Episode #357: Justin Zappulla

What was your customer’s perspective of the sales process? How did it align to their preferred buying journey? How does it compare to the competition? Why did they choose you? Or why didn’t they? 

These data points are critical to refine your sales process. And one of the only ways to get these answers is by doing a win-loss analysis. This information is vital to the business as a whole to consistently improve performance. Learn how Justin obtains this critical information in this episode of Sales Reinvented. 

Outline of This Episode

• [0:50] What is win/loss analysis and why is it important?
• [1:33] The insights you can gain from a win-loss analysis
• [2:55] Common mistakes salespeople make with win-loss analyses
• [4:05] How to make sure the feedback you gather is unbiased 
• [6:03] Best practices for conducting win/loss interviews 
• [7:12] The role of technology in win/loss analysis
• [9:09] Top three win/loss analysis dos and don’ts
• [12:06] A win-loss analysis can quickly make an impact 

Common mistakes salespeople make with win-loss analyses

As you’re approaching your win-loss analysis, make sure you have clear objectives. What do you want to know? You have to ask the right questions to get to the heart of it and get the data you need. Document those questions, formulate them the right way, and get the qualitative data that you’re looking for. 

But how do you gather unbiased feedback? Tell your customers that you’re seeking real information—the good and the bad—because it will help you make necessary changes. Tell them to speak candidly. Secondly, you need to interview numerous people so you can rely on the data/trends. Make sure the interview is conducted by someone who wasn’t the sales rep.

Best practices for conducting win/loss interviews 

Justin recommends keeping the interviews short. Ask for 30 minutes or less. Customers appreciate when you value their time and get to the point. The most valuable information comes from the interviews. 

Some organizations like to supplement the interviews with short surveys. Do the analysis and sort findings into key groups. When you gather the information, gather demographic data so you can segment the data. 

Make sure you’re talking to the decision-maker or at least someone with a high degree of influence. It needs to be someone who can give you the information you need for your analysis. Who knows the buying criteria?

Lastly, use a standard set of questions that are geared toward getting the type of information you’re looking for. 

Top three win/loss analysis dos and don’ts

Justin narrows down some key dos and don’ts to help you navigate the process: 

• Have a plan. Document your objectives, questions, and stay organized.
• Make this an ongoing process. Don’t just do this one time. High-performing sales organizations know the value of ongoing customer feedback. 
• Collect segmentation and demographics for each participant you analyze.
• Don’t seek to only validate what you already know. Go into these interviews looking to get honest feedback. Be open to hearing the good, the bad, and the ugly. 
• Don’t focus on only the sales process. Get data for sales, marketing, operations, product, service teams, etc.
• Don’t forget to thank your customers for their time, whether that’s a note, small gift, or compensation. 

A win-loss analysis can quickly make an impact

Justin was supporting a client through conducting a win-loss analysis. Their consistent win rate had suddenly started declining and they weren’t sure why. As they conducted their analysis, the answer became clear. The buyer’s criteria had shifted toward a digital delivery of services. It quickly became the most important buying criteria. 

The company got organized quickly and launched some solutions through a digital platform. They immediately saw improvements in their win rates. Sometimes all you have to do is gather feedback from real customers and make adjustments that you need to make. Customer feedback is some of the most important data you can get but it’s under-valued.

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Learn More About Justin Zappulla

Are there any books on or containing Win Loss Analysis that you recommend? Customer Winback: How to Recapture Lost Customers–And Keep Them Loyal by Jill Griffin

In the field of Win Loss Analysis – Who do you most admire and why?  There are a handful of organizations (including ours) who do great work here, however, if I had to pick an individual, I would go with Jill Griffin for the work she did in her book on this subject.  

What are your top ten questions to ask during a Win Loss Analysis – Your Golden Question Set?  

• How did you hear about us?
• What was the key decision criteria that led you to choose (us or competitor)?
• Who else did you consider in the buying process? 
• What was your experience like working with us throughout the sales process? 
• What were our strengths vs the alternatives you considered? 
• What were our weaknesses vs alternatives you considered? 
• What’s one thing you would advise us to reconsider or change?
• How did our pricing compare to the options you considered?  
• Were there any particular capabilities that you were looking for in our (product/service) that fell short? 
• What could we have done differently to win your business?

What are some of the most important metrics that companies should be tracking as part of their Win Loss Analysis process? Are there any metrics that companies should be cautious about when conducting Win Loss Analysis?

• Win rate 
• Average deal size 
• Deal profitability
• Sales cycle length 

While tracking metrics is an important part of Win Loss Analysis, it’s important to not only look at quantitative metrics.  In most cases the insights gained through interviews (qualitative data) is what’s most valuable. 

How do you handle situations where a loss is attributed to factors outside of your control, such as budget constraints or unforeseen market changes? While this may be the case, it’s still important to conduct an analysis to better understand the underlying factors that contributed to the loss. Even if you can’t directly address the specific issue, there may be other factors you can address in order to improve your chances of winning. Sales is a game of inches.  Small adjustments can make all the difference.  

Can you share some examples of how Win Loss Analysis has helped companies identify gaps in their sales process or product offerings? One of our clients is a software company that was losing deal after deal to a competitor because their product was perceived as being too complex and difficult to use. Through Win Loss Analysis, they were able to identify the specific areas of their product that were causing confusion and make changes to their sales process to improve the user experience. 

Are there any aspects of your own Win Loss Analysis skills that you are working on improving at the moment?  As a sales performance company, we’re in a perpetual state of sales effectiveness research and improvement. In terms of working on our own win/loss analysis skills, here’s what we’ve been doing:

We’re increasing the frequency of our Win Loss Analysis: This helps us to stay up to date with changes in the market and the competitive landscape.

We’re improving the dissemination and use of Win Loss Analysis insights: We’re making sure that any insights gained from Win Loss Analysis are shared throughout the organization and used to inform strategic decision-making /process improvement.

Hobbies, Interests? When I’m not working, I like to stay active.  Go for a walk/run, go to the gym, get out on the golf course. Something to get the juices going! 

How can our listeners contact with you? Connect with me on LinkedIn or reach out to me directly at Janek.  

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinzappulla/

Email: jzappulla@janek.com

Phone: 800-979-0079