What is Win Rate?
Win rate is the percentage of sales opportunities that close as closed-won out of all closed opportunities (won + lost). It’s one of the most important sales effectiveness metrics because it directly influences forecasting, hiring plans, and how much pipeline coverage you need to hit a revenue target.
How to Calculate Win Rate
The most common definition is:
Win Rate = Closed-Won ÷ (Closed-Won + Closed-Lost)
For example, if you closed 30 deals won and 70 lost in a quarter, your win rate is 30%. Many teams also track win rate by segment (SMB vs enterprise), source, product, and stage.
Why Win Rate Matters for GTM Teams
- Forecasting: Win rate sets realistic expectations for converting pipeline to revenue.
- Pipeline coverage: Lower win rates require more pipeline to hit the same quota.
- Coaching: Patterns in losses reveal skill gaps and enablement needs.
- Strategy: Segment and channel win rates guide where to invest go-to-market resources.
Common Ways to Segment Win Rate
- By segment: SMB, mid-market, enterprise
- By channel: inbound, outbound, partners
- By stage: stage-to-stage conversion rates (micro win rates)
- By ICP fit: strong-fit vs weak-fit accounts
- By sales motion: self-serve, assisted, enterprise
How to Improve Win Rate
- Tighten qualification: Remove low-fit deals early using consistent criteria (e.g., MEDDIC).
- Improve discovery: Align on pain, success metrics, and buying process upfront.
- Strengthen deal strategy: Multi-thread stakeholders and confirm decision criteria.
- Run win/loss analysis: Track reasons, competitors, and objections to learn systematically.
- Align marketing with ICP: Better leads typically improve downstream close rates.
How AI Helps Improve Win Rate
AI can identify risk signals and objection patterns from sales calls, highlight missing stakeholders, and flag deals where the decision process is unclear. This helps teams intervene earlier to improve outcomes and reduce late-stage surprises.
help_outlineFrequently Asked Questions
What’s a good win rate?
It depends on segment, ACV, and sales motion. Enterprise win rates are often lower than SMB due to complexity and competition. The most useful benchmark is your own trend over time, segmented by source and ICP fit.
Should we calculate win rate on count or dollars?
Track both. Count-based win rate shows conversion efficiency; dollar-weighted win rate reflects revenue impact. A team can have a high count win rate but lose the biggest deals, so dollar-weighted views add important context.
Why does our win rate drop as we scale?
Common causes include weaker lead quality, less strict qualification, new reps ramping, moving upmarket, or changing competitive dynamics. Segment win rate by source, rep tenure, and deal size to pinpoint what changed.
How can we improve win rate without killing pipeline volume?
Focus on improving discovery, messaging, and ICP targeting while keeping qualification consistent. The goal is to replace low-quality volume with higher-quality opportunities—often improving both win rate and forecastability.