Does anyone do lost deal post mortems?

Question

I did search before posting so sorry if this is a double up.

Keen to hear what people do, I've heard a few "influencers" say how important it is.

Do you do them? If yes, how strict are you about it? is it a set process with clear lessons recorded or just a brainstorm and "oh that's where we went wrong"?

Hell, does anyone keep a lessons learned or lost deal log?

Accepted Answer

Process is the same every time. My boss and I grab a conference room, I pop open a fresh Expo marker, and neatly write on the white board...

Answer

Always document why and how it went sideways. Make sure you have names of champions and people that part of the process, etc. The better the notes the better you can run a resurrection program should it be warranted. 
Then take thw list of people that did you wrong and dirty… find them and take their dog. They took something away from you, repay the favor. Have that dog love you like they love your competitor

Answer

In most cases I can tell if I'm going to close (or not). In the cases where it isn't possible to tell in advance, a post-mortem is key to learning and not finding myself in the same situation again in the future.

Answer

Yes, see what happened and why. Not just to examine why deal was lost but look for patterns in you, the product/process or the targets engagement during the cycle.
You can see where things went awry and try to correct it.

Answer

Yes, I do, with all of them.

Answer

If you get really close and it goes sideways, I think it's worth it. Then when upper management asks what you need you can point out specific cases where you lost due to pricing model, a missing feature, etc.

Answer

Depends on the deal. For big, complex deals we will discuss and try to learn from the process and see where we can improve or what areas we lost the deal inn. Smaller stuff is generally just a quick sync to find any learnings and move on.

Answer

To me if you don’t review the ones you lose it will make it harder to do better in the future. I know it’s basic but I used to not review and on to the next one mentality when I was a new guy thinking my shit didn’t stink.
I guess if you are just swimming in leads / opps then you don’t care about lost deals, but that rarely is the case

Executioner

Does anyone do lost deal post mortems?

Do you do a post-mortem on lost deals?

12 comments

Executioner

Does anyone do lost deal post mortems?

Do you do a post-mortem on lost deals?

12 comments

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✍🏼 Deal Out for Sig ✍🏼