13 Essential Criteria for Selecting a Win-Loss Analysis Provider
The article outlines 13 essential criteria for selecting a win-loss analysis providers, emphasizing the importance of a formal, rigorous program that uses in-depth interviews to improve sales win rates by 15-30%, enhance product strategy, enable sales teams, and deliver cross-functional benefits such as better messaging and competitive intelligence, while also highlighting the need for a provider who acts as an extension of the client’s team and understands their unique circumstances.
Summary
For those evaluating win-loss providers, there are a lot of considerations to make sure your chosen provider is actually a good fit for your specific needs. In this article, we go through 13 must-have traits of any provider.
- A formal and rigorous win-loss analysis program enables better segmentation, product strategy choices, and sales enablement.
- The benefits of rigorous win-loss analysis extend beyond the sales team.
- Your consultant should feel like an extension of your team and be knowledgeable about your unique circumstances.
Adoption of formal win-loss analysis programs is rapidly increasing as companies recognize the need for a more robust and accurate understanding of why they win and lose sales opportunities.
Research conducted by Gartner found that companies that are rigorous in their approach to win-loss analysis often observe a direct impact on sales win rates. Todd Berkowitz, Research Vice President at Gartner, stated:
A formal and rigorous win-loss analysis program enables better segmentation, product strategy choices and sales enablement . . . Those that take a more comprehensive approach have seen a 15% to 30% increase in revenue and up to 50% improvement in win rates.
The benefits of rigorous win-loss analysis extend beyond the sales team. Win-loss analysis also enables organizations to improve messaging, build better products, capture vital competitive intelligence, and foster cross-functional alignment about strategic priorities.
What should we look for in a win-loss analysis partner?
Many organizations are implementing formal win-loss analysis for the first time. They've realized they need a more rigorous approach to win-loss, beyond just a drop-down field in the CRM; but, they aren't totally sure what to look for in a win-loss consulting provider.
13 Must-Haves to Look for When Selecting a Win-Loss Analysis Partner
- 1.Win-loss analysis methodology based on in-depth, engaging, and adaptive interviews with the decision makers at your won and lost accounts.
- 2.Consultants with significant management consulting backgrounds and/or relevant industry experience to design the program and conduct the interviews.
- 3.Consultants who will act as an extension of your team—mastering your product/service offering, understanding your market, providing thought-leadership, etc.
- 4.A dedicated consultant or consultants who conduct all the interviews—ensuring continuity across interviews.
- 5.Ability to create custom win-loss interview guides and questions across product lines, business units, etc.
- 6.Effective methodology and tools for scheduling interviews and achieving a high interview participation rate.
- 7.Ability to collect quantitative data (i.e. a survey) in addition to the qualitative interviews. Ideally, they will conduct the primary mode (i.e. the interview) first to minimize bias.
- 8.Effective method for tagging interview themes that exposes and highlights key trends, strengths, and weaknesses across interviews.
- 9.Modern, innovative software for housing the interview transcripts and highlighting the themes and findings from across interviews.
- 10.Effective software tools for sharing win-loss interviews and findings across your organization—quickly and easily.
- 11.Effective incentive strategy for rewarding interviewees to improve interview participation rates.
- 12.Solid company leadership with a culture of innovation—defined by healthy revenue growth and ongoing investment in their people and technology.
- 13.Reference-able clients who can speak to the caliber of their team, soundness of their methodology, and ability to drive a return on your investment.
Learn more about Clozd
Leading business intelligence and market research technology companies, like Tableau and Qualtrics, trust Clozd for win-loss analysis. Clozd offers a talented team, sound methodology, and innovative technology.
See for yourself why Clozd is the go-to win-loss analysis consulting provider for leading companies such as Twilio, Tableau, Qualtrics, Marketo, NICE Systems, Workiva, Avalara, Cision, and many more.
Customer Testimonials
Clozd gave us insights into the 'why' we were winning deals.
— Ike Nwabah | VP of Marketing
Outstanding means of understanding why you win and lose.
— Tripp R. | Global Competitive Insights Manager
Depth of knowledge we could never achieve on our own.
— Gary C. | VP of Product Marketing
Clozd is a no-brainer. The upfront investment is quickly dwarfed by the immense value it brings in the form of actionable intelligence and competitive advantage.
— Dan Bolton | Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Nitrogen
Clozd checks all the boxes to store, filter, analyze, and share win-loss findings at scale. Better yet, their team members are true consultative partners that have helped us up-level our win-loss program.
— Karen Warfield | Head of Competitive Intelligence at Clari
It's invaluable feedback that comes directly from our customers and helps support us in our product planning and when we go up against competitors.
— Hillary Neal | GTM Processes & Programs Leader at Qualtrics
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