Win Loss Analysis Frequently Asked Questions
What is Win Loss Analysis?
Win Loss Analysis is a market research practice that focuses on de-constructing how companies market and sell their products and services from the prospect’s perspective. A Win Loss program usually entails conducting extensive telephone interviews with new clients or lost prospects. The objective is to gather as much useful and actionable information as possible, to synthesize it quickly and accurately, and to use it to facilitate continuous improvement across an organization.
Why should my company implement a Win Loss Analysis Program?
A Win Loss Analysis program can help you acquire valuable perspectives on why your prospects buy or reject your products and services; how your company is perceived relative to your competitors; what aspects of your sales process need to be strengthened; and, how your sales team should be organized and trained. The reality is that 60% of the time salespeople do not have a complete and accurate understanding of why they lost a deal. A Win Loss program helps to close that gap.
What should I consider before implementing a Win Loss Analysis Program?
Executive level support of the program is imperative for its success. Without the active backing of your senior management, your win loss analysis program may produce sub-optimal results. In building executive support, advocates of such a project must clearly and concisely present a compelling cost-benefit analysis – one that accentuates that such programs can have a decidedly positive impact on nearly every aspect of the product/service development and delivery process.
What are the benefits of a Win Loss Analysis program?
A Win Loss Analysis program will help you:
- Recognize areas for improvement within the key phases of the sales process – building rapport, identifying needs, presenting solutions and closing the business
- Improve the effectiveness of your sales team and their presentations by gathering insights that help you better package, position, differentiate and deliver your message
- Increase your understanding of your competitors
- Uncover unmet client needs and new development opportunities
- Track your company’s progress against internal standards
- Identify the key drivers for winning new business
How long does a Win Loss Analysis program take?
Typically a Win Loss Analysis program runs on an annual basis but we can customize the time-frame to your needs. With annual programs, a monthly feed of recent bids won and bids lost deal flow is sent to us by our client contact and then filtered to our interview team. On a weekly basis completed interviews are then returned to the client and typically a mid-year and / or annual report of findings is created by our research team.
What other studies does Anova Consulting conduct?
In addition to Win Loss Analysis, Anova Consulting Group regularly conducts Client Satisfaction and Loyalty Studies, Departed Client Analysis, Advisor / Consultant / Intermediary Perception Analysis, Client Onboarding / Implementation Analysis, and Post-Integration Analysis.
What industries does Anova Consulting conduct Win Loss Analysis for?
Anova Consulting Group launched in 2005, at that time specializing in Win Loss Analysis for major Defined Contribution providers. Since then, Anova has expanded further within the financial industry, as well as beyond Finance, to Healthcare and Technology. Although Finance, Healthcare, and Technology are the largest current areas of focus by Anova, we offer Win Loss Analysis across many other industries.
Who are Anova’s current consulting clients?
Anova has clients across all industries, in particular finance, technology, and healthcare. Click here to see a complete list of Anova’s clients.
Why Anova Consulting for Win Loss Analysis?
Anova Consulting Group is a pioneer in Win Loss Analysis. The executive leadership team has decades of Win Loss and Client Satisfaction experience, and is supported by a seasoned executive interviewing team and analysts with industry-specific knowledge and experience. Unlike other firms that conduct Win Loss Analysis, Anova takes a consultative approach to market research, with emphasis on program design, customized questionnaires, and synthesis of the program findings. In addition, Anova clients can expects ongoing transcripts throughout the study, flexibility in making changes to the survey as-needed, peer benchmarking in the end report, and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Who conducts the interviews and analysis?
Anova has an elite team of Executive Interviewers specialized for each industry based on their tenured backgrounds. Our Executive Interviewers are familiarized with each client’s specific study needs and understand the value of a prospect’s time to complete an interview. Anova’s experienced analysts then synthysize the information to report overall trends, as well as trends within specific segments of those interviewed.
Does Anova have international capabilities?
Anova Consulting Group has multi-lingual capabilities. While most of Anova’s clients are located in North America, we understand that not all of the client’s prospects are in this region. Our Executive Interviewers are able to communicate through English with other English-speaking firms at any time, and Anova also has the ability to provide translation services to ease the process of gaining a true global perspective of your business.
Who at the prospect is interviewed?
The client provides the names of the individuals directly involved in the decision-making process to be interviewed by Anova’s Executive Interviewers. Most often Anova will reach out to the main client/prospect contact as well as any consultant, as applicable, used by that client/prospect, to gain a well-rounded view of the insights on the situation.
How are results presented?
Anova delivers an in-depth evaluation of the results to help our clients identify trends among their prospects and customers. Reporting includes segmentation by relevant aspects (e.g., potential deal size, demographic variables) and peer benchmarking, obtained both directly from the study as well as from other relevant Anova client studies.
Who from my firm should be involved in the Win Loss process?
Executive level support of the program is imperative for its success. Without the active backing of your senior management, your win loss analysis program may produce sub-optimal results. In building executive support, advocates of such a project must clearly and concisely present a compelling cost-benefit analysis – one that accentuates that such programs can have a decidedly positive impact on nearly every aspect of the product/service development and delivery process. Although the parties directly involved with Win Loss studies tend to vary by industry, Anova suggests having an unbiased, upper-level employee as the liaison for day-to-day contact. However, it is important to have input on the project’s objectives and to share the end results with all departments that are involved in the sales process to make the most of the study.
What is needed from my firm to conduct a successful Win Loss Study?
Although Anova will draft a customized survey for you, your firm’s input on the questions asked is key to making sure you are getting the most from the study. You firm will also need to provide Anova credible leads from the former prospect or new client so that Anova can contact them in an efficient, time
What have been the results from other Anova Win Loss Analyses?
Often the results of the Win Loss studies are surprising to clients. Implementing an internal discussion and an action plan after the study has been conducted will ensure that you make most of the analysis. Click here for examples of how clients have turned prospect feedback into positive results.
How will Win Loss help me gain a competitive advantage?
In addition to better understanding and quantifying your firm’s strengths and areas for improvement, Anova provides benchmarking analysis, allowing for direct insight into your competition from prospects’ points of view.
Why conduct analysis on Bids Wins and not just Bids Lost?
It is equally important to understand why a you won new business or retained existing business as it is to understand why you lost a client or prospective business. What did you do differently with the client/prospect that you won versus the client/prospect that you lost (i.e., what are some insights that your sales team can learn from)? In addition, what did the Bids Won client see to be a weaknesses of your firm, or were there competitors of yours that they thought were stronger in certain aspects of the business? Although it may not have cost you the business, these are likely areas for improvement and can serve as potential warnings for sensitivities with the new client.
