Do I really need to conduct Win/Loss reviews?

A number of recent trends are converging in the b2b sales world, which are going to make the next few quarters very ugly indeed. Let’s break them down a little, so we can understand the implications:

• Sales cycles are getting significantly longer: According to the 2023 GTM Survey run by VC Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures, the average start-up saw a 24% increase in their sales cycle duration from early 2022 to 2023, with an average 60-day sales cycle now taking 75 days. For larger B2B transactions our win/loss data is showing an even bigger increase, with many enterprise sales cycles now taking more than 180 days.

• Discretionary budget is decreasing (alot): As the pandemic-induced spending frenzy gradually slowed and interest rates have risen, the discretionary budget of many businesses has tightened…in some cases it’s disappeared altogether. Why does this matter? When budgets are tighter, every decision counts…products which deliver ‘nice to have’ benefits are no longer seen as mission critical. ROI needs to be concrete, easy to quantify and quick to achieve, to justify short term expenditure.

• Businesses are looking to consolidate their tech stack: There are an almost overwhelming number of tech companies, both established and emerging, vying for the attention of a finite group of prospective customers….and that includes your customers. In the current business climate, more and more companies are seeking to reduce their tech stack, do more with fewer vendors and sweat the assets of their most strategic partners…this spells trouble for many of the smaller b2b players. 

As Nick Mehta, CEO Gainsight the #1 company on Glassdoor, shared recently, there is a massive tidal wave of vendor consolidation going on right now. 

This is where Win/Loss Analysis comes into its own…allowing you to unlock the reasons behind these emerging trends and more importantly, decide what to do about them. Ok, lets go back and look at those same 3 areas through the lens of customer Win/Loss Analysis.

Sales cycles are getting significantly longer.

‍Why are sales cycles getting longer? Here’s a few reasons we’ve observed in the recent win/loss data sets we’re seeing. 

There’s an increased focus on the business case and expected return on investment     needed to justify any new spend. Not only does it mean average sales cycles are getting longer, it also means the level of scrutiny on all spend is increasing, the number of stakeholders involved are growing exponentially (from finance, to IT, to legal, to procurement) and critically, the sign-off bar has been raised significantly. 

Analysing recent wins and losses allows you to assess exactly where the invisible friction exists in your sales process, which parts of the ROI story stack up and where you’re missing the mark and close the gap accordingly 

Discretionary budget is decreasing (a lot).

‍As the size and availability of customers' budgets decrease, there are a number of knock-on effects which sellers need to be hyper-aware of. 

More projects will be competing for these same scarce budgets. Extracting additional value from current investments will be prioritised, impacting net new opportunities and incumbent swap-outs. The sign-off authority of your usual buyer may have decreased, forcing sellers to start interacting directly with the CFO, CIO or even CEO for the first time in their careers.

By assessing prior won and lost opportunities, you can begin to identify hot button items and specific trends, for the different buyer personas and ICP’s in your customer base. Taking the time to really drill into the themes can drive new marketing content, talk-tracks and points of genuine differentiation. Failing to drill into these themes, will almost certainly result in missed forecasts and deal slippage. 

Businesses are looking to consolidate their tech stack

‍It makes perfect sense that in tough times, businesses will try to do more with less. We’re already seeing both anecdotal and actual evidence from b2b vendors of significant shortfalls in sales performance, entire sales teams missing target by more than 50% and reduced headcount and investment in sales enablement activities. 

If these customer buying trends persist or accelerate, win/loss analysis won’t just become a nice to have, it will be the most critical data set in the entire sales kitbag. But here’s the funny thing, you’re cost of sale has already earned you the right to this feedback, you just need the right mechanism to capture and action it.

Keen to understand a little more about the trends we’re already seeing in the market, contact me to arrange a quick walk through of the Trinity win/loss platform or we can share a 3 minute recorded demo, if that’s easier…

Happy Selling

Cian

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What our customers say...
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“Having these reviews completed enables us to better understand the outside perception and use this information to better position ourselves in the market.”

Samantha, Account Executive -Programmed

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