Win / Loss Analysis
Gaining or losing business is the ultimate test for a supplier. Customer decisions, made in either direction, send a clear undisputable message on how they perceive the value of a company's product and sales/marketing message. These are invaluable data and should be used to suggest key ways in which to improve their products' positioning. Having surveyed sales organisation, although most will say they conduct in-house reviews of these pivotal decisions, 73% of sales managers interviewed admitted they do not place a high value on the data generated. The following are scenarios that have been suggested for why the data are viewed with scepticism:
- An account is gained and the feedback suggests that success has come from the excellent relationship created by the local sales person or team. Although professional sales skills are a key element of the mix, they cannot be the only factor. Industrial buyers are too sophisticated allow this to be the case. They will not ignore product performance differentiators and appropriate pricing in favour of a good sales approach.
- An account is gained and the technical department tell you that the product has sold itself. Logic will tell you that this is rarely the case.
- An account is lost and the blame is placed squarely with the competitors. The competition has low-balled the price to a level that must be loss-making and is designed to kill the market place. Although competitors will use loss leading pricing to aggressively 'buy' market share it is not as commonplace as some sales people would like to believe. Competitors have sales directors with reputations to make and shareholders with expectations too!
Consequentially a rich source of market data is devalued because of the natural bias of the origin of the data.
SMC Ltd's Win/Loss analysis tool is designed to provide an independent review of these critical customer decisions. The analysis delivers recommendations on how to gain the maximum advantage from knowing what specific benefits customers are seeking to fill with your product and service. Conversely, the review of business losses provides guidance on what measures need to be taken to reduce your competitors' perceived strength.
posted on 05 Jun 2008