After attending a SCIP conference, a market and competitive intelligence manager came away with, “We can do a lot better with the program” and “[need] to improve our interview process as well as our interview template.”

At the time, the software company’s attempt to gain valuable buyer feedback using win loss analysis was built solely on telephone interviews with their prospects. Product managers were given this additional responsibility and comprised the company’s win loss team. This team was turning out 100 individual win loss assessments per year.

Their team worked with a standard list of 15 to 20 questions and feverishly wrote notes while conducting phone interviews. Since the calls were not being recorded, interviewers had to be careful to not get distracted while taking notes. These notes would later be the sole source to build their win loss report. “We found from the results and feedback we were getting that we weren’t probing enough. We identified the information we were gathering was not rich enough. We had to beef up our skills,” the manager said.

As such, enhancing the win loss program became their key initiative.

Your Three-Step Successful Buyer Feedback Process

The market and competitive intelligence manager explained their original reporting process:

“Reporting was only done manually… I wanted to do something that could [help us] report in a timely manner and frequently to our executive team.”

That said, they decided to embark on a proof of concept agreement with Primary Intelligence. After using the Win Loss Analysis program, they could not imagine going back to their old process or being without TruVoice, a software tool that complements the win loss program.

Primary Intelligence team members identified three key processes that the software company could do to be more successful with their win loss program.

1. [clickandtweet handle=”@PrimaryIntel” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Institute an interview guide with decision drivers and the ability to gather quantitative data.[/clickandtweet]
2. [clickandtweet handle=”@PrimaryIntel” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Utilize PI’s proven two-step interview approach consisting of an online survey and a phone discussion.[/clickandtweet]
3. [clickandtweet handle=”@PrimaryIntel” hashtag=”” related=”” layout=”” position=””]Record phone discussions to eliminate distractions for interviewers[/clickandtweet] and ensure all feedback was being accounted for.

Go from Mundane Interviews to Insightful Discussions

Since adopting these methods the software company has seen a drastic change in the quality of their buyer feedback. “We are now gathering complete information. Our program is more valuable and has a stronger impact,” said the manager. With their interviews being recorded, the team has moved on from conducting an interview to having an insightful discussion with their buyers.

Now, they are better prepared through the use of the online survey and can dig deeper to find the insights as to why they are winning and losing. Their team has completed over 155 profiles where the data is comprehensive and actionable. The market and intelligence manager has noted the executives love the analyses and the quality of the program, and TruVoice has enabled the software company to complete reports on a quarterly basis.

“Without the tool, we would still be doing a manual analysis of all that. That is the key there.”

What are your experiences with obtaining buyer feedback? Please share your thoughts in the Comment section below.

Not familiar with Win Loss Analysis? Check out this helpful infographic:

Win-Loss-Analysis-Strategize-Your-Results infographic