Your team's win rate has fallen from 28% to 18% over a year. How would you find the cause and fix it?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Segment the data by source, segment, size, stage and rep
- Run neutral win-loss interviews
- Check qualification and pipeline quality
- Review competitive and pricing changes
- Pilot fixes and measure
Model answer
I would start with data rather than guesses. I would split win rate by lead source, segment, deal size, region, rep and stage, to see where the drop happens. Often the cause is upstream: for example, a new lead source filling the pipeline with poor-fit deals, which lowers win rate without anyone selling worse. Next I would run win-loss interviews with recent buyers, ideally by someone neutral, because CRM loss reasons are unreliable. I would also check whether a competitor launched something, whether pricing changed, and whether discovery and qualification are being done properly by reviewing call recordings in Gong. Then I would pick the two biggest causes and test fixes, such as tighter qualification at stage two or new competitive positioning, and measure stage conversion over the next quarter.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed hard round and get scored on every answer.
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