{"id":10725,"date":"2015-10-05T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nimble.com\/blog\/?p=10725"},"modified":"2025-07-25T09:44:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:44:06","slug":"the-winloss-analysis-its-how-you-play-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nimble.com\/blog\/the-winloss-analysis-its-how-you-play-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"The Win\/Loss Analysis: It\u2019s How You Play the Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a recent meeting, several marketers spoke about the deal flow challenges facing their companies. They were frustrated with the stall out at various stages of the buying process and the number of lost deals. So, I asked, \u201cWhat kind of analysis do you do to understand your opportunity pipeline movement? For example, do you do win\/loss analysis across the customer buying process to understand why opportunities do or don\u2019t convert at each stage, why some opportunities stall vs those that move, and of course, why you won or lost the deal?\u201d \u00a0Each of the marketers said in so many words, \u201cwe don\u2019t do this analysis on a regular basis and when we do, we leave the research and analysis to our sales team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not whether you win or lose, it\u2019s how you play the game.\u201d The first part of this Grantland Rice quote does not apply in the business world where wins and losses mean everything. But understanding how you played the game is applicable. So it\u2019s surprising that many companies fail to implement an effective win\/loss program so they can do better next time. At VisionEdge Marketing, we have found that companies with an institutionalized, timely, thorough and unbiased program that incorporates a customer decision maker-derived methodology, as opposed to a sales-derived one, gain the insights needed to help them continuously improve their win\/loss ratio, and ultimately increase revenue and competitive advantage.<\/p>\n

Why Win Loss Analysis Should Be Institutionalized<\/h3>\n

While there is merit in having your sales team conduct a brief on why deals are won or lost, this analysis alone is incomplete and biased. When done properly, win\/loss analyses examine all points across the buying process (not just the sales team touch points), to provide clarity and insights into customers\u2019 perceptions of your product, \u00a0and examine expectations created by your company messaging. Institutionalizing win\/loss analysis surfaces new requirements for product development, provides feedback about messaging to marketing, and may help uncover new sales strategies and initiatives. For win\/loss analysis to be beneficial, it needs to be done in a timely fashion with accuracy and objectivity.<\/p>\n

A properly conducted win\/loss analysis helps answer these questions:<\/p>\n