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Tirrah Switzer is a win-loss analysis wizard and the Sr. Director of Product Marketing at Community Brands. She sat down with Adam to answer your burning win-loss questions.

‍♂️ Get Sales Leadership Onboard by Showing what a 1% Improvement Looks like ‍♂️

“We knew that for our win-loss program to be successful sales leadership had to be onboard. So we brought them into the conversation early.”

Two problems you need to solve right away when looking to launch a win-loss program:

• Get your sales leadership team bought in
• Prove the ROI of your program

Tirrah solved both at once by doing the math.

“I feel like what resonated the most with sales leadership was doing the math. If we could improve our win rate by 1%, what does that equal and what does that look like?“

A one-percent improvement in win rates goes a long way in closing the competitive revenue gap.

And by tying a dollar-value to the success of her win-loss program, Tirrah was able to get the buy-in she needed to launch.

One-percent might seem overly modest. But it grounds the program in a tangible number.

Once your team’s win-loss insights inevitably increase win-rates by more than just 1%, the entire organization will be clamouring for win-loss.

Product, Demand Gen and Digital Marketing Teams Love Win-Loss Insights Too

“The group that has really dug into our compete program most besides sales has been digital marketing. That team is one of the highest users of Klue battlecards and highest readers of our win-loss reports.”

Sales should be your first consumers of compete content. And win-loss insights can help you get that all-important strategic seat at the table with leadership.

But every department benefits from win-loss insights.

Tirrah and her team at Community brands have developed a close relationship with digital marketing to support their strategic decision-making.

“We do a ton of content ideation with our demand gen teams. [For example] blog articles, white papers that are going to complement all this information that we know from Compete, as well as competitor landing page copy.”

As a compete professional, Tirrah has the 360° vision that takes into account the competitive landscape and helps other teams make decisions accordingly.

This vision and powerful win-loss insights make her monthly win-loss readouts a fan favourite at Community Brands.

Watch Tirrah, Paul Senatori and Klue’s Brandon Bedford break down what it takes to incorporate win-loss analysis into your compete program

You can’t do win-loss on your own — you need outside help

“I did not have a huge success doing win-loss internally. I think I only ended up with one or two actual interviews. And it was the most painful experience of my life.”

The specialized skills it takes to run a win-loss program (i.e. interviewing, analysis) and the time and resources it takes do it right make working a vendor partner a better choice than doing it yourself.

What’s more, the objectivity you get from a third-party vendor helps mitigate the biases that colour an internal analysis.

“We didn’t we didn’t have the bandwidth and we didn’t have the skills. So that’s why we shifted from internal to external. I’d rather just use some experts externally and it works fabulous for us.”

If you do have to at least start your win-loss program without the help of a win-loss vendor, Tirrah says some of her contemporaries have had success seeking outside training on win-loss interviews specifically.

But ultimately, for you to get the most highest and longest-lasting value from your win-loss program, you’ll need to partner with a third-party vendor.