What makes for a successful win/loss program in the financial services technology industry? This blog kicks off an on-going discussion between PSP's Richard Case and fintech expert Dan Hubscher on topics related to win/loss in FinTech. This blog was originally published here.
Dan Hubscher, founder of Changing Market Strategies, is a stakeholder analyst and agent for quant funds and FinTech companies. He has over 20 years of deep subject-matter expertise in quantitative investing and electronic trading technologies across cash and derivatives markets, market structure, regulation, and industry advocacy. PSP Enterprises has partnered with Changing Market Strategies, specifically to provide FinTech specialized, peer-level, confidential interviews, and to deliver PSP’s patented analysis services, to vendors serving the financial services industry.
Richard: Dan, Why don’t we get started with a definition. How would you describe win/loss analysis in Fintech?
Dan: Sure. We can start with a generic definition of win/loss analysis: it's about gathering insights directly from buyers into competitive sales deals that companies win or lose. This way, companies can understand why prospects make the decisions that they do. And then the companies can take the actions needed to improve future sales outcomes.
Richard: Alright.
Dan: But, it’s not what you might imagine. I think in FinTech many people at first imagine win/loss is some kind of “secret shopper” program, something you could hire a relatively inexperienced, robotic interviewer with a script to do. Getting to the truth, and harvesting actionable insights from that truth, takes trust. You need expertise, confidentiality, and strong analytical methods. Basically, you need to be from the Street to talk to people from the Street, to really extract what they’re thinking from the conversation. Therefore, one of the questions that we will need to dig into together is, how does win/loss analysis work differently in FinTech vs. other industries?
Richard: Yes. We can start to answer that question by examining the lessons I learned from 30 years at the “front” doing win/loss. Such as, why not just ask your sales team why they won or lost, why do you need senior interviewers, why do you need anonymous interviews, and how to avoid the mistakes that are common to win/loss analysis.
Dan: Yes. And then for those topics we can look at some unique FinTech perspectives: how the build vs. buy decision is different, why the reasons you win aren’t the same as the reasons you lose, and why it’s so much more difficult to uncover the truth where profitable trading is at stake.
Richard: And we can look at similarities and differences at the bottom line: how do you build actionable analytics into a program. How do you answer the great “What if’s” of product and service development. How do you measure the prospective impact of future changes. And why you need to win both hearts and minds in order to win the numbers game.
Dan: I think quants would appreciate analytics based on a lot of data. But the narrative that speaks to hearts and minds is something everyone can relate to. I think that just like financial markets have their boom and bust cycles, FinTech itself has its own boom and bust cycles. I’d say we’re at the beginning of another technological boom cycle in automated trading and investing right now. But that’s hot off the heels of a long period of little innovation, and it might not be long before we’re back there again. If I’m right, why would you need to understand the intricacies of why you win and lose, now, in the current market?
Richard: Because when there is no technological advancement, companies tend to ossify. They’ll keep doing what they’ve always done because it’s worked, except then it doesn’t work.
Dan: Yes, indeed. I think we’ve all been there. So let’s dig in…… So, watch this space, as Richard and Dan tackle these win/loss analysis issues.
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