The Win-Loss Show

Most win-loss program typically gets started because a leader at the company wants answers to a big, important question. Why do we keep losing to competitor X? Why is this new product not selling? Why has our win-rate dropped so much? Once leaders start to get their hands on a few super-insightful buyer interviews, they get hungry for more. In today’s episode, I sit down with Tirrah Switzer, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Community Brands, to talk about how a win-loss program can grow and mature over time — especially after the initial business questions get answered. She’s done an incredible job at finding new questions to ask and problems to solve using the methodologies and technology of modern-day win-loss analysis. It will give you an idea of the immense value companies get out of having ongoing conversations with their buyers.

When there’s not alignment in your company, the sales process breaks down and you lose deals you should be winning. Many companies struggle with low trust between marketing, SDR, and sales teams. Rather than collaborating and working to enhance outcomes for the company as a whole, they end up stepping on each others toes, throwing each other under the bus, or competing for credit… which is never good for the buyer or the company. Kyle Coleman, the CMO at Clark, has experience working across the entire revenue organization. One of his greatest strengths is helping to create alignment by helping teams cultivate empathy for each other, and for the buyer. In today’s episode, he gives his recommendations on how to be a stellar SDR or SDR leader in today’s economic climate.

What happens when you take the same methodologies, skills, tools, and genuine desire to understand why you win and lose deals and apply them to understanding why you win and lose current business? Kathy Hassett and Nancy White did exactly that, and what they saw happen to their churn numbers was remarkable. In this episode, you’re going to hear them tell the story of how conducting retention interviews virtually eliminated churn, and how they did it.

Ethnography is a type of social research that involves studying the behavior of a group of people and the culture they create. Our guest on today’s episode is Peter Spear, a corporate ethnographer and brand consultant. Throughout his career, he has helped big brands like Gatorade, Coca-Cola, the Discovery Channel, and AMC to understand their buyers    through qualitative interviews — which is just a fancy way of saying that he talks to them and asks them thoughtful questions. This episode will resonate with anyone who wants to bring more curiosity, empathy, and understanding into their business. What I hope you take away is that you ALWAYS have something to learn, and the fastest way to learn it is to engage in meaningful dialogue with your customers and sincerely listen to what they have to say to you. I hope you enjoy the show.

Heather Pepe, the Manager of Solutions Marketing at Calendly discusses how win-loss analysis data benefits leaders across the entire company, helping them create strategic alignment, and address issues to build and sell top-of-class products to their customers.