Question

Topic: Research/Metrics

How To Propose Win/loss Analysis To My Company

Posted by tech_marketer on 7/30/2016 at 12:45 PM ET 500 Points
Any guidance on how to propose Win/Loss Analysis in your company (or group) and make sure it works and doesn't fall flat on its face?

is this something you can bootstrap or do you need the muscle/sponsorship from high level management to make it work? I.e., does it need sales management sponsorship or can marketing go to the close account managers we have good relationships with, etc., and ask for their help. Could something like that last and scale?

i'm an outbound product marketer and only really interested in delivering the right content/messaging that impacts buying decisions. (I'm not coming from a product management role)

I'm not asking for the right template/questions to use in an interview but rather the kind of organizational gotchas I should be thinking about. For example, I've been told if it's a politically sensitive thing then just do "wins" and not losses so it doesn't feel like a fishing expedition of who screwed up the deal.

looking for real practical advice, like "stay away form big strategic accounts in the beginning, focus on small distribution channel accounts..." stuff like that.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 7/30/2016 at 3:31 PM Accepted
    You might try creating a mock-up analysis -- with hypothetical data -- to demonstrate to yourself and others in the organization that there is [potential] value in the process. If they see the benefit up-front, they will be more likely to support the effort.

    That process will also help to pinpoint the critical success factors and the scope of involvement required to make the analysis productive. When everyone understands the objective and the end benefit, they're much more likely to support what you're doing.
  • Posted by tech_marketer on 7/30/2016 at 4:10 PM Author
    That's a great idea. Will spend some time carefully putting some slides together to present objective and success factors to the team.

    in fact your 'mock-up' idea got me to do some research if there are any documented experiences out there. at first glance, there seem to be win/loss analysis consulting firms with case studies, but so far it's 'success story' (70% improved revenue or whatever) . I'd like to find sample questions, interview experiences, and 'aha' moments. That would be really tangible for my group.

    I'm also curious how to propose next steps. i mentioned this in passing to my director and he said present it to the team and maybe we can get a couple of sales guys to help us try this.

    my concern is unless there's a repeatable process in place, one-off favors from account managers won't be sustainable. after one or two interviews i'm worried i'll be called out on the "ROI" for the effort, and by definition it'll all be anecdotal. I want to avoid the risk they'll pull the plug too early.

    thanks in advance
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 8/1/2016 at 6:40 AM Accepted
    Personally I'd be surprised if the sales managers are not doing something at least informally as part of a bid debrief, because they will be monitoring success rates. In the end you'll also need sales managers' involvement and agreement - if you go behind their backs you can easily put someone's nose out. Internally you can probably find support from the operations people as part of a Quality Management and so position this as business quality rather than just marketing.

    I'd also say sales managers like the idea of the information because it helps improve the way they run their teams, but they won't want a process that gets in the way of the normal sales functions. It also has to be very careful about not allocating blame or personalising so it needs to be very factual - "was the bid in on time", not "the account manager is always late".

    So the process will need to be very clean and easy - so think about who will do it, how long it will take and what costs and resources it will take. Suggest running a pilot on a trial basis and show how the results can improve sales processes. We have an example of a win-loss customer feedback tool here: https://www.dobneyresearch.com/WinLoss/
  • Posted by tech_marketer on 8/1/2016 at 11:59 AM Author
    Brilliant, thank you all. I'll leave this open for another day if anyone has any other comments but this was very helpful
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