Post Sale Win-Loss Interview

Why Did You Win or Lose the Sale?  If You Don't Know Then Ask

by Terry Stidham

The answers are rarely as obvious as you or your sales team might think.

You can glean a lot of information from interviewing prospects who were part of the sales process.

This is known as a win-loss analysis.

Benefits of Win-Loss Interview

• Enables you to improve sales cycle understanding and incorporate changes to improve closing ratios. 
• Helps you understand your market and the performance of your organization. When prospects evaluate your product, they encounter many parts of your organization and its processes. While the outcome of the sale is important, you can gain valuable knowledge from both wins and losses.
• Creates goodwill among both wins and losses for your efforts to improve your product and it’s sales process,
• Provides you with insights on how your sales process works and how your product/service stood up to your competitors.
• Win-loss interviews offer a powerful way to understand your strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of the market.

Win-loss analysis does not replace the need to understand the market problems you solve, but it helps your organization to understand how you are being presented to a potential buyer. 

What can be learned?

Win-loss interviews can help you uncover answers to the following questions and afford valuable information to your organization:

• How important are specific aspects of your offerings?
• Are you reaching the right types of buyers?
• What obstacles are preventing you from selling your products?
• What features are you missing that lead to lost business?
• What are you doing well that can be repeated?
• Which marketing messages do your prospects respond to?
• What will help your buyers to purchase from you more easily?
• Does your pricing match what your buyers are willing to pay?

What to ask?

If possible, conduct a win-loss analysis for every attempted sale of your product/service. Use the following list when interviewing prospects (you may choose to add your own questions):

• What led you to choose our company or another company?
• What is your opinion of my company and our product/service?
• How did our company compare to the competition?
• What was the key deciding factor in your purchasing decision?
• Were your issues resolved?
• What collateral and sales tools were involved?
• What elements were missing during the buying process?
• Which product features did you like the most? What features were missing?
• What is will you be looking to purchase next that might be able to provide?

Interview Guidelines

The following guidelines will help you to conduct successful win-loss interviews.

• Do it soon after the decision: Schedule the interview within the month of the purchase decision.
• Motivate them to help you: Many prospects will agree to speak with you. However, if they seem hesitant to do so, find some way to motivate them (e.g., offer to donate to their favorite charity).
• Keep it short: Limit your call to 30 minutes so that you do not monopolize the interviewee’s time.
• Do not sell: Avoid dealing with any potential objections in an attempt to save the deal. It will put your interviewee in a defensive position, and this may negatively affect your data.
• Position it as a learning experience: Your prospect will want to know why you are asking these questions. Explain that your purpose is to learn and improve.
• Go off script if necessary: If your interviewee shares something interesting, feel free to go off script. Ask more about the issue, and let them explain their thoughts. There is no right or wrong answer to these questions. Your goal is to learn how they perceived the process and your product or service. The more you learn, the better.

What to do with results?

Share the results of your findings with your team. There are many people in your organization that can benefit from this information. For example, your team can identify how your product is positioned, make your marketing message more salient and learn what your prospects like and dislike about your product.

Win-loss analysis is a powerful tool for looking back at your performance and learning how to improve.