Do You Know Why Your Company Wins or Loses Business?

I am a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. Like so many other Cubs fans, I have suffered through the good times and the bad (mostly bad) my entire life. The 2009 season was a bitter disappointment. Over the winter, management made numerous personnel changes to field a new and improved team with the Major League Baseball’s #3 payroll. They started the 2010 campaign with a 6-10 record and the team looked and played like the 2009 version…silent bats and a bullpen that lost more games than it saved. I felt sorry for Lou Piniella, the Cubs manager. He tried everything to shake up the team…batting order shuffles, lineup changes, and new strategies all of which produced a losing record. After assessing his team’s strengths and opposing teams, Lou made some drastic changes and lately they are back on the winning track having just swept the Milwaukee Brewers.

Businesses wrestle with the same problem…why are they winning or losing deals? They invest millions of dollars introducing cutting edge products, bring in new, highly paid management, acquire companies, shuffle their sales forces and partner programs to get the most talented “feet on the street” and revamp their marketing programs resulting, often times, in little or no improvement to the bottom line. This is a Company-Centric or inward focused approach to business. They still don’t know why they win or lose deals when a very affordable tool is available that will help them answer the question…Win-Loss Analysis. Evaluating wins and losses is a Market-Centric or outward-focused business strategy. A recent survey estimates only 1 out of 5 companies have a disciplined and regular Win–Loss program. Some companies think product comparisons are the answer. Others do statistical analysis of how many deals they win each quarter, often times ignoring losses altogether. Others have a “kneejerk reaction” to recent losses and do a limited number of loss interviews with their sales teams. However, very few companies have a long-term strategy to discover why they are winning or losing deals in the marketplace. Recently, a software company spokesperson told me his company had just lost 4 large deals in row to a new competitor and they don’t know why. Was the competitor’s product better? Did the competitor steeply discount their products to gain market share and references? Were their competitor’s Sales Reps selling higher in the prospect’s organization and did they better understand the prospect’s needs? Was a third party company (i.e. consulting firm) influencing the decision? Did the competitor’s value proposition resonate better with the decision maker? What is the competitor telling the prospect and what “competitive landmines” did they plant in the prospect’s mind? They don’t know but odds are they will continue to lose deal after deal until they better understand their competition’s sales strategies and tactics. As Einstein said, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

Win-Loss Analysis is a relatively easy and very affordable program to institute but it does require planning for it to produce long-term benefits. Companies can do it using their own resources or contract the program to a 3rd party. They can focus their analysis on all deals, specific competitors, industries, products or by sales region. Also, competitive intelligence gathered in the interviews should be shared with other departments within the enterprise for future product enhancements, revised product bundling/pricing strategies, new product introductions, developing rejuvenated marketing programs and it should be incorporated in all sales enablement and training programs. Why leave money on the table when Win-Loss Analysis can help your company win more business?