Winning and Losing: Do You Know
Why You Win and Lose?
November 2004 - BEK Best Practices Newsletter
Congratulations, you've just won a big deal. Don't break
out the champagne just yet. You still have some work to
do. Do you know why you won? Can you repeat it with other
prospects?
What about deals that you lose? The sales department usually
doesn't want to talk about lost deals, but analyzing losses
is just as important as celebrating wins. Why did you lose?
Are you losing more than you are winning? If you aren't
able to clearly articulate why you are winning and losing
you are not alone.
Most companies don't take the time to understand why they
are winning deals, and nobody wants to look a failure in
the eye. Instead, it's much easier to blame losses on the
product, product pricing, the competition, and the marketing
department. On the flip side, marketing usually feels that
they have given sales everything they need to be successful,
including product and tools, and that the sales teams just
aren't getting the job done.
In reality, it is rarely one thing that results in a win
or loss. The key to analyzing each sales situation is a
thorough understanding of what your prospects/customers
are thinking during the sales cycle.
Talk to your customers
Don't know if your sales approach matches your customers'
needs? Get on the phone or in front of a customer that bought
from you relatively recently. Find out why they bought by
asking
- How did the sales team perform?
- What did they like about the product?
- What did they like about the service and support?
- Was pricing a differentiator? If so, how?
- From a marketing perspective, what resonated? Why?
- How did you stack up against the competition?
Talk to prospects who went
with another company or switched
Don't forget to talk to prospects that didn't buy from you
or customers that switched to a competitor. More often than
not, they will be glad to help. It's refreshing to talk
with a humble salesperson or manager. Ask the same questions
and add a few about the competition:
- What did they like about the competitors product and
services?
- Was there a main reason for not doing business with
you? If so, what?
- What, if anything, could you have done to win the business?
- What did they like about the competition? What did they
dislike?
- What were the top two or three reasons for switching
to the competition?
Talk to your own sales and service folks. They will have
a different perspective from your customers and prospects.
- Why are you winning and losing?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the company?
- What information have you gathered about your competition?
- What needs to happen in order to beat the competition?
Analyzing data
and evaluating trends
When you take a look at the data, you will start to see
trends. It is not uncommon to find multiple reasons why
you win and lose.
Winning trends include
- Market and/or thought leadership with customer testimonials
to back up your claims
- Quality products/services that are packaged and priced
to solve your customers business problems
- All organizations within your company working together
to create an intimate customer experience that is repeatable
- Market expertise and knowledge of the competitive landscape
Losing trends tend to fall into these categories:
- Customer "perceptions" about your company and product
based on messages and positioning
- Product and/or service issues
- Sales issues that prevent sales execution
- Lack of knowledge about your competition
Analysis of sales opportunities is not a
time consuming process, though it does require some focused
effort. Often the problem with this kind of analysis is
that it's difficult to look at your own work and company
objectively. This is where a consultant can be of enormous
value. A disinterested third-party can point out areas of
opportunity that may have been in front of you all the time.
Or at the very least, can validate your assumptions by providing
data to back them up
Good data =
new opportunities
Armed with this information, you can initiate fresh opportunities.
You may have more chances to attract new customers now than
you did before. Maybe new market sectors are looking for
your products or services that you hadn't noticed before.
Perhaps there are new services you can offer to your existing
clients, solving a problem you could not fix before. You
may learn of weaknesses in your competition that you were
not aware of prior to your analysis.
Understanding why you are winning and losing
enables you to improve your marketing efforts and gain more
sales. To do that, you need to strive to understand your
customers' situations and know how your organization is
performing. Market situations change more rapidly than ever,
so staying on top of your successes and failures will provide
invaluable information for future success.
We'd love to hear about your product planning successes
and places where you've learned. You can email these and
other comments to .
Next month's topic: How to
Generate Buzz and Increase your Customer Acquisitions in
Five Easy Steps by Ellen Pensky of Bumblee Marketing Services
For more information, contact BEK Enterprises at:
Web: www.bekteam.com
E-mail:
Phone: 720-304-3300
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Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and
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