Clozd: Hi, I am here with Debbie McClure. Today we're going to talk about how she uses win-loss analysis in her role as Global Head of Sales and how she's implemented in different parts of the buyer journey.

Debbie McClure: Oh, thank you. First of all, thanks for having me. Like you said, I lead sales, global sales, at Dropbox. I've been at Dropbox for about three and a half years, but I have a long history in sales and sales leadership. I actually spent 20 years at Cisco Systems prior to coming over to Dropbox. And in the sales world, the buyer journey and customer sentiment is everything. So it's all about the customer and understanding why customers buy, why customers don't buy, why customers stay with you, why customers leave you. That really needs to be at the heart of every strategy, not only sales, but sales, sales enablement, marketing, product. It is a company strategy, so it's super important to shape how successful we are.

Okay, I love that. In this journey as a sales leader, how have you used win-loss data?

So I use win-loss data a couple of different ways on an ongoing basis. The first is looking at it strategically as an executive with the executive team and taking a step back so we can really look at trends and the bigger picture. Then there's times on just looking. A report comes in and I'll take a look and I'll do a screenshot, send it out to the teams, "Hey, why did we say this? Does this person know this? Can we train folks on this?" And so it's just a tool that has become part of our DNA.

I love it. The way you think about win-loss is probably much different than a sales rep. What has surprised you the most about doing win-loss analysis?

Oh gosh. Okay. So when I started doing win-loss analysis, I think what surprised me the most was that what our customers were saying was not what our reps were putting into our CRM tool so it was really enlightening. I'm like, "Whoa, wait a minute." So I thought this all the time, and it's really this, so I think that's what surprised me the most.

Okay. Stepping back, looking at win-loss analysis at your level, how do you use it? What's most impactful to your organization as you share it out?

I think that any culture in a sales organization should always be a culture of learning and because you have to fail fast and learn from it and go to the next, and salespeople have pretty thick skins because you have to hear no a lot to hear yes, right?

Or they don't last very long.

Yeah, exactly and so I think that really feeding that analysis and the feedback into learning and evolving as a company is what's paramount. So into sales enablement, like I mentioned, marketing, account-based marketing, understanding at a higher level to take a step back, what are the trends? So if you did implement different enablement points or marketing, are the trends changing? So I think it's important to you to look strategically over a period of time, versus myopically at a point in time. It needs to really be an evergreen strategy. That's a company strategy, I would say. Sales is a team sport, so it's a company strategy.

Is there a point when you should bring win-loss analysis in? Or what department should be involved in win-loss analysis?

The company should be involved in win-loss analysis. I think that there's multiple conversations, the win-loss analysis, so I think that the competitive teams are going to look at it differently than the executive team. So the importance of being able to either zoom in or zoom out and really understand what the win-loss analysis is telling you, and then apply it back to the strategy, I think is really a best practice.

Then just developing actionable strategies, any examples or ideas to help others that are looking to build this out of... How do you take it and build a strategy around it?

Yeah. Well, I think first of all, just do it. And then you use the information as the voice of the customer. It's a strong voice of the customer because it's a third party. It's not you asking that customer where maybe the customer's a little guarded, but it's somebody that the customer's comfortable talking with, so it should be taken very seriously.

In your role, how have you found it's best to share these learnings with other people and to make sure these insights are acted upon?

Yeah. Gosh, I do a couple of different things. I think that it's important on, say a quarterly basis, to have an executive team review and look at insights and trending and themes, and have a qualitative discussion based on the facts and data. And then there is the, I'll get an email of a certain interview or something and I'll just click in and say, "What's going on?" And then I send it off to my sales leaders like, "Hey, why didn't we do this or that?" And so that's always fun. But it really just depends. I use it in so many different ways, and then my teams are using it. My team, the sales teams, are using it and they want more interviews. I'm like, "Wait, hold on. What are we doing? What are you guys doing in that?" So I got to make sure we're all aligned, but it's something that the sales team really, really appreciates and loves.

Debbie, thanks for your help. One last question that I'm curious about. In your role, what's something that you've done or how do you take this win-loss analysis and use it as part of the strategy? At the executive level, what are some ideas that you could give to others looking to bolster their programs?

Yeah. Well, I think it's an important voice of the customer and input into an overall voice of the customer program. There's so many people, in sales, we're so fortunate to talk to our customers every day, but there's a lot of people across the company that maybe don't talk to a customer every day, and they love hearing these insights, these verbatims, because it gives them better idea of either what they're building or whatever their role is within the company, what impact they're really having on our customers. So, just feeding it in and giving visibility to the company, feeding it into the strategy to roadmap prioritizations, like I mentioned, is really the heart of what win-loss is.

Okay. I love it.

Yeah.

Debbie, thank you so much for being here, being part of Win-Loss Week. We really appreciate your help and sharing your insights of how you use win-loss in your role and your organization.

My pleasure. Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it. Appreciate the partnership.

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