Win/Loss Analysis Interview Guide

Win/Loss Interview with Globex Corporation

Interview Guide for Jane Doe, CFO

1. Can you walk me through your evaluation and decision-making process for selecting a new ERP system?

   • What were the key stages and milestones?
   • Who was involved at each stage and what were their roles?

2. What were the most important criteria you used to assess the different ERP solutions you considered?

   • How did you prioritize and weight these criteria?
   • Did your criteria or priorities change at all during the process?

3. How well did our solution meet your functional and technical requirements compared to the competitor's?

   • Were there any critical gaps or deal-breakers in our offering?
   • Did we have any unique strengths or differentiators?

4. What was your perception of the quality and value of our implementation services vs. the competitor's?

   • Did you have any concerns about our ability to deliver the project successfully?
   • How important was this aspect in your final decision?

5. How did you assess the total cost of ownership for each solution?

   • What were the key financial factors you considered (software, services, maintenance, etc.)?
   • Did you feel our pricing was competitive and provided good value?

6. Please describe your interactions with our sales team during the process.

   • What did we do well and where could we improve in terms of responsiveness, expertise, etc.?
   • Did the competitor's sales approach influence your decision in any way?

7. Were there any other factors outside of the two ERP options that impacted your final choice?

   • How much did internal politics or relationships play a role?
   • Did company strategy or other priorities factor in?

8. Looking back, is there anything we could have done differently that may have changed the outcome?

   • Do you have any advice for us as we look to improve our solution and sales process going forward?

Interview Summary & Key Takeaways

Based on my interview with Jane Doe, the primary reasons Globex chose the competitor's ERP solution over Acme Software were:

• The competitor's product had a slight edge in meeting Globex's complex manufacturing requirements out-of-the-box. Acme's solution would have required more customization.

• Globex had serious concerns about Acme's ability to handle the global rollout based on our limited experience with multi-site implementations. The competitor had more referenceable customers of similar size and scope.

• While Acme's software licensing costs were competitive, the estimated professional services fees to implement and integrate the system came in higher than the competition, resulting in a 15% higher TCO.

• Acme's sales team took too long to respond to several key technical and support questions during the evaluation. This made Globex question our expertise and commitment.

• Globex's VP of Operations had a prior positive experience with the competitor's software at her last company which gave them additional comfort and confidence in going with their solution.

Recommendations

To improve Acme's chances of winning similar ERP deals in the future, I suggest:

1. Investing in product development to enhance our out-of-the-box fit for key manufacturing verticals and reduce implementation complexity/cost.

2. Building out our service delivery capabilities and partnerships to better handle large, global rollouts. Develop more relevant case studies.

3. Revisiting our professional services pricing model and project scoping approach to ensure we are competitive on TCO.

4. Improving our sales enablement and competitive intelligence to arm reps with faster, more complete answers to technical questions and objection handling.

5. Conducting a win/loss analysis on a regular basis to continuously monitor our competitive position and identify areas for improvement. Consider a third-party to interview customers for unbiased feedback.