The impact of intelligent Win-Loss processes

4th April 2016 |   John Sharples

You may have lost the bid but taking the trouble to find out why helps build trust.

There’s a growing interest in the value to be gained by conducting detailed Win-Loss analyses: the statistics we shared in the October 2015 edition of the Journal (see page 58) caught the attention of readers and when they were later shared online. However, Win-Loss is a much-misunderstood concept and often misused, which presents a real opportunity for those who take the trouble to get it right.

Differentiating through listening

We know the best salespeople keenly exhibit acute listening skills – no one wants to buy from “deaf” ears – but some companies have gone beyond this to clearly differentiate themselves as “listeners”: they have put high-profile “listening” processes at the core of their sales model. Win-Loss feedback and executive customer satisfaction interviews are two examples of this approach that are attracting increasing interest as differentiators in B2B markets, where offerings and prices are much of a kind.

John Sharples

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John Sharples has 30 years’ experience in sales and business leadership, and has delivered substantial profit, revenue and cost base improvements in both the SME and corporate business sectors. His straight-talking style is direct, thought provoking and focused on successful business outcomes.
He has been in the front line of complex sales for many years and has a deep understanding of the processes that lead to successful sales outcomes. In 2010, he co-founded Practical Sales Processes (PSP), advising companies how to transform sales operations from an overhead cost into a key component of the revenue-generation engine.