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The State of Win/Loss Analysis,

2013

A Multi-Industry Survey on How

Companies Are Using Win/Loss

Analysis

– CONFIDENTIAL – © 2013 Fletcher/CSI Better Decisions Through Insightful Intelligence℠

Executive summary

Fletcher/CSI surveyed 160 companies across 20+ industries on their use of

win/loss analysis to examine bid outcomes. Findings included: 3 of 5 companies engage in win/loss analysis, with 1 of 3 programs rated as being

effective – suggesting that only 1 in 5 companies has an effective win/loss program

in place

The most common reason for doing win/loss is to develop better positioning and go-

to-market strategy

1 of 4 win/loss programs has a budget under $150K and covers between 31 and

100 deals

Results from the same survey conducted last year corroborate the findings

Effective programs: Are systematic – they are ongoing and measure success

• Are not just for sales – they engage senior leadership and other internal groups both

through receiving funding and distributing results

• Are not limited to surveys – they combine surveys with interviews to get feedback from

prospects

• Provide objectivity – while they require the sales team to participate, it’s another team or a

3rd party that collects the information


The survey

Win/loss analysis examines the outcomes of bids

by gathering information from both customers and

internal salespeople through interviews, surveys, or

both.

To assess the current state of win/loss analysis,

Fletcher/CSI surveyed 160 professionals on their

companies’ programs. Respondents represented

companies around the world with annual revenues

from under $1M to over $40B and from a wide

range of industries, including Aerospace

Automotive

Business services

Consulting

Electronics

Energy

Financial services

Government

Government contracting

Health insurance

Healthcare, including healthcare IT, medical

equipment and technology, and research

IT, including hardware, enterprise software, and

data center services

Legal services

Manufacturing

Marketing

Telecommunications

This is the second year Fletcher/CSI has conducted

a survey on win/loss analysis; results from 2012

corroborate findings from this year, as few

responses show statistically significant divergences.

Last year’s results are shown throughout the report

for comparison.

3


Do you consider your win/loss program effective? / note on methodology

4

Effective or Highly

Effective, 28%

Moderately Effective,

42%

Not Effective,

30%

Not Effective Effective or HighlyEffective

We then eliminated the middle ground

of “moderately effective” and correlated

high and low ratings with other

responses to identify characteristics of

effective win/loss programs.

Participants were asked to rate the

effectiveness of their programs; fewer

than one-third rated their programs

“effective” or “highly effective.”


Win/loss analysis in 2013: the basics

How many companies do W/L? Why? How long have they been doing it? How

much do they spend? How many deals do they cover?

5

– CONFIDENTIAL – © 2013 Fletcher/CSI Better Decisions Through Insightful Intelligence℠ 6

No 44%

Yes 56%

Yes 59%

No 41%

2012

Are you aware of a win/loss program at your company?

About 3 out of 5 companies surveyed

have a win/loss program in place.


What are your goals in doing win/loss analysis?

7

24% 26%

40%

25%

19%

58%

32%

68%

50%

32%

Incre

ased c

lose

rate

s

Win

s a

t specific

opport

unitie

s

Change

s in

positio

nin

g/g

o-t

o-

ma

rket str

ate

gy

Cha

ng

es in

pricin

gstr

ate

gy

Ta

rgete

d tra

inin

g

2012

The most common reason for doing

win/loss analysis is to develop better

positioning and go-to-market strategy.


What is your budget for win/loss? How many deals do you cover?

8

Under $150,000,

72%

Between $151,000 and

$500,000, 15%

Over $500,000,

13%

13% 15%

28%

8% 8% 7%

2%

7%

2% 3%

2%

7% U

nd

er

15

Be

twee

n 1

6 a

nd

30

Be

twee

n 3

1 a

nd

100

Be

twee

n 1

01

an

d 5

00

Ove

r 5

00

Be

twee

n 3

1 a

nd

100

Be

twee

n 1

01

an

d 5

00

Ove

r 5

00

Und

er

15

Be

twee

n 3

1 a

nd

100

Be

twee

n 1

01

an

d 5

00

Ove

r 5

00

Under $150,000 Between $151,000 and$500,000

Over $500,000

Over one-quarter of all programs

have a budget under $150K and

cover between 31 and 100 deals.


How long have you had a win/loss program in place?

9

Between one and

three years 31%

Less than one year

21%

More than three years

48%

2012

Between one and three

years 36%

Less than one year

20%

More than three years

44%

Less than one year, 22%

Less than one year, 6%

Between one and three

years, 33% Between one

and three years, 44%

More than three years,

44%

More than three years,

50%

Not Effective Effective or Highly Effective

1 in 5 ineffective programs have been in

place for less than 1 year; only 1 in 20

effective programs were that young.


Do you measure the success of your win/loss program?

10

No, 93%

No, 23%

Yes, 7%

Yes, 77%


No, 51%

Yes, 49%

Yes, 55%

No, 45%

2012

Having a method for measuring success

is one of the strongest indicators for an

effective win/loss program.


Internal stakeholders

11

What do different groups get out of W/L? What do they put into it?


Which groups receive reports from your win/loss program?

12

40%

77%

65%

47%

81%

Sales SalesLeadership

Marketing ProductManagement

SeniorLeadership

15%

64% 62%

93%

46%

71%

15%

71% 77%

100%


Sales Sales Leadership Marketing Product Management Senior Leadership

26%

63% 53%

32%

79% 2012

Effective programs distribute reports

much more widely than do ineffective

ones.


Which groups fund your win/loss program?

13

13%

22%

57%

7%

22%

Sales SalesLeadership

Marketing ProductManagement

SeniorLeadership

24%

7%

29% 27%

35%

60%

6% 7%

18%

47%


Sales Sales Leadership Marketing

Product Management Senior Leadership

20% 20%

31%

12%

31%

Sa

les

Sa

les

Leaders

hip

Ma

rketin

g

Pro

duct

Ma

nagem

ent

Se

nio

rLeaders

hip

2012

Effective programs most commonly

receive funding from marketing and

senior leadership.


Is participation in your win/loss program voluntary or mandatory?

Mandatory 36%

Voluntary 64%

Mandatory 43% Voluntary

57%

2012

Mandatory, 44%

Mandatory, 56%

Voluntary, 56%

Voluntary, 44%


2 out of 5

programs require

salespeople to

participate.

A higher percentage of effective

programs than ineffective ones

make participation mandatory.


Program design: selecting deals to cover

15

How do you select which deals to cover? Do you cover every deal?


How do you select which deals to cover?

16

Random 15%

High value 52%

Strategic 18%

Ones we question

15%

2012

Random 10%

High value 50%

Strategic 34%

Ones we question

3%

Half of all programs surveyed

cover high-value deals.


Does your win/loss program cover every deal?

17

No 62%

Yes 38%

2012

No 72%

Yes 28%

No, 83%

No, 38%

Yes, 17%

Yes, 63%


About 1 of 5 ineffective programs cover

every deal; about 2 of 3 effective

programs do.


Program design: collecting the information

18

Do you use qualitative or quantitative methods to collect information? Who

performs the collection?


Does your win/loss program use qualitative methods, quantitative methods, or some of both?

19

Qualitative 9%

Quantitative 7%

Some of Both 84%

No 27%

Yes 73%

2012

Does your win/loss program use qualitative data?

Qualitative, 11%

Quantitative, 22%

Some of Both, 67%

Some of Both, 100%


Every effective win/loss program

surveyed uses both qualitative

and quantitative methods to

collect information.


In-House Team, 53%

Sales, 16%

3rd Party, 31%

Who collects the information?

20

Sales 27%

3rd Party 20%

In-House Team 53%

2012

In-House Team, 50%

In-House Team, 67%

Sales, 31%

3rd Party, 19%

3rd Party, 33%


No effective program surveyed uses the

sales team to collect information.


Characteristics of effective win/loss programs

21

Based on the correlations this survey shows, effective programs

• run for more than 1 year

• measure success

• distribute results widely throughout the company

• receive funding from multiple internal sources, especially senior leadership

and marketing

• use both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect information

• don’t use the sales team to collect information

• make participation by the sales team mandatory

• cover every deal

To find out how win/loss analysis and

competitive intelligence can help your company

call 802.660.9636

email [email protected]

visit www.fletchercsi.com

Now in its 25th year, Fletcher/CSI helps companies gain advantage with its unique competitive intelligence services. We

customize each study to meet our client’s specific business needs; our focus in primary intelligence goes beyond

publicly available information to deliver targeted, proprietary research.

Our services include:

Win/loss analysis and sales strategy

3rd party collection and analysis

program consulting and training

sales battle cards

lead qualification

Conference and trade show intelligence

3rd party collection and analysis


Custom market research

customized, proprietary studies

voice of customer

mystery shopping

Competitive intelligence and analysis

competitor profiles

competitive landscapes and monitoring

benchmarking

pricing intelligence

FOIA for competitive intelligence

outsourcing


counterintelligence training

Strategy consulting

war games

scenario planning

Documents

FletcherCSI Survey: The State of Win/Loss Analysis, 2013fletchercsi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FletcherCSI_Win-Loss_… · Win/loss analysis examines the outcomes of bids by gathering