How to use win/loss analysis to build pipeline and elevate your brand

It won’t surprise you to learn that Serena Williams wins 83% of her matches – after all, she’s one of the greatest athletes of all time

What you might not know, however, is that she's an avid reviewer of her game film. She watches her matches back to figure out where she went wrong and where she went right, so she can capitalize on her strengths and continuously improve. As she puts it: 

"It's important to know what you did wrong, what you did right, and what you can do better. I learn a lot from it, and it helps me stay ahead."

Now, compare that with Kyler Murray, the former quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, who famously refused to watch game film. His approach was so problematic that his contract included a clause requiring him to watch four hours of game film a week. He said the exact opposite of Serena: 

"I think I was blessed with the cognitive skills to just go out there, see it before it happens. I'm not one of those guys that's gonna sit there, kill myself watching film."

The results speak for themselves. While Serena Williams has won 23 championships, Kyler Murray has won none. While Williams wins 83% of her matches, Murray wins 43%. There are, of course, many factors at play here, but a willingness to review your performance is undeniably key to staying on top. 

In marketing, win/loss analysis is your game film. Companies that take a comprehensive approach to it see a 15–30% increase in revenue and up to a 50% improvement in their win rate. 

So, in this article, you'll discover how to leverage win/loss analysis to build pipeline, elevate your brand, and boost your win rate. We'll explore the evolution of win/loss techniques, shifting from old-school, rep-centric methods to new-school, buyer-centric approaches. 

You’ll also learn how to automate and democratize your win/loss data, and see real-world examples of how companies like Nitrogen, Commercetools, and Consensus have used these insights to achieve incredible results.

Let’s dive in.

Why we're blind to the truth

If you’re like most marketers, the moment a lead enters the sales funnel, it feels like it's out of your hands. We often have to guess at what's happening and why deals are won or lost. We rely on the data in our CRM, but as I’ve learned throughout my career, this information can be incredibly unreliable.

Want to guess how often, on average, the wrong competitor is tagged in a CRM? 

65% of the time. 

And the closed-loss reason? That's wrong about 85% of the time. 

I’ve experienced this myself. In a former role, I led an enterprise field marketing team, and we couldn't figure out why we were generating so much pipeline but still missing our revenue numbers. We would look at our CRM and speculate, and the data always pointed to pricing and packaging as the reason for losing deals.

When we finally got our hands on some solid win/loss data, the real reasons were sales experience and product interface. Our competitors were showing up better in the sales process, and our prospects liked their product interface more than ours. I was completely blindsided by this intel.

Until we had the buyer's voice, it was tough to prove the real reasons why we were losing deals. I had to rely solely on what my sales team was telling me.

The evolution of win/loss techniques

Win/loss analysis has changed dramatically as marketing technology has evolved. We've moved beyond outdated methods to more streamlined and effective approaches. Let’s take a look.