Dear Gentle Reader - Did you miss me?? 😁 Any Bridgerton fans out there? Have to admit, I’m one of them.

For the new joiners, this month, we’ve been focused on pipeline management so you can properly structure your sales stages and measure and optimize your performance.

We’re closing out June strong with a Post-close Pipeline Playbook. Yep, the work is not over after you close the deal - won, or lost.

I’m breaking down what to do -

• After you win the deal

• After you lose the deal

• Win/Loss Analysis

Ready?

The Post-Close Pipeline Playbook

After you win the deal

1. Celebrate

   

2. Complete these marketing-related tasks -

   • Send your new client some swag or a welcome gift. They are taking a risk on your startup - make sure they know how much you appreciate their faith in you.

   • Press Release - Is there an opportunity to issue a press release? Maximize your own ROI on your efforts to win this customer.

   • 90-day executive check-in - Have your founder or a member of your leadership team check-in with the new customer 90 days after go-live to make sure they are having a good experience AND to get more insight into why they chose you. Why did you win this deal?

   • Public Reviews - One of the best times to ask a client to leave you a review is ~90 days after their go-live when they are hopefully a happy new customer and still vividly remember life before you.

   • Case Study - Mark your calendar for 6 months post-go-live to see if they are open to participating in a case study.

I like to create a workflow that automatically creates the above tasks for me in my CRM each time a deal is moved to Closed Won and notifies any necessary internal parties.

After you lose the deal

1. Ask them why. Preferably on a call, but via email if that’s not possible.

   “Thank you for closing the loop. While we’re disappointed that we won’t be working together, we sincerely appreciate the time you spent with us and the valuable insights you shared. Would you be comfortable sharing the reason behind your decision? We are committed to the continued improvement of our product and process, so your candor would be greatly appreciated.”

   Not only does this make you look good, but it also gives you data you can potentially use to re-engage them later (or to improve your product/process).

   Maybe they didn’t move forward because of a specific feature gap; the minute it’s released, you can pop back in. Maybe they didn’t move forward because of funding; set a Google alert for their funding announcement.

2. Reflect. What could you have done better? If their reason was price-related, what can you do differently to communicate the value better going forward? Were they truly your ICP, or were you chasing a deal you shouldn’t have been?

3. Document. There is no bad sales call or sales process if you obtain more data.

   Create custom fields on your deal records for -

   • Closed lost reason (drop down) - Budget, Disqualified, Timing, Competitor, Hired in-house, etc

   • Closed lost reason (free format text) - for additional detail

   • Revisit? Yes or No

   • Revisit Date

4. Revisit. Review your closed lost deals once a quarter and re-engage those prospects. There is always gold in the graveyard.

Win/Loss Analysis

Win/Loss analysis is a process to formally analyze your sales outcomes. I recommend you do this once a quarter.

Specifically, you should be looking for trends across -

• Customer profile (size, industry, location)

• Buyer persona (title, background, length of time in role)

• Competitor involvement

• Lead source

For example:

• Are you winning more in healthcare than financial services? Why do you think that is?

• Are you losing more to competitor X? Why? Is it a price, brand, product etc problem?

• Are you noticing that referrals from XYZ Law Firm are converting 60% better than any other deal source? Perhaps you should double down on this partnership or identify other similar partners.

Use this data to adjust your ICP, buyer persona, positioning, and overall go-to-market strategy accordingly.

Questions? I’m here for you. Don’t be shy!

Want to learn more about how I help startups increase their revenue by 150-590%? 👀 

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With love and gratitude,