1. Proprietary & Confidential to Strong-Bridge. All Rights Reserved, 2014.
Buyer Experience Analysis
The evolution of win/loss
2. Proprietary & Confidential to Strong-Bridge. All Rights Reserved, 2014.
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………...……........... 2
The State of Win/Loss Analysis 2014 ………………...………............................ 4
Our Process ....…….……………………………………………………………..................... 6
Best Practices …………………………………………….………..…….............................
About Us ……............…….…….…………………………………….………………....
7
7
Table of Contents
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Why do we (really) win or lose deals?
• What product features matter to our customers (and don’t)?
• Which marketing programs are most (and least) effective?
• Which competitors should we focus on (and ignore)?
Sales People are a great source
of raw Intelligence, but they
often fall short when it comes
to getting the answers you
need to make material changes
across the organization
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Introduction
Circle of Blame
How most organizations operate:
• Less than 18% of companies have a formal Win/Loss
analysis program.
• When they do- 80%+ rely on the sales team as the
sole provider of win loss information.
• Most data captured, if any, is quantitative- a choice
from a pick list in a CRM system.
• Unfortunately when sales does the analysis
prospects share the the complete truth only about
40% of the time.
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The State of Win/Loss 2013
The Fletcher Group surveyed 160 companies to assess
the current state of win/loss analysis Here’s what they
found:
• Only 28% of companies rated their programs as
effective, or highly effective. A full 30% said their
programs were not effective.
• The most common reason for doing Win/Loss
analysis was to develop better positioning and go-
to-market strategy. Second was to increase close
rate.
• Effective programs most commonly receive funding
from marketing and senior leadership.
• No effective program surveyed uses the sales team
to collect information.
• Every effective win/loss program surveyed uses
both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect
information.
Not
Effective,
30%
Moderate
ly
Effective,
42%
Effective
or Highly
Effective,
28%
Companies that
implement effective
win/loss analysis claim
they can improve their
win rate by 15-30%.
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Customer Interviews
Our Process
• Review Existing Win/Loss Data- We review your
existing reporting to understand where you are.
• Stakeholder interviews- What key information is
missing from the current reporting.? Are business
drivers aligned?
• Sales Team Interviews- Salespeople, Sales
Engineers are interviewed about specific sales and
the sales process.
• Opportunity Analysis Survey- We conduct a
customer survey based on the information we
gather in from the internal interviews.
• Customer (Win) Interviews- Best practice
ethnographic interviewing techniques are key to
discovering why you really win in the marketplace
• Lost Opportunity Interviews- Price, Lack of
Features, Sales Process, Timing? Why are your
prospects not buying from you?
Scope &
Planning
Review
Analysis and
Recommend-
ations
Objective Alignment1
Timelines
Review existing data and
reports
Analysis
Report Out
Stakeholder Interviews
Customer Interviews
Lost Opportunity
Interviews
Sales Team Interviews
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Data
Gathering
Surveys and
Interviews
10
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Win/Loss Best Practices
• Conduct equal interviews between wins and losses.
• Conduct interviews within three months of the final
decision.
• Ensure a non-sales environment.
• If a non-sales environment can’t be achieved,
outsource to an unbiased outside party.
• Compile, compare and present quarterly findings.
• Use a metric-based and structured template.
• Make the post-decision interview non-discretionary.
• Understand that perception is reality.
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Example Results
An enterprise software maker discovered that
the complexity of their contract was extending
the sales cycle and causing buyers to choose the
competition. We worked with legal to
significantly reduce the complexity of the T&Cs
which removed the contract as a sales blocker.
A regional telecommunications company
discovered that their “being local” mattered as
much as the technology used. We worked with
marketing to feature the local connection in
their marketing plan for a new services launch.
Sales “exceeded” expectations.
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Deliverables
• Full audit of opportunities from the trailing
quarter.
• Custom survey designed and executed.
• Custom questionnaire template for
interviews.
• Marketing program effectiveness analysis.
• Anonymized sales performance review.
• Summarized competitive intelligence
including any pricing, collateral, and
contracts gathered.
• Customer journey map of the buying
process.
• Recommendations for increased marketing
and sales performance.
• Group and team level presentation of
results.
• All raw data including interview notes.
Scope
Initial Analysis: 6 weeks
Cost: $40,000
Add’l Qtrly Analysis: 3 weeks
Cost $ 20,000
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About Us
Erik
Krause
With 10+ years of sales and sales management
experience coupled with 15+ years of executing
market-driven product management and
marketing best practices including 2 stints with
CRM service providers, Erik is ideally suited to
effectively understand your sales process and
culture as well how your customers buy from
you.
His experience with ethnographic interview
techniques, combined with deep data skills
ensures the analysis will un-earth actionable
recommendations that can be used across your
organization to measurably improve your ability
to meet your sales targets.
Get top talent working side-by-side with your team
Strong-Bridge is a 150+ person
management consulting firm. We
help businesses develop and deliver
imaginative, yet pragmatic strategies
that generate lasting results.
Our full range of services are paired
with deep industry experience.
–Pragmatic Strategy
–Experience Design
–Product Management
–Technical Solutions
–Performance Improvement
–Program Leadership
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Thank You!
Erik Krause
(470) 258-0560
Erik.Krause@strong-bridge.com
Learn more at:
www.strong-bridge.com
Seattle
545 Andover Park West
Suite 215
Seattle, WA 98188
USA
(206) 905-4631
info@strong-bridge.com
Toronto
2 Bloor Street West
Suite 700
Toronto, M4W 3R1
Canada
(647) 800-6785
info@strong-bridge.com