Why a Provider of Complex Industrial Products and Solutions Wins or Loses Bids
Posted by | Fuld & Company
Background
A global maker of complex M2M industrial solutions had recently lost some contracts to smaller, seemingly more risky competitors. Finding that the company had no reliable, systematic process for analyzing wins and losses, they engaged Fuld & Company to conduct an analysis designed to understand how buyers made purchase decisions and to demonstrate what a win-loss process should look like.
Challenge
With commodities and discrete products, win-loss analysis is often straightforward, with sales success turning on a simple factor like price. Not so with highly engineered products embedded in complex solutions involving installation, startup, hardware, software, as well as managed and consulting services. The product is complex, the sales cycle is long, and many factors, weighted differently by different customers, go into purchase decisions. Bids are highly contestable and understanding what secured a win or caused a loss requires deep and nuanced information and analysis.
Approach
Fuld & Company developed and delivered a rigorous, systematic win-loss pilot that:
- Provided valuable insights into current market perceptions of the company’s solutions
- Created a baseline for an ongoing win-loss analysis program
- Demonstrated the value of systematic win-loss collection for the client
- Showed the company how a rigorous win-loss process is deployed
Result + Benefit
- With the results of the win-loss pilot in hand, the company can:
- Determine effective product/service differentiators and value propositions
- Pinpoint where sales tactics and messaging aren’t effective or addressing customer needs and priorities
- Understand competitor tactics and positioning in the product/service area, deal category, or geography
- Evaluate sales effectiveness with key customers
- Determine customer perceptions of the company vs. key competitors
- Assess strength and depth of key client relationships
- Illuminate pain points and potential future opportunities
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Tags: Competitive Intelligence, Diversified Industries, Industrial Goods, Strategic Planning, Win/Loss Analysis
