War Stories Archive
Alpha-Beta Company hired a veteran research firm to conduct win/loss interviews. Unlike many such research initiatives, Alpha-Beta wisely chose to focus on both wins and losses. (Some investment firms incorrectly believe that one learns primarily from failure. At Alpha Partners, we believe that one learns from failure and success — especially when the learning occurs in a context of systematic, objective market research.)
In the interview with Company A, the research firm zeroed in on why Alpha-Beta lost the finals presentation: too much nuts-and-bolts detail without sufficient focus on big-picture investment goals. Company A also explained that Alpha-Beta was competing against an incumbent manager with a good track record. “In order to unseat the incumbent,” said the consultant, “the Alpha-Beta presentation would have had to be exceptional. While the Alpha-Beta team did a good job, they still sounded more or less like all the rest.”
A couple of years later, Company A fired the incumbent manager (too much turnover in key personnel). Armed with the prior win/loss research findings, Alpha-Beta delivered a winnings finals presentation (light on minutiae, heavy on big-picture insights tailored to Company A’s objectives). “You won this time,” Company A’s CIO told Alpha-Beta, “because you were forthright and decisive in addressing our specific needs.”
Moral: Win some, lose some — but always find out why.
Click here for a related story dramatizing the importance of win/loss research.