A win-loss analysis is the process of uncovering why people buy from you, or when they donโt, why not.
This is a critical tool that we can leverage in demand gen to more deeply understand our prospects and customers.
Trying to go upmarket, but not seeing success?
Needing to verticalize, but unsure of which segment to prioritize?
Dying to make your spend more efficient, but unsure of what is resonating?
A win-loss analysis can help with all of those things, and more. So, letโs get into how itโs done. ๐
Conducting a Win-Loss Analysis
Set Your Goals
Like anything in demand gen, you should start with your goals of this analysis. Who are you hoping will benefit from the results? Is this purely for DG? Product Marketing? Product? Sales? Customer Success? All of the above?
No wrong answers here. But identify why youโre doing the work first. This will help inform how you best tailor the research.
Personally, I find itโs usually wildly more beneficial to focus the research more broadly across the entire customer journey, but there will definitely be edge cases.
Select The Interviewees
As mentioned above, win-loss analyses can uncover insights for many potential gaps in your GTM strategy so itโs important to make sure youโre selecting interviewees that will help you relate those gaps to your goals.
Letโs say youโre trying to go upmarketโฆdo you have 10 upmarket buyers you could interview? Maybe some became customers, and others went with a competitor.
Other examples you could select your panel towards:
Industry specific
Those who went with a specific competitor
Persona specific
Product specific
Draft Your Script
This is where things get interesting. Remember those goals we set a few steps back? Letโs say your marketing, sales, and CS leaders are all antsy for insights on this project. If thatโs the case, theyโve likely all contributed questions they want/need answers to. How do you pick?
There are typically 3-5 โmust-askโ questions. These need to be consistent and present on every call so youโll have enough feedback loops to identify trends in the data. From there, 3-4 โnice-to-haveโ questions can be filtered in on an as-needed basis.
Types of questions Iโve seen considered in the past:
๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ฒ? Or if you didnโt, why not?
Collect feedback on why they chose their software to refine your value propositions and adjust your marketing messaging.๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐?
Identify the problems the product solves from feedback and tailor your marketing language to resonate with more potential customers.๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ?
Discover objections pre-purchase to train your sales team on handling these concerns effectively, enhancing deal closure rates.๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ?
Learn what customers love, or donโt, about your product to prioritize future development and focus on high-value product areas.[For Customers] ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ?
Identify customer experience changes post-purchase to uncover areas for improvement or updates in your offering.๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง?
Understand how your persona describes your product to others for refining marketing and referral strategies.
Conduct The Interviews
While Iโm not going to claim to be an expert here myself, Iโll share some of my own tips to getting this part completed.
While phone might net you a higher โyesโ rate, emailing is more scalable. If youโre a one-person show, email them 1:1 to ask if theyโd be up for an interview.
Block off more time on your calendar than what the interview is planned for. If they go long thereโs nothing worse than having to say you have a hard stop and slowing the momentum.
Most will say yes quickly. Just like inbound lead flow, make it easy for them to schedule and include a link to your calendar.
Have Gong or some other automated recording join the call so you donโt blip and forget to record. (Make sure you start off the call asking for their permission to recordโitโs the law.)
Transcribe the calls through Gong, Otter, etc. for post-call findings.
Woo. Deep exhale. Now all of this is just the call side of things. I also personally like to explore a win-loss analysis through the CRM as well. While this does sometimes provide more of a bias, pairing the quantitive insights (most often off a broader set of data) to the qualitative insights youโve just gathered through your calls is oftentimes helpful to see if that data holds true on a wider scale.
Learnings you might find
1. ๐๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐:
A failed attempt to run a win/loss analysis due to dirty data, while somewhat disheartening in the moment, is a win. You can now let your exec team know the CRM lacks the proper foundation to even expose why they're winning + losing deals. A great convo starter to begin tracking this data cleanly to re-run the analysis in a quarter or two.
2. ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ
If you're tracking closed won deals, look at the reasons you've won, messaging on your website, your content strategy, pitch decks, listen to Gong calls to hear what your sellers and prospects are saying on calls...I'm sure this list goes on.
* ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ข-๐ฉ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต?
* ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด?
* ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ?
3. ๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ
One of the more difficult, but very effective, things to analyze in a win/loss analysis is job titles.
* ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ด. ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต?
In this analysis there's bound to be a trend you uncover that shows which titles are most associated with closed lost deals โ this creates an open lane for you to dig deep + identify what's not resonating with this persona and experiment ways to address.
4. ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ(๐ฌ)
Everyone, and I mean literally everyone, is going up-market. Should you be going up market, too? Or crushing the SMB/MM?
Maybe you're selling into SMB and leadership wants to go after enterprise, but you uncover your current marketing strategy does a pretty efficient job at bringing in MM. Great. Leverage that more in your campaigns before jumping to the enterprise.
5. ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌ
Companies target certain industries because it's where they feel they work best (a la B2B SaaS vendors target other B2B SaaS vendors). A win/loss analysis by industry type can allow you to ask:
* ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด?
* ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ?
* ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ?
*๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ? ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ 2 ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข. ๐๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ 200?
Hereโs to uncovering new insights ๐
See ya next week,
Kaylee