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Chally Releases Executive Briefs on Talent Management using Total Quality Management (TQM) Principles for Human Resource and Sales Managers
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Win-Loss Analysis


Typical success rates for closing major new proposals are less than 20% when several providers are asked to present. Companies often spend tens of thousands of dollars (if not hundreds of thousands) in an effort to win business. For those who failed in their bids, little feedback is offered for why a competitor was a better fit. As a result, the likelihood of winning the next major opportunity remains about the same.

Independently collected research data, gathered from interviewing vendor selection teams, offers surprisingly simple fixes that losing competitors could use to improve success rates. Yet, only a few top-draw sales forces consistently gather quality data about their losses to permit a legitimate benchmarking, tracking, and management of their proposal and presentation process.

For example: The proposal team at a major software integrator lost a huge piece of business because it wrongly assumed that the customer was completely satisfied and offered the same "strong support process." Had the proposal team been aware that the customer was unhappy with its customer support, a different tactic could have been used and the business saved.


To further complicate the challenges sellers face, customers' expectation levels have risen dramatically. Today, 80% of customers who leave their previous supplier rate that supplier as "good." * It seems that good isn't good enough. In order to succeed, to improve, or to defend success against competitors, very detailed information is needed. Most importantly, this information needs to be both consistent and comprehensive.

*HBR Nov./Dec. 1995

What's consistent among sales forces that achieve close rates above 40%?

  1. They commit to accessing objective, quantitative, and independently collected measures and analyses of the reasons for wins, and especially losses, versus their competitors.
  2. They maintain active control of their own success rates by debriefing all concerned proposal team members with the results of each win/loss analysis.
  3. They develop new techniques to address the two to four most serious deficiencies that affect success.
  4. They reward salespeople for their rate of improvement instead of a single win or failure.

Why don't all sellers track, analyze, and change techniques to increase their wins?

  1. Defensive resistance -- members of the sales force could fear having anyone look over their shoulders or interfere with their relationship with a prospect or customer.
  2. They don't believe prospects will give them in-depth, candid information, especially about competitors.
  3. Things are going well and they don't have the time.
  4. Things are going poorly and they can't afford it.

If your sales force is not beating the averages in winning major opportunities, then it is time to consider applying the same database-driven Total Quality Management (TQM) techniques that would be used in other aspects of business. Skilled executive-level interviews, done professionally, and scheduled to meet the convenience of the prospect or customer team who made the decision are not only respected, but often appreciated by customers.

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