companies from a broad sample of won and lost deals. Unlike sales win-loss (Figure 2), interviews are focused on an organization’s entire value proposition to determine how well it’s performing across all key battlegrounds in the prospect’s purchase journey.

By collecting thorough and objective input from prospects over time, a strategic win-loss program provides answers to key questions that benefit multiple stakeholders across the organization, including:

Sales/distribution – provides direct feedback on how sales and support teams can sharpen their performance throughout the sales process (building rapport, identifying needs, offering value, overcoming objections, closing the sale) to increase win rates.

Product development and pricing – informs how well a company’s products and services stack up versus key competitors at the moment of truth (when the purchase decision is made). Which features or benefits are helping you win new business? Which are putting you at a competitive disadvantage? Are you price-competitive?

Marketing – helps determine if your value proposition and messages are breaking through and whether they are relevant and differentiating to qualified prospects. Win-loss interviews also help the marketing team better understand the buying process from the prospect’s lens and consequently provide insights about when and how to best engage with them during their purchase journey.

Competitive intelligence – gain on-the-street intelligence about competitor sales tactics and pricing that is often hard to uncover without speaking to prospects interacting with these companies directly. This type of information is invaluable when developing competitor-specific strategies to optimize sales.

Senior leadership – provides an ongoing look into whether your organization’s offerings are winning in the market, what key competitors are doing and their results and where the organization has competitive advantages and disadvantages across its overall value proposition.

The other distinct advantage of a strategic win-loss program is that it focuses on distilling and communicating these insights across the organization so there is one “single source of the truth” that all stakeholders can buy into and action-plan around. It also helps galvanize cross-functional teams that all ultimately contribute to sales success (and failure).

What types of companies can benefit most from a strategic win-loss program? Companies that sell to other businesses where new opportunities often involve:

a highly competitive bid process;
a more substantial investment required from the customer;
multiple decision influencers involved in the purchase decision; and
differences in what competitors offer, their value proposition and how they go to market.

Highly dynamic industries can take particular advantage of strategic win-loss because an up-to-date view of what’s happening in the trenches, where deals are taking place, is mandatory to keep your competitive edge.

The ultimate report card

So, can a strategic win-loss program focused on interviewing qualified prospects provide useful insights to improve win rates? Absolutely! We often refer to this as the external foundation component of win-loss since you’re interviewing prospects outside of your company and there is no better judge of how you stack up versus the competition than a prospect who is comparing your offer to that of other competing firms when they are in a position to make a purchase – it is the ultimate report card!

However, there are two additional components to strategic win-loss programs – sales and support team interviews and new opportunity deal analysis – that many companies overlook (Figure 3). Each, by itself, has definitive value. Together, they represent a formidable and integrated approach that better pinpoints specific actions to improve win rates and predict opportunities that have the best chance of resulting in a sale.

Let’s discuss each of these two additional components in turn.

Sales and support team interviews: linkage to external market

The purpose of periodic interviews with your sales and new business support teams is twofold:

The first, and primary purpose, is to better understand cause-and-effect linkages between what is going on in the external market (with prospects) and what may be happening internally that is contributing to this effect. Too often, when only prospect interviews are conducted, different issues are identified that impede a sale but there is no clear linkage to what might have caused that result internally, within an organization. Consequently, the action that can be taken to improve a particular outcome isn’t identified or is done so with less confidence as there are other plausible reasons that may or may not also play a role. Here’s a couple of real-life examples from win-loss programs KS&R has worked on:

A technology company that sells enterprise business applications to other businesses was losing new deal opportunities because its competition was delivering bids two to four times faster than it was. These delays reflected poorly on the organization in terms of its responsiveness and many times resulted in bids that were delivered AFTER a final decision had already been made. For months this information was passed along to management with no action taken to reduce bid times because no one was completely sure what the root cause was. Possible reasons included too many information requirements to produce a price quote quickly, manual/inefficient processes, lengthy/cumbersome exception processing and so on. Only after conducting internal interviews with sales and support teams was the true root cause identified and it had more to do with chronic turnover of new business development team staff than inefficient processes. This turnover resulted in an overreliance on support team members who were not trained or seasoned enough to handle certain proposal requirements efficiently which, in turn, slowed down bids and led to a backlog that was hard to catch up with. Only after this root cause was identified was the organization able to take specific actions to remedy it.

A second example involved a telecom company that provides network equipment and support services to other businesses. Through the win-loss interviews, the company (correctly) determined it was losing new opportunities because prospects didn’t feel like their business was being valued enough. Competitors were giving these prospects the feeling that their business mattered and provided white-glove service throughout the sales process – asking thoughtful questions, demonstrating an understanding of their business, being responsive throughout the bid process, etc. It was only after conducting internal interviews with the company’s sales teams that we learned of aggressive new customer acquisition sales quotas that had been put in place over the past year that put significant pressure on them to close as many deals as possible each and every month. This had the undesirable effect of reducing the amount of time they could spend with any one prospect and sales professionals told us about shortcuts they were forced to take that hurt their ability to develop relationships with new prospects. Once this information was funneled to management, remedies were identified and performance improved.

The second reason to conduct interviews with sales and support teams is to get frontline suggestions on ways to improve win rates. It’s often the people in the trenches day-in and day-out who are best equipped to identify why their organization is winning or losing business. These interviews, particularly if conducted by an outside party, give them a voice to express their views honestly and fully and to offer suggestions for improvements that otherwise may not be as apparent to management and other back-office functions. In addition, we often identify approaches and behaviors that ultimately feed into best practices that are more widely shared across the organization.

In terms of timing and process, there are different approaches to conducting sales and support team discussions including ongoing, periodic or even one-time interviewing depending on the size and complexity of the organization, sales territories, product/service portfolio and other factors. The important point is to include an internal perspective in your strategic win-loss program so you can make cause-and-effect linkages that lead to improved action planning.

New opportunity deal analysis: predict future outcomes

New opportunity deal analysis (NODA) is the final component and also one that most companies don’t do as frequently, if at all. Unlike the first two components, NODA involves analyzing data from past opportunities to identify predictors of wins and losses. As the famous saying goes, “Those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Using advanced analytical methods (e.g., AI, machine learning or regression-based algorithms), NODA looks at different factors that might be present in any given opportunity to identify which characteristics are more likely to result in a win or a loss. Typically, the types of data we look at to identify these predictors include things that are commonly available in a company’s CRM or related systems such as:

prospect’s business need for the product or service
type of product or service including presence or absence of certain features/functions
number of days at each stage of the opportunity lifetime
size of the opportunity (in dollars)
pricing details/specifics, e.g., pricing unit, use of discounts, etc.
geography
competitive brands being considered (if known)
who, if anyone, is an incumbent provider
number of decision makers (or even the different roles involved in the decision)
sales approach – any information on people, processes and marketing/sales assets used
sales professional characteristics, e.g., amount of time on an account, experience with the product/service, number of concurrent opportunities open with the client, etc.

Any data that is available on a given opportunity – whether internal or appended external data – can be used to help determine which factor or combination of factors is most likely to result in a win or a loss. Once identified, predictive algorithms can be developed and used to:

Develop “red alert” flags when new opportunities come in that have a higher chance of closing. By doing so, a company can create processes to quickly get on top of those opportunities that have the best chance of becoming a sale.

Manage sales resources to prioritize new opportunities that have a higher chance of closing. If available sales resources are limited, a company can direct its sales force to those opportunities that are the most likely to bear fruit and even deprioritize those that have a lower chance of closing.

Inform pricing strategy and tactics. For example, certain price discounts or premiums might be considered depending on the particular sales objective at that time and whether a given opportunity has a better chance of closing or not.

Develop strategies to remedy conditions that are a key driver of losses. For example:

If it is determined that losses often involve a particular type of client need, strategies can be developed to help a company better meet these types of needs in the future.
If losses are occurring more frequently when facing a certain competitor, approaches can be developed to bolster a company’s positioning versus that provider.
If there are inefficiencies in the pipeline, intervention techniques can be applied to reallocate resources and improve the chance of closing future deals.

Unlike the first two win-loss components, deal analytics involves analyzing data a company already has rather than conducting interviews to obtain that information. It is a great addition to any win-loss program because it provides forward-looking insights integrated into the sales pipeline, building on the “why” addressed by the first two components.

What is really driving wins and losses

As mentioned at the start, doing any one of these three win-loss components (win-loss prospect interviews, sales and support team interviews, new opportunity deal analysis) has value and can significantly improve win rates and sales performance. One of the biggest benefits of executing multiple components is it helps develop one “single source of the truth” across the organization. The importance of this benefit cannot be overstated. Rather than anecdotal information being spread across the organization (that is frequently NOT true in all cases), a well-thought-out and multi-component program has the added benefit of identifying what is really driving wins and losses based on multiple inputs that are analyzed holistically.

Which brings us to the second opportunity to improve strategic win-loss programs: by enhancing efforts to activate these insights that ignite idea-sharing and action across the organization.

So, you have a strategic win-loss program or there is discussion about starting one. The types of reporting you’re doing or considering likely involve things such as:

raw data from the interviews – audio files and/or written transcripts of the interviews
scorecards/snapshots – this is usually a one-to-two-pager that highlights key findings and metrics from one prospect interview (e.g., business need, product/service, deal amount, competitors involved, reason(s) for the win or loss, etc.)
summary and/or detailed reports – these reports, done periodically (e.g., quarterly, semi-annually or annually), aggregate and summarize findings across a set of interviews so drivers of wins and losses are identified holistically on an ongoing basis

These types of reporting mechanisms are very useful in order to effectively analyze and communicate what is going on. In this regard, they are a fundamental component to any strategic win-loss program. However, they’re simply not enough. Why? Because, while they do an adequate job of reporting what’s going on, they do an inadequate job of activating these insights so they result in improved win rates and sales.

To truly move the needle on performance, we recommend that each of the following be a core component of any win-loss program:

Win-loss KPIs. As they say, “You get what you inspect, not what you expect” and if there are no targets set and measured on an ongoing basis then there is no way to monitor how well your improvement efforts are going or to ensure they remain one of the key focal points of the organization. KPIs could be as simple as win rates overall and for high-priority segments (e.g., product/service category, geography, customer type, etc.), in addition to other financial measures most companies monitor already (revenue, profitability, etc.).

Online dashboard. Online dashboards that provide (near) real-time information and metrics on wins and losses accomplish two things. First, they provide that one single source of the truth that key stakeholders across the organization can tap into in order to see what’s really going on in terms of wins and losses. Second, they help management keep track of progress against KPIs so they can ignite action when, where and how it’s needed.

Red-alert sales notifications. These apply predictive algorithms to your ongoing sales pipeline to notify account teams of high-priority deal opportunities that have the best chance of closing. This analysis can also be incorporated into online dashboards to provide an up-to-date view of pipeline health.

Activation workshops. There are different forms and approaches, but activation workshops typically involve getting all key stakeholders in a room and:

-- Communicating key results from win-loss interviews and complementary inputs so there is a mutual understanding about what is actually going on both externally and internally. This is a critically important first step because there are often multiple factors that influence sales performance and it’s important that key stakeholders across key functions (sales, marketing, product development, finance, strategy, etc.) all buy into the same set of facts. We often use pre-reads for these sessions so this step can be covered efficiently during the workshop.

-- Brainstorming potential steps to improve performance using different techniques that help bubble up the best ideas. This step involves identifying all the possible approaches to improving a particular situation or circumstance that is impeding sales performance.

-- Selecting one (or a few) approaches to improve performance. This typically involves preliminary voting to identify a handful of high-potential action steps based on all of the initial ideas identified. As needed, there is further discussion to identify a manageable number to investigate further.

-- Next-steps planning. The final step is to identify action steps for each of the top ideas and assign individuals to move them forward. Future meetings are scheduled to report on progress and ensure key linkages are being made.

Once the ideas have been fully vetted, a business case is developed (as needed) and those selected are implemented with alignment to win-loss KPIs to measure and monitor progress.

-- Sales tools. These typically involve sales assets that are developed based on win-loss interviews and complementary inputs. For example, a “sales battle card” is developed that arms an organization’s salesforce with information for how to effectively compete against a particular competitor. These cards will include things such as common sales tactics used by a particular competitor, how they position themselves, pricing and discount tendencies, etc. They also provide specific recommendations to help prospects see the tangible and differentiating value of your product or service.

-- Sales training. One opportunity often missed is to incorporate learnings from win-loss programs into an organization’s sales training. These insights are particularly useful to sales professionals just entering the company because they provide a crash course from the voice of the prospect on how to win (and lose) their business.

None of these outputs and ways of using win-loss insights is mandatory but each should be considered as we have found they significantly improve the ROI of these programs.

Eight best practices

At our firm, we are pro-win-loss because there are few research studies that can directly improve sales performance as much, and as quickly, as these programs can. Based on our experience partnering with clients in different industries and B2B environments, we offer the following eight best practices:

1. Position win-loss as a sales improvement program (not “market research”). Good market research is the underpinning of a strong win-loss program but these are investments focused on improving win rates and sales. Thinking about them in any other way misses the point.

2. Cultivate an internal champion (sales, marketing, product, etc.). Win-loss provides valuable insights across a number of key functions in the organization which are usually realized over time. Having an internal champion to promote the program and get buy-in helps others see that value.

3. Start small, prove, expand. Pilots are critical for internal buy-in and success. Starting small could include focusing win-loss on a particular product/service, a particular geography or any other segment of the market.

4. If you can only do one component, prioritize prospect win-loss interviews initially. Insights from these interviews provide the critical foundation of any win-loss program.

5. Pay attention to the real deliverable: identifying specific actions to improve win rates. Go beyond just reporting results and incorporate KPIs, dashboards, workshops, sales tools and sales training protocols.

6. Integrate results with ongoing internal reporting tools and business cadence. Take advantage of existing reporting mechanisms to incorporate win-loss insights and KPIs so they become part of how your organization manages sales.

7. Focus the program on encourage-and-enhance, not punish-and-penalize. Win-loss insights should be used to make the organization smarter so it can perform at a more optimal level. It should not be used to call out sales professionals or any other function that enables and supports the sales process.

8. Engage an outside firm that specializes in strategic win-loss to improve the program’s objectivity and credibility. There are a few key benefits in working with an experienced partner: prospect and internal interviewees are more likely to open up to an objective third-party and provide candid feedback, including information on competitors; it eliminates biases sales professionals may have doing the interviews (particularly important since the sales process often contributes to wins and losses); professional interviewers – skilled at asking questions, listening to answers and probing further – will dig deeper to identify the real causes of wins and losses; an outsider lens is often the very view necessary to break out of old habits and legacy rationale; external support usually results in a more systematic and reliable win-loss program over time (e.g., ongoing data collection, regular reporting, consistency, etc.).

Tangible enhancements

A well-executed strategic win-loss program with deliverables that trigger tangible enhancements to a company’s value proposition and sales performance will improve win rates, it’s that simple. If your company sells to other businesses in a competitive environment, consider how one or more components of a comprehensive strategic win-loss program can help your organization.

Rethinking win-loss to increase sales